Parliament functioning in Monsoon Session 2021

Parliament functioning in Monsoon Session 2021

The Monsoon session of Parliament was held from July 19, 2021 to August 11, 2021.  The session was scheduled to end on August 13, 2021.  In this Lok Sabha, this is the fourth consecutive time when a session has been cut short of the scheduled date, in addition to Winter session 2020 not being held.   Proceedings of Parliament were interrupted regularly as members protested inside both Houses.  Parliament functioned for less than a quarter of the scheduled time, and several Bills were passed within minutes without any discussion.  Parliament adjourned sine die on August 11, 2021 having sat for a total of 17 days.

Parliament introduced and passed 15 Bills amidst disruptions
	15 Bills were introduced during the session, all of which were passed.  Parliament passed 20 Bills during the session.    On average, Parliament passed a Bill within seven days of introduction.  A few Bills, such as the Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2021, and the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 were passed by Lok Sabha the next day after introduction.   In the current Lok Sabha, on average, 70% of the Bills have been introduced and passed in the same session.  In the 16th Lok Sabha, 33% of the Bills were introduced and passed in the same session.
On average, Lok Sabha passed a Bill in 34 minutes, Rajya Sabha in 46 minutes
Bill Time spent on discussion (in minutes)     Lok Sabha Rajya Sabha The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 474 360   The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021 9 62   The Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021 12 46   The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021 5 37   The Inland Vessels Bill, 2021 6 33   The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 6 32   The Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2021 5 23   The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021 14 17	Lok Sabha passed 18 Bills during the Monsoon session.  On average, a Bill was discussed for 34 minutes in the House.  Some Bills, such as the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2021, were passed within five minutes.  Rajya Sabha discussed a Bill for an average of 46 minutes before passing it.   Only the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 was discussed for more than an hour in both Houses.   In the current Lok Sabha, on average, Lok Sabha has spent 2 hours 23 minutes on discussing a Bill before passing it, and Rajya Sabha has spent 2 hours.   In Lok Sabha 15 Bills were passed without any member participating in the discussion.
Further, no Bill was referred to a committee
	None of the 15 Bills introduced in this session have been referred to a Parliamentary Committee.   In the current Lok Sabha, so far, only 12% of the Bills introduced have been referred to a committee; much lower than the 14th (60%), 15th (71%), and 16th (27%) Lok Sabhas.   In Rajya Sabha, a motion was introduced to refer the Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2021 to a Select Committee of Rajya Sabha.  The motion was negatived with 79 members voting against the motion and 44 members voting in favour of it.
Lok Sabha worked for only 21% of the scheduled time; Rajya Sabha worked for 29%
Lok Sabha was scheduled to work for six hours per day for 19 days.  However, proceedings were interrupted on multiple occasions as members demanded discussions on surveillance using Pegasus and repealing the farm laws.     The House sat for 21 hours which is 21% of  the scheduled time.  This is the lowest since Winter 2016 session, when Lok Sabha worked for 15% of its scheduled time.   Rajya Sabha was scheduled to meet for 112 hours over 19 days.  However, it sat for 29 hours which is 29% of the scheduled time.  In the past ten years, Rajya Sabha has functioned for less than 25% of its scheduled time during five sessions.   Lok Sabha did not debate any non-legislative issue.  Nine minutes were spent discussing and passing the supplementary budget of Rs 23,675 crore (an increase of 0.7% in expenditure over the budget estimate).     This amount includes Rs 15,750 crore for the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package.  Rajya Sabha had only one major debate (non-legislative) on the management of COVID-19 pandemic.   Question hour functioned for 35% of the scheduled time in Lok Sabha and 25% in Rajya Sabha.  Only 20% questions received an oral answer from ministers in both Houses.
Almost mid-way through its term, Lok Sabha has not elected a Deputy Speaker
	Article 93 of the Constitution states that Lok Sabha will “as soon as may be”, choose two members of the House to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker.  The Deputy Speaker acts as the Speaker when the office of Speaker is vacant or Speaker is absent.   In the current Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha has not had a Deputy Speaker for over two years.  This is the longest vacancy ever, more than two years from the commencement of the first session.   During the 16th Lok Sabha, this period was 70 days.  Previously, this period was the highest during the 12th Lok Sabha (269 days).

Note: We have not included Appropriation Bills in the analysis of introduced and passed Bills.  We have not counted starred question as orally answered if: the MP was not present in the house when the question was answered, and no supplementary question was asked for that question.

Sources:  Bulletins of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as of August 11, 2021; Statistical Handbook, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, 2019; PRS.