Parliament session to be extended till August 7

The ongoing monsoon session of the parliament is likely to be extended till August 7.

According to sources, the parliament will continue to be in session for over a week than the scheduled date of commencement.

The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha commenced on June 17 with oath-taking by members and was slated to conclude on July 26.

Earlier on July 24, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had said that the government is moving to extend the Parliament session and noted that the opposition parties should not have any objection as they have been in favour of Parliament working for at least 100 days in a year.

Answering queries from reporters after meeting of the Union Cabinet, he said 80 per cent of the Bills being taken up were those which had lapsed with the dissolution of 16th Lok Sabha as these could not be passed in Rajya Sabha.

He said the Bills could not be passed for nearly one-and-a-half years and were being taken up now.

"This (the extension of Parliament session) is not discussed in the Cabinet but the demand of opposition always is that the session should be extended. We are doing that only. I don't think the opposition will object because they say it should be held for 100 days (in a year)," he said.

Asked for how many days the session will be extended, he quipped, "You will have a lot of work."

On July 23, Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking during the BJP's parliamentary party meeting had also informed lawmakers that the ongoing Monsoon session of the Parliament could be extended for 10 days.

Apart from the BJP president, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi also told MPs about the likely extension of the session.

Among those in attendance were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, to name a few.

The speculations regarding extension of parliament session had started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a BJP parliamentary party meeting early this month, had indicated that the session may be extended.

Lok Sabha has been working for more than its scheduled time and has witnessed sittings till late hours to provide opportunities to members to raise their issues. According to PRS Legislative Research, which tracks the work of Parliament, Lok Sabha's productivity is the highest for any session in the past 20 years.

According to PRS, the productivity of Rajya Sabha is 98 per cent.