Parliament's monsoon session begins; 27 MPs test positive for Covid

In the Rajya Sabha, in an attempt to lighten the mood, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu joked that some members were sitting in the Lok