Rajya Sabha lost 25 hours to disruptions during Monsoon Session

Vice President Hamid Ansari gestures while chairing his last session in the Rajya Sabha, in New Delhi on Thursday. Ansari, whose tenure as Vice-President comes to a close on Thursday, was given a farewell in the Rajya Sabha where he has served as Chairman for the last decade.

The Monsoon session of the Rajya Sabha came to an end on Fridya after passing nine bills and debates on a number of crucial issues like lynchings and the agrarian crisis facing the country.

A highlight of the session was that the new Chairman Venkaian Naidu took over on its last day on Friday.

During the 19 sittings, the House sat for more than 80 hours but lost nearly 25 hours due to disruptions over various issues.

The House also sat late for more than seven hours to complete legislative and other business.

Naidu, before adjourning the House sine die, gave an overview of the proceedings during the session that began on July 17.

During the session, members spoke on the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement and a resolution was adopted.

Two new members Vinay Dinu Tendulkar, Sampatiya Uikey joined the House while BSP leader Mayawati and M. Venkaiah Naidu resigned.

During the session, references were also made to the passing away of Union minister Anil Madhav Dave and sitting member Palvai Govardhan Reddy as well as 11 former members.

References were also made to torrential rains in several parts including the north-east and terror attack in Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir.

Among the Bills passed by the House were National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public Private Partnership) Bill, Right of children to free and compulsort education Bill etc.

The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill was referred to a Select Committee while the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill was referred to a joint committee.

There were 87 special mentions and 17 hours of short duration discussions.

During the session, 285 starred questions and 3040 unstarred question were admitted and answered. Of these 46 starred questions were orally answered. Question Hour could not be taken up on three days due to disruptions.

Several reports, including those by various committees were also presented during the session.