With a little over a week left before parliament's monsoon session ends Aug 30, there appears to be little hope for the government to pass the ambitous legislative agenda of 43 bills remaining for the 16 working days of the month-long session.
Only the companies bill has been passed in the fortnight of its working with some holidays in between.
The monsoon session, which started Aug 5, has mostly been disrupted over various issues, including the creation of Telangana, the killing of Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army, communal riots in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir and the alleged illegal land deals of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.
The government had said it was keen to pass a slew of bills, including the food security bill, those related to reforms in the insurance and pension sectors and an amendment to keep political parties outside the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
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Though the Lok Sabha could not pass any bill, the government introduced a bill to amend the RTI Act.
The government also said it would table a constitution amendment bill in this session to negate a Supreme Court order cancelling reservations for faculty appointments in super speciality medical and engineering courses.
The government tried to debate the food security bill in the Lok Sabha last week but could not as four TDP members kept disrupting the house protesting against the creation of a Telangana state.
The government now hopes to take up the bill on Tuesday as the Lok Sabha is likely be adjourned to condole the passing away of sitting BJP member Dilip Singh Judeo.
Wednesday will be a holiday on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. The lower house would sit next weekend on Aug 24, in lieu of the holiday it took on Aug 16.
That leaves four working days in the coming week.
If there are no disruptions in the last week of the session Aug 26-30, the government would have four or five working days depending upon whether or not parliament sits Janmashtami (Aug 28).
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath has said the opposition parties wants to pass the judicial commission bill which deals with appointment of judges, in this session.
The Rajya Sabha fared better and passed five bills, including the Companies Bill, which had been earlier approved by the lower house.
The Rajya Sabha also passed the The National Waterway (Lakhipur-Bhanga Stretch of the Barak River) Bill, 2013, the National Highways Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2012, the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2012 and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2011.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013 was introduced in the upper house.
Experts said much would depend on the consensus among parties.
"Other than the first session in July 2009, in which the MPs took oath, this monsoon session is the shortest of the 15th Lok Sabha. With no bills being passed by Lok Sabha in the first two weeks, important bills are now bunched together for passage in the few days left in the session. It remains to be seen whether political consensus can be built to ensure debate on these key legislative proposals or whether they would be passed with little or no debate," Chakshu Roy of think-tank PRS Legislative Research told IANS.
The previous budget session was washed out as the BJP did not allow the house to function, demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over faulty allocation of coal blocks.
The opposition wants debates on the land acquisition bill, rampant corruption in the the mid-day meal scheme, the tussle between the CBI and the IB in the Ishrat Jahan fake shootout case and the Chinese incursions along the border in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
While the BJP has demanded the bill on the formation of Telangana be brought in the monsoon session, the CPI-M wants a discussion on the government's recent move to allow more foreign equity in many sectors.
