New Delhi: In terms of productivity, Budget Session 2016 of the Parliament has proved to be highly successful.
What is more interesting is the fact that the productivity stats of both houses of Parliament,- Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha, is impressive.
The productivity of Lok Sabha in this session stands at a staggering 121% while the Rajya Sabha is not far behind with 91% productivity, according to the analysis done by PRS Legislative Research.
It should be recalled that with 122% productivity, Budget Session 2015 was Lok Sabha’s most productive session in last 15 years. And at 121%, the productivity of Budget Session 2016 is second highest in last 15 years.
Rajya Sabha’s productivity in this session is commendable in view of the fact that the upper house of the parliament had a poor productivity of 51% and 9% in Winter and Monsoon Sessions of 2015 respectively.
In fact, the productivity of Rajya Sabha in first part of Budget session was 105% and it slumped to 79% during part II.
The productivity of the two houses during the crucial ‘Question Hour’ is equally impressive. In Lok Sabha, the ‘Question Hour’ functioned for 93 % of its scheduled time while in Rajya Sabha the percentage stands at 72%.
The Lok Sabha, in fact, broke the record of maximum number of orally answered questions in last 15 years. A total of 145 questions were orally answered in Lok Sabha in this session, the highest in the past 15 years.
This session has will also be remembered for highest percentage of Bills introduced and passed within same session in 10 years.
In terms of legislative business, 9 bills were introduced and 17 bills were passed by both houses during the Session.
Rajya Sabha passed five Bills while Lok Sabha passed one Bill without any debate.
Interestingly, 12 of the 17 Bills passed in this session were not referred to any Parliamentary Standing or Select Committee.
The Lok Sabha worked for a total of 198.1 hours while the Rajya Sabha functioned for a total of 150.2 hours.
The Budget Session 2016 was convened from February 23 to March 16, and from April 25 to May 13, 2016. However, during the recess period, Parliament was prorogued to allow the government to issue an Ordinance. When Parliament convened again on April 25, 2016, it was a new session.
PRS Legislative Research, however, has clarified that for this analysis, these two sessions have been treated as one Budget session.
