Rajya Sabha productivity plunges to 37.60% during 3rd week of Monsoon Session

New Delhi: The productivity of Rajya Sabha hit a low of 37.60 percent during the third week of the ongoing Monsoon Session owing to disruptions and forced adjournments over the issue of suspension of 12 member of the House, officials said Sunday.

The continued disruptions pulled down the cumulative functionality of the House for the first three weeks to 46.70 percent, the RS secretariat said.

According to the data collected by the secretariat, the productivity of Rajya Sabha was 49.70 per cent and 52.50 per cent during the first and the second week, respectively.

During the third week, of the total scheduled sitting time of 27 hours 11 minutes, the House could function only for 10 hours 14 minutes, losing 62.40 per cent of available time on account of disruptions and forced adjournments on the issue of suspension of 12 member of the House, the officials said. ”During the third week, Question Hour which is meant for seeking the accountability of the Government has suffered the most with only four of the 75 listed Starred Questions orally answered by the concerned ministers,” the RS secretariat said.

Only 11.40 per cent of the time available for Question Hour was utilised during the week, while 62.70 per cent of the functional time has been spent on the government’s legislative business.

Three bills were passed and returned during the week after discussing for a total of 6 hours and 25 minutes in which 33 members participated.

A Short Duration Discussion on the ‘situation arising out of the cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19’ taken up during the week remained inconclusive. This discussion is listed for resumption Monday, the officials said.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had adjourned the House on Friday after 17 minutes of Zero Hour, urging the government and the Opposition parties to resolve the stalemate on the suspension issue.

During the 15 sittings of the first three weeks of ongoing monsoon session, the House functioned for less than an hour per day for six sittings, according to official data.

About 42 per cent of the functional time of the House has been spent on the government’s legislative business passing a total of eight bills so far, while only about 18 per cent of the time has been spent on the Question Hour with only 56 of the 217 listed questions orally answered, said the secretariat. So far, 81 Zero Hour and 47 Special Mentions were made in the House during the three weeks of monsoon session.

The Mediation Bill, 2021 seeking to promote resolution of disputes including commercial is listed for introduction on Monday in Rajya Sabha. The Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021 as passed by Lok Sabha has been listed for consideration and passing on Monday.