Rajya Sabha Winter Session 2021: House Sees Signs of Return to Business

Rajya Sabha

Last week the Upper House saw staged walkouts, protests, and disruptions in the conduct of business post the announcement and refusal to revoke the suspension of 12 members of the opposition. As a result of which the house lost 52 per cent of its productivity within the first week. However, in the last two days, according to media reports, the house managed to make up for the lost time by exceeding the scheduled time by 33 minutes. Last Thursday the house’s productivity was increased by 95 per cent, and on Friday by 100 per cent. Therefore, the final productivity output for the week increased to 49.7 per cent. On Friday the house conducted Private Member Business which stretched for the scheduled time of two and half hours. The house saw the introduction of 22 Private Member bills. One of the bills sought removal of the word ‘socialist’ from the preamble of the constitution which did not go well with the opposition and was put on hold. Overall, in the Rajya Sabha, two bills- the farm laws repeal bill and the Dam Safety bill was passed, and other matters of public interest were discussed. There were 27 out of 67 starred questions that were orally answered, 15 special mentions were made. In Friday’s session, the government asked for the approval of spending an additional 3.73 Lakh Crore in the financial year. The chairman of Rajya Sabha, Naidu met some leaders of the opposition and managers of the government regarding resolving the suspension of the 12 MPs. Earlier, the government had stated that the issue will be dissolved if the suspended members issue an apology for their unruly behaviour in the monsoon session. A study that analysed attendance in Rajya Sabha from 2017-2021 highlighted that 78 per cent of the members have attended the sittings on a daily average. Only one member, an MP from AIADMK had 100 per cent attendance in all 138 sessions. The monsoon session of 2021 saw the highest daily attendance amounting to 82 per cent. The winter session in Rajya Sabha commenced on 29th November 2021 and will end on 23rd December 2021.

References-

1.Hindustan Times Front Desk, Rajya Sabha lost 52.3% of sitting time in Winter Session’s First Week, 7thDecember 2021, https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rajya-sabha-lost-52-30-of-sitting-time-in-winter-session-s-first-week-101638691324980.html

2. Subhadra Chatterji, V-P Naidu meets govt, Opposition Leaders on MP’s suspension, Hindustan Times, 6thDecember 2021 https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/vp-naidu-meets-govt-opposition-leaders-on-mps-suspension-101638729641464.html

3.The Hindu News Desk, Parliamentary Proceedings, The Hindu, December 3rd, 2021, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/parliament-proceedings-live/article37818090.ece

4. Team News able, Over 52 per cent of time of Rajya Sabha sitting time was lost to disruptions, protest in the winter session, Newsable Asia Net News, 5th December 2021,https://newsable.asianetnews.com/top-stories/over-52-pc-of-rajya-sabha-sitting-time-was-lost-to-disruptions-protests-winter-session-gcw-r3n5d9