Vital Stats

70 years of Parliament

On May 13, 2022, Parliament completes 70 years since its first sitting. The first session of the first Lok Sabha (LS) and Rajya Sabha (RS) commenced on May 13, 1952. Currently, the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-2024) is ongoing. In this note, we look at how the membership and functioning of the Parliament have changed since its first session.

Profile of the newly elected 17th Lok Sabha

The final results for 542 constituencies have just been declared. Elections to one constituency – Vellore in Tamil Nadu, were postponed. BJP with 303 seats has...

Performance of Parliament during the 15th Lok Sabha

Over its five year term, the 15th Lok Sabha was disrupted frequently and witnessed a decline in time spent on legislation and oversight of the government. Disruptions over the allocation of 2G spectrum, coal blocks, FDI in retail, demand for...

Parliament in Winter Session 2013

Parliament in the recent past has witnessed a significant loss of time due to continued disruptions by a section of MPs. This Session was no different, dominated by disruptions on the issues of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, sexual harassment of...

Parliament in Monsoon Session 2013

The Monsoon Session ended with the passage of Bills on key issues such as food security, land acquisition, companies, and pension. During the session, significant time was lost due to frequent disruptions over issues such as statehood for...

Parliament in Budget Session 2013

Parliament convened for the Budget Session 2013 for 32 days between February 21 and May 8. Both Houses were adjourned sine die on May 8, two days ahead of the planned schedule. There was a month long recess from March 22 to April 22, while...

Parliament in Monsoon Session 2012

Little business was transacted in the Monsoon Session of Parliament as protests over the CAG audit of coal block allocations regularly disrupted proceedings. Both houses fell significantly short of their initial plans. The initial sittings of...

Attendance Record of Members of Parliament: 2006

Do Members of Parliament (MPs) attend Parliament regularly? Are there certain attendance patterns based on party affiliation, education or profession? Do younger MPs attend more often? We attempt to answer these questions using data from June...

Utilisation of Time by Parliament: Budget Session 2007

Parliament was scheduled to work for 42 days in the Budget Session. The session was curtailed, and Lok Sabha met for only 32 days and Rajya Sabha for 31 days during the session.

Legislation in Parliament: 2007

How many Members of Parliament take part in legislative debates? How much time is spent on making laws in Parliament? How many Bills are introduced and passed by Parliament? We take a look at the data for the last four Sessions.

Utilisation of Time by Parliament: Monsoon Session 2007

Parliament was scheduled to work for 23 days in the Monsoon Session. The session was curtailed, and Parliament met for 17 days during the session.

Parliament in 2007

Parliament adjourned today for the year. We look at the performance of Parliament in 2007, and at the participation of Members of Parliament in debates during the year. We note that:

Legislative activity in Parliament: 2008

Parliament passes about 60 Bills every year. It devotes 20 - 25% of its time on legislative business. The time spent on debating each Bill varies widely. In 2007, 30 - 40 % of Bills were passed without significant debate. About one in every four...

Women in Parliament and State Legislature: 2008

The Women's Reservation Bill was introduced during Budget Session 2008 in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill aims to reserve 33% of seats for women across central and state legislatures. We look at the current profile of women in parliament and state...

Public Accounts Committee: 2008

The Public Accounts Committee is charged with a critical function of the legislature - overseeing government finances. The PAC holds ministries accountable to the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General, inquires into whether...

Lok Sabha in 2008

Lok Sabha adjourned today for the year. We look at some parameters of performance of Lok Sabha in 2008. Usually, Lok Sabha has three sessions in a year; this year had only two - the Budget Session and an extended Monsoon Session from July to...

Discussions on price rise in Parliament

The Winter Session began on the 22nd of November. However, both houses of Parliament continue to be stalled over several controversial issues, chief among these being the issue of price rise. Price rise has been an issue of major...

Parliamentary Debates in Lok Sabha (2004-2008)

Members of Parliament frame legislation, sanction the government budget, examine the functioning of the government and discuss matters of local, national and international importance. These debates provide a forum for MPs to express their...

