Rajya Sabha lost 34 hours due to disruptions: Naidu

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned sine die with Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urging members to seriously introspect on their conduct in the House which lost almost 34 hours due to frequent disruptions. The Rajya Sabha, which had 13 sittings during the winter session that started on December 15, saw the passage of nine government bills.

Ahead of adjourning the House sine die at 1 PM in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naidu said the session had its highs and lows, but lamented that it ended up losing some degree of esteem on account of disruptions.

“It is unfortunate that despite discharging its responsibilities to a great extent, the august House ends up losing some degree of the esteem of the people on account of disruptions and substantial loss of functional time.

“Intense and passionate submissions and debates are the order of democracy, but disruptions are certainly not. I urge upon members to seriously introspect in this regard,” he said. Naidu also said it was “an opportunity for all of us to review, recall and introspect” about how the proceedings have been conducted in the House.

This, he said, was the first full session after he took over as the Chairman and it could have been better than what it proved. Naidu said though Parliament was a political institution, it “cannot be an extension of politics in its typical sense which is marked by deep divisions and acrimony.” 

Parliament is an important institution for furthering the shared socio-economic goals of the nation, critical to fulfilling the aspirations of citizens, he said. “The legislatures of our country including the apex Parliament need to quickly evolve the way we conduct our proceedings so as to meet the needs of our evolving nation,” he said.

Naidu said 19 private members’ bills were introduced and one was discussed at length. During the five days when Question Hour was taken up, he said as many as 46 starred questions were orally answered and 51 members made Zero Hour submissions and another 28 made special mentions. The House functioned a total of 41 hours.