Marking the passage of four Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills to enable the implementation of the new indirect tax regime from July 1, the Budget Session of Parliament has been one of the most productive sessions in its history, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said on Wednesday even as he pointed out that in all 18 legislations were passed by both the Houses during the Session.
The productivity of lok Sabha during the Budget Session was 114 per cent while that of Rajya Sabha was 92 per cent. As many as 23 Bills were passed in the lower House and 14 legislations in the Upper House, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.
Kumar was speaking to newspersons after the two-part Budget Session, which was advanced for the first time in the country’s history, ended on Wednesday. Another historic development witnessed this time was the merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget, ending a 92-year-old practice of presentation of two separate Budgets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, SP and BJP veterans Mulayam Singh Yadav and lK Advani respectively were present in the House when it was adjourned sine die.
“I think this was one of the most productive Budget Sessions and it will go down as the golden chapter in the Parliament’s history,” Kumar said.
The session also saw all the parties coming together in both the Houses to condemn the death sentence awarded to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying.
“During the session, of the 560 starred questions, more than 136 were given oral answers, which comes to around 4.68 questions per day. 494 issues were raised under Rule 377 and 158 Private members Bills were introduced in the House,” Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said in her valedictory remarks.
Altogether, there were 29 sittings, with the lok Sabha working for 176 hours and 39 minutes and the Rajya Sabha for over 136 hours.
The lok Sabha lost eight hours and 12 minutes due to disruptions, including one by the Shiv Sena over the flying ban by domestic airlines on one of its MPs who had allegedly thrashed an Air India employee. The Upper House lost 13 hours because of furore over various issues.
The lok Sabha also passed The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of liabilities) Bill, 2017, The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Enemy Property Bill, the Mental healthcare Bill, Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016, HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2017 and 123rd Constitution Amendment Bill (to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes).
The Rajya Sabha passed or returned 14 Bills, including four GST legislations, the Payment of Wastes (Amendment) Bill, the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill, the Employee’s Compensation (Amendment) Bill, the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment Bill) and Appropriation (General and Railways) Bills during the session.
However, the Bill to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, which was passed by the lok Sabha, could not go through the Rajya Sabha as the Opposition resisted it, after which it was sent to a Select Committee.
In his valedictory remarks, Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari also lauded the backbenchers in the House for their enthusiastic contribution to the proceedings. Ansari said the members’ zeal to raise important issues was manifested in 205 Zero Hour submissions, 76 special mentions, 435 starred and 4,629 unstarred questions. He said the performance of the members on the last two rows was “remarkable” as they made 86 Zero Hour submissions which is near 42 percent of the total.
The back benchers also asked 260 supplementaries, around 48 percent of the over 535 such questions.
The Prime Minister, leader of the House Arun Jaitley and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad were present in the upper house when it was adjourned sine die.