Suspended Rajya Sabha MPs during a protest demanding for revocation of their suspension at Parliament in New Delhi.
Both the Houses of the Parliament -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, a day ahead of its original schedule, marking the end of the Winter Session of Parliament. The Winter Session of Parliament had begun on November 29 and was scheduled to go on till December 23.
During the session, the Lok Sabha saw the passage of nine bills which included the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill and legislations to fix the tenure of directors of the Enforcement Directorate and CBI at five years and supplementary demands for grants.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out the valedictory remarks as soon as the House assembled for the day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress President Sonia Gandhi were among those present in the House on the last day of the Winter Session. Floor leaders of political parties met the Speaker in his chamber after the House was adjourned sine die.
The Lok Sabha had 18 sittings during the Session which lasted for 83 hours and 12 minutes. Debates on COVID-19 and climate change were held during the session lasting 12 hours 26 minutes and six hours and 26 minutes respectively. While 99 members participated in the debate on the pandemic, the discussion on climate change, which remained inconclusive, saw the participation of 61 members.
The Lok Sabha Speaker said the House lost 18 hours and 48 minutes to disruptions, but saw productivity zoom to 204 per cent on December 2, when the issue of pandemic was taken up for discussion. "The overall productivity of the Lok Sabha was 82 per cent," Birla said.
The government introduced 12 bills during the session, including the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill that seeks to increase the marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 21 years.
In the Rajya Sabha, soon after laying of the listed papers and reports, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House sine die. The Upper House witnessed several disruptions during the session following the suspension of 12 opposition party members for their "unruly" conduct in the previous session in August.
Notably, the previous four sessions of the Parliament have adjourned sine die ahead of schedule. The first one was the Budget Session in 2020 that ended 13 days ahead of schedule due to the pandemic. The Winter Session of 2020 and this year’s Budget and Monsoon Sessions also faced early closure due to Covid-19.
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