Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Wednesday, bringing an end to an acrimonious Winter Session marred by unending protest by the Opposition over the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members.
The Winter Session of Parliament, which had begun on November 29, was scheduled to end on Thursday.
During the session, Parliament saw the passage of nine Bills which included the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill and legislations to fix the tenure of directors of the Enforcement Directorate and CBI at five years and supplementary demands for grants. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out the valedictory remarks as soon as the House assembled for the day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress president Sonia Gandhi were among those present in the House on the last day of the Winter Session.
Floor leaders of political parties met the Speaker in his chamber after the House was adjourned sine die. The Lok Sabha had 18 sittings during the Session which lasted for 83 hours and 12 minutes. Birla said the House lost 18 hours and 48 minutes to disruptions, but saw productivity zoom to 204 per cent on December 2, when the issue of pandemic was taken up for discussion.
“The overall productivity of the Lok Sabha was 82 per cent,” Birla said.
The Government introduced 12 Bills during the session, including the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill that seeks to increase the marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 21 years.
With the Rajya Sabha marred by protests and repeated adjournments throughout the Winter Session, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday expressed dismay and urged the Elders to introspect. Later, he adjourned the House sine die. As soon as the papers were laid on the table by the concerned Ministers, Leader of Opposition M Mallikarjun Kharge tried to raise an issue pertaining to Ayodhya land deal but the Chair disallowed it. He said Kharge cannot refer to a newspaper report and should give a proper notice.
Before adjourning the House, Naidu then said, “The Winter Session of the august House concludes today. I am not happy to share with you that the House functioned much below its potential. I urged all of you to collectively and individually reflect and introspect if this Session could have been different and better.”
He also said, “I don’t want to speak elaborately on the course of this Session as it would lead me to take a very critical view. Statistics regarding various aspects of functioning of the House during this Session will be released to media for wider dissemination.”
The House has clocked productivity of 47.90% during the 18 sittings of the Winter Session that concluded on Wednesday. Out of the total scheduled sitting time of 95 hours 06 minutes, the House could discharge business only for 45 hours 34 minutes. This Session’s productivity of 47.90% is the fifth lowest among that of the 12 Sessions presided over by Naidu over the last four years. A total time of 49 hours 32 minutes was lost due to persistent disruptions. The time lost amounts to 52.08% of the available time.
Ten Bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session while the discussion on the Appropriation Bill scheduled to be concluded on the last day was not taken up. A total time of 21 hours 07 minutes was spent on discussing the Government Bills, including the Appropriation Bill, accounting for 46.50% of the functional time of the House. 127 interventions were made by the Members in these debates.