Wednesday, February 19th, 2025

Adani, Sambhal violence, Ambedkar controversy… Winter session of Parliament marred by uproar

New Delhi: The winter session of Parliament was stormy and many important issues could not be discussed. Issues like Adani Group, Sambhal violence, Manipur violence, attacks on minorities in Bangladesh and alleged insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar dominated. There was a heated argument between the ruling party and the opposition. It even came to the point of scuffle and FIR. This third session of the 18th Lok Sabha was mostly marred by uproar. Only 20 meetings were held in 26 days and only 62 hours of work was done. The productivity of the session was around 57.87%.

39 member committee formed

During this period, while two-day discussions took place in both the Houses of the Parliament to commemorate the completion of 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution, the ‘One Country, One Election’ bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha as the 127th amendment of the Constitution, which was passed by the Parliament. Sent to the Joint Committee. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted a 39-member committee to discuss and brainstorm this bill, which includes 27 members from the Lok Sabha and 12 from the Rajya Sabha.

many bills passed

Lok Sabha approved the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2024-25 and the Appropriation (No. 3) Bill 2024 relating thereto. During the session, ‘Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024’, ‘Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024’, ‘Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill 2024’ were passed in the Lok Sabha. The government introduced the Merchant Shipping Bill 2024 in the Lok Sabha this session, which has provisions to expand international trade opportunities, increase eligibility criteria for ownership of ships and increase Indian tonnage. Two members including Priyanka Gandhi took oath in the House. Thus, during the session, five government bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha and four bills were passed. During Zero Hour, 182 matters of urgent public importance were raised and 397 matters were raised under Rule 377. This session, which ended on Friday, started from November 25.

Electronic voting for the first time in the House

This session was also important because for the first time electronic voting took place in the House in the new building of Parliament regarding the introduction of the 129th Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha. In his/her concluding speech on the last day of the session, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that it is the collective responsibility of all the members to maintain the dignity and decorum of Parliament. It is not appropriate to protest or protest at any gate of the Parliament. If this is violated then Parliament has the right to take necessary action to maintain its dignity and dignity. Birla also asked all the members to ensure compliance with the rules of the House at all costs.

Dhankhar’s appeal, maintain the sanctity of discussion

During the winter session of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, legislative business and discussion could take place only for 43 hours and 27 minutes and thus the productivity was barely 40%, out of which only 43 hours and 27 minutes were effective. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar gave this information while adjourning the proceedings of the House indefinitely on Friday. he/she expressed disappointment over the lack of work and said that the members of the Upper House should brainstorm on who should be elected between meaningful discussion and obstruction of work.

he/she said that our democratic heritage demands that we rise above political differences and maintain the sanctity of parliamentary debate. he/she said that our objective of celebrating Constitution Day in the historic Constitution House was to reaffirm democratic values, but our actions in this House tell a different story. Expressing his/her disappointment over the functioning of the House, the Chairman said that the people of India are strongly criticizing us MPs and this is right too. Due to continuous disruption in functioning, public trust in democratic institutions is decreasing. We passed the Oil Sector Amendment Bill and the Boilers Bill 2024 and also heard the External Affairs Minister’s statement on India-China relations, but these achievements have been overshadowed by our failures.

Question Hour was in bad shape

  • Proceedings in Lok Sabha lasted 52% of the scheduled time
  • Proceedings in Rajya Sabha take place only in 39% of the rule time.
  • Only one bill passed in the first six months of the 18th Lok Sabha
  • This was the lowest number in the last six Lok Sabha terms.
  • Question Hour could not run in Rajya Sabha in 15 out of 19 days
  • There were 12 days in Lok Sabha when question hour lasted less than 10 minutes.
  • During Question Hour, MPs ask questions to the government on policies and programs

(Source: PRS Legislative Research)

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