Most productive Budget session in a decade, says Venkaiah Naidu

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday claimed that the Budget session of Parliament, which concluded on Wednesday, was the busiest session of the past decade in terms of business transacted.

The session turned out exceptional in other respects as well. It saw a private members' Bill being passed for the first time in the past 47 years, with the Rajya Sabha passing the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, unanimously. After several years, an amendment to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address was passed in the Rajya Sabha. The motion regretted that the government didn't take any steps to curb corruption and black money.

The parliamentary affairs ministry said the Lok Sabha held 35 sittings, the highest in the past five years, while the Rajya Sabha held 32 sittings. The Upper House had held 34 sittings in 2012.

Naidu said the two Houses took up a record 24 Bills, including the finance and appropriation Bills, in the session, the highest for all Budget sessions in the past five years. He said 22 Bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha and two Bills in the Rajya Sabha. The minister said the Lok Sabha passed 23 Bills and the Rajya Sabha 24 Bills.

Five Bills replaced ordinances. Another five Bills were referred to standing committees. These included the micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, the National Waterways Bill, the Compensatory Affores-tation Fund Bill and the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill.

The Land Bill was referred to a joint committee of Parliament, while the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill and Real Estate Bill to select committees of the Rajya Sabha. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with the government promising to refer it to a standing committee.

Important Bills passed during the session by both Houses were: the Constitutional Amendment Bill to ratify the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, the black money Bill, the insurance amendment Bill, the coal mines (special provisions) Bill, the mines and minerals (development and regulation) Bill. Naidu said this was proof of the government's seriousness in achieving its reform agenda.

The PRS Legislative Research put the productivity of the Lok Sabha at 123 per cent. It estimated the House had 195.41 hours at its disposal, but met for 240 hours. It estimated the Rajya Sabha's productivity at 102 per cent, with 173.5 hours available to Upper House and it met for 174.48 hours.

This session also saw the highest instance of recorded voting in the past 15 years. So far, in the 16th Lok Sabha, 17 per cent of the Bills have been passed by recorded voting compared to the five per cent average in the past 15 years.

According to PRS Legislative Research, of the 16 Bills passed, that is all Bills minus the appropriation and finance Bills, ordinances replaced 39 per cent of the total Bills introduced. On an average, in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha, Bills replacing ordinances were 11 per cent and eight per cent of the total Bills introduced, respectively. In the past 10 years, the other instance when ordinances had a high share of the Bills introduced was in Budget session 2008, when the ratio was 42 per cent.

On account of disruptions and interruptions, Lok Sabha lost 6 hours 54 minutes but made up for the lost time by giving up lunch hours and working beyond scheduled closure. Similarly, Rajya Sabha lost 18 hours 28 minutes but gained 20 hours.

On the Opposition's complaints that the government was putting the standing committee mechanism in peril by using its majority in the Lok Sabha and not sending the bills for further scrutiny, Naidu said the government will certainly have a problem if procedures are insisted upon as a delaying tactic. "Particularly when Bills already scrutinised by such committee were asked to be again sent for further scrutiny. Land Bill, GST Bill, Real Estate Bill are some such cases," he said.

The 'Question Hour' in the Lok Sabha functioned 84 per cent of its allotted time while the corresponding figure for Rajya Sabha was 80 per cent.