Anyone should be astonished to believe one minute of 15th lok Saba costs a whooping `89.79 lakh to the exchequer. Yes it is true. A research conducted on 15th lok Saba by a Bangalore-based nonprofit trust Rezorce Research Foundation has revealed that 15th lok Sabha cost `22 billion, with each minute of session costing `86.79 lakh.
According to KV Narendra, Director of Rezorce Research Foundation (RRF), the duration and productivity of sessions have shortened dramatically over the last 60 years. He said the first eight lok Sabha (with the exception of six lok Sabha) met for over 3,000 hours and now it is reduced to 1,335 hours. There appears to be apathy to have a session.
“The most productive lok Sabha was during emergency in terms of sittings, hours met, bills passed and debates. Quite an irony considering all we have read about the period,” he added.
The report says there were 824:51 hours of disruptions in lok Sabha and 602:17 hours of disruptions in Rajya Sabha. Total of 1,427H and 8M was lost in disturbances (compared to 1,335 productive hours). ‘India lost Rs 1,238.67 crore in Parliamentary disturbances alone, the report added.
“One twenty six Bills were assented this lok Sabha - the nadir for a full term lok Sabha and third lowest in history. One twenty six were introduced. Historical data indicates that any lok Sabha with coalition government delivers poorly on legislation” the report adds.
According to Narendra 76,501 questions were asked this lok Sabha - the highest in history. He says affectivity of the questions were very poor. “There were 6,181 starred questions; just 590 supplementary questions; 1720 assurances; and 7 half - hour discussions. Nothing seemed to come out of the huge mass of questions being asked,” said Narendra.
According to Narendra debates were at an all time low, with members more happy to fight than debate. There were just 60 short duration discussions, two amendment motions (both by lK Advani); 37 calling -in motion; 75 discussions under Rule 377.
“India appears to be a land of milk and honey with nothing to debate.Telengana had only one complete discussion [on KCR’s fast] in the last five years. No one was interested to discuss even a contentious issue like that and that is the real tragedy of that lok Sabha”, Narendra quips.
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