Women MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha

The Women’s Reservation Bill, currently pending in the Rajya Sabha, proposes to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies for women. The 15th Lok Sabha has 58 women MPs – this is the first time their...

Elections 2009: A closer look at the results

The Election Commission has published detailed data on votes polled by all candidates in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. We discuss some interesting facts that emerge from this data.

Activity of Parliament: Budget Session 2009

How did Parliament perform during this Budget Session? What was the quantum of time spent on debates and legislation? How much time was lost to interruptions? How often did different parties participate? We attempt to answer these questions using...

Activity of First-term, Young and Women MPs

How often did first-term, young and women MPs participate in LS debates? How did participation cut across party lines? We attempt to answer these questions using data from the recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament.

Parliament in 2009

During 2009, Lok Sabha met for 64 days and Rajya Sabha for 63. The Parliament passed 25 Bills. In this note, we outline the performance of Parliament during the year.

Private Members' Bills in Lok Sabha: 2010

No Private Members’ Bill has been passed by Parliament since 1970. Of the 300 odd Private Members’ Bills introduced in the 14th Lok Sabha, barely 4% were discussed; 96% lapsed without even a single debate in the House. In this document, we look...

Parliament in Budget Session 2010

Parliament met for the Budget Session between 22nd February and 7th May with a one month recess beginning in mid-March. Apart from budget discussions, the session saw debates on several major issues such as price rise, phone tapping and naxalism...

MP Participation in Budget Session 2010

Parliament met for the Budget Session between 22nd February and 7th May with a one month recess beginning in mid-March. Apart from budget discussions, the session also saw debates on several major issues such as price rise, phone tapping and...

Parliament in Monsoon Session 2010

The Monsoon Session of Parliament ended on August 31, 2010, after it was extended by two days. Though both Houses lost significant amount of time due to disruptions, they made up much of the lost time by sitting late and working for two extra...

MP participation in Monsoon Session 2010

Though both Houses lost significant amount of time to disruptions, this session saw wide participation from across the spectrum. In all, 86% of all MPs contributed to the work in Parliament, either through debates, questions or private members’...

How much does India pay its legislators?: 2010

Parliament passed the ‘Salary, Allowances and Pensions of MPs’ Bill on the last day of its sitting during the Monsoon session this year. With this, the base salary of an MP has increased from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. This has been..

Parliament in Winter Session 2010

Most sessions of Parliament in the recent past have started off with disruptions on some issues that a section of MPs felt agitated about. However, in each case, Parliament managed to find a way of evolving a consensus. This session has been...

Parliament in Budget Session 2011

The Budget Session of Parliament began on a positive note, with the government and the opposition arriving at a consensus on key issues such as the formation of a JPC. However, by the second week, both Houses saw frequent disruptions. The...

Parliament in Monsoon Session 2011

The Monsoon Session of Parliament saw several uncommon events – a gesture by the Lok Sabha to Anna Hazare, a discussion on the issues raised by Anna Hazare on the Lok Pal Bill and the impeachment motion against Justice Soumitra Sen in Rajya Sabha..

Parliament in Winter Session 2011

A significant part of the first two weeks of the Winter Session were lost to disruptions. The session was extended for three days and several anti-corruption Bills were debated. Despite the extension, Parliament still fell short of its initial...

Parliament in 2011

The year in Parliament was characterised by frequent disruptions and protests over a host of issues. The issue of the establishment of a Lokpal prompted both disruption as well as intense debate. We look at the business transacted by Parliament...

60 Years of Parliament

On May 13, 2012 Parliament completes 60 years since its first sitting. To mark the occasion, a special sitting of both Houses has been organised on the day. Recently, there has been much public scrutiny of the work of MPs and the...

Parliament Budget Session 2012

Parliament met for the Budget Session between March 16 and May 22 with a three-week recess in April. Both Houses met for 35 days each. A special sitting was convened on Sunday, May 13 to commemorate 60 years since the first sitting of Parliament...

Parliament in Winter Session 2012

The first half of the Winter Session of Parliament, 2012 was dominated by disruptions over and discussion on the government's notification to allow 51% FDI in the retail sector. The issue was finally discussed in Parliament under Rule 184, a...

