Om Birla congratulates Ministers, MPs for LS record of taking up 20 questions during Question Hour

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday congratulated the MPs and Cabinet ministers of the Centre for responding to all 20 questions in the Question Hour on Wednesday.

He thanked the members and Ministers for their active cooperation in achieving this feat.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the House taking up 20 questions for oral answers was "a record" and thanked the chair and members.

It is to be noted that starred questions, which require oral answers by Ministers on the floor of the House, were limited to 20 questions per question hour, from the 4th Session of the 5th Lok Sabha ( in 1972) onwards.

Since then, it is the first occasion on which all the 20 starred questions were orally answered.

The previous record was made on March 14, 1972, when 14 questions were answered during the Question Hour.

It is important to note that since 1972, when the number of questions whose answers had to be given verbally was restricted to 20, this is the first time when the entire quota of questions was raised and answered.

The record for the maximum numbers of questions orally answered in one Question Hour is 45, which was made on March 15, 1955, during the 9th session of the 1st Lok Sabha.

The starred question list was first restricted to 30 on January 1963 during the proceedings of the 3rd Lok Sabha in January 1963, and then further to 20 questions in March 1972.