As he adjourned the House sine die, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari aptly summed up this year’s monsoon session of Parliament. “This session is likely to be remembered for the work that was not done.”
The disruptions in the session, a washout on account of alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks, were second only to those in the winter session of 2010, which had seen complete stalling of Parliament in the wake of the 2G telecom spectrum scam. Incidentally, both sessions took place in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s second term, a tenure marked by a string of corruption allegations.
With the tabling of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on coal block allocations on August 17, the session saw frequent disruptions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The functioning of Parliament was also disrupted over the communal violence in Assam and the issue of senior BJP leader L K Advani terming the UPA government an “illegitimate” one. In the last week, facing flak from all quarters, the BJP softened its stance, and insisted on two conditions for allowing Parliament to function — cancellation of the allocated coal blocks and a judicial probe, both of which the UPA rejected, leading to a washout of 13 of the 19 days of this session.
As Hamid Ansari regretted, a total of 62 hours were lost in this present session due to disruptions and adjournments.
In the Winter session of 2010, when Parliament proceedings were disrupted over the 2G issue, and the BJP did not allow virtually more than a single day of functioning the productivity of both houses averaged 6 per cent. In this Monsoon session, it was a notch higher at 23 per cent.
In that ill fated session, five bills were passed out of the intended 35 bills and all within five minutes amidst the din in the houses. In this session, four bills were passed out of the 30 bills that had been listed. The stalemate had occurred due to the government’s reluctance to constitute a JPC on the issue of 2G, a demand to which it ultimately gave in; in this session however it refused to relent and has threatened to match the BJP in taking the protests to the streets if need be.
Past sessions which have seen dismal performances have been during the Bofors controversy and the Tehelka expose.during the 8th Lok Sabha. Surprisingly, despite the Bofors issu/e, the house worked for more than 100% of the available time in 13 of the 14 sessions. 10th Lok Sabha Winter session 1995 which was disrupted over the Sukhram telecom controversy saw 36 per cent productive time. The 13th Lok Sabha 2001 session which saw disruptions over demand for JPC on stock market scam and the Tehelka expose, still saw 59 per cent productive time in the house.
During the 14th Lok Sabha, June 2004 which saw tainted ministers controversy still saw 33 per cent time of the house being dedicated to productive work.
Incidentally, this session will not just go down as one of the most dismal in terms of performance it will also record the low point when two MPs ended up in a scuffle over differing stand points over the SC/ ST quota issue.