Parliament in Winter Session 2014

During this winter session, the Lok Sabha functioned smoothly while the Rajya Sabha lost significant time to disruptions over issues related to religious conversions and the arrest of a state minister by the CBI. While some legislative business...

Parliament in 2012

In 2012, Parliament proceedings were marred by disruptions over a wide range of issues, notably the CAG report on coal allocation and FDI in retail. The year also saw some parliamentary tools used for the first time in the 15th Lok Sabha – three...

How Parliament functioned in the Budget Session 2014

During the first Budget session of the 16th Lok Sabha, Parliament discussed the Union and Railway Budgets and passed several laws including Bills establishing the National Judicial Appointments Commission. Lok Sabha spent time discussing issues...

Participation of Lok Sabha MPs in Budget Session 2014

Parliament functioning in Budget Session 2015-16

During the second Budget session of the 16th Lok Sabha, Parliament discussed the Union and Railway Budgets. While several Bills were passed in this session, MPs raised the need for referring Bills to Standing Committees for greater examination....

Parliament functioning in Monsoon Session 2015-16

This note presents data regarding Parliament productivity during Monsoon Session 2015. This session has been one of the least productive sessions in the last 15 years with repeated disruptions in both the Houses. While several Bills were...

MP Participation in the first year of the 16th Lok Sabha

Monsoon Session 2015 marks the end of the first year of the 16th Lok Sabha. This note looks at the participation of MPs in both Houses of Parliament over the last year. Participation in debates includes anything other than questions. This...

Functioning of Parliament in Winter Session 2015

This note presents data regarding Parliament’s productivity during Winter Session 2015. Lok Sabha has been more productive than Rajya Sabha in the last four sessions  During this session, Lok Sabha worked for 98% of its scheduled...

Parliament Functioning in Budget Session 2016

The Budget Session 2016 was scheduled 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...

Parliament during Monsoon Session 2016

The Monsoon Session of Parliament concluded on August 12, 2016. The session had 20 sittings, during which various Bills were passed, including a Constitutional Amendment Bill enabling the levy of a Goods and Services Tax (GST). Parliament also...

Parliament functioning in the Winter Session 2016

Winter Session 2016 has been one of the least productive sessions for both Houses in the last 15 years, with repeated disruptions on the issue of demonetisation of currency. While eight Bills were introduced in this session, only two were passed...

Parliament functioning in the Budget Session 2017

Budget Session 2017 has been one of the more productive sessions for both Houses during the 16th Lok Sabha. In addition to passing the Union Budget, Parliament spent significant time on legislative and other debates. 34% of total expenditure...

Performance of MPs in the 16th Lok Sabha

The Monsoon Session of Parliament concluded on August 11, 2017. This marks the end of the third year of the 16th Lok Sabha. In this context, this note analyses data...

Parliament in Budget Session 2018

The Budget Session of Parliament had 30 sittings which were divided in two parts; the first part consisted of 7 sittings, and the second part of 23 sittings. * ...

Parliament in Monsoon Session 2018

The Monsoon Session of Parliament concluded on August 10, 2018. The session had 18 scheduled sittings (July 18, 2018 to August 10, 2018), out of which one day was...

Parliament functioning in Winter Session 2018

The Winter Session of Parliament ended on January 9, 2019. The session had 20 scheduled sittings, of which 17 were held. Further, Rajya Sabha met for an additional day...

Functioning of 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019)

The 16th Lok Sabha held its sessions between June 2014 to February 2019. During the 16th Lok Sabha, 133 Bills were passed and 45 Ordinances were...

Parliament functioning in first session of 17th Lok Sabha

The Budget Session of Parliament was held from June 17, 2019 to August 7, 2019. This was the first session of Parliament after the elections for 17th...

Parliament functioning in Winter Session 2019

The Winter Session of Parliament was held from November 18, 2019 to December 13, 2019. During this session, Parliament celebrated two milestones. A function was held...

Parliament functioning in Budget Session 2020

The budget session of Parliament was held from January 31, 2020 to March 23, 2020, with a recess from February 12 to March 1, 2020. The session was scheduled to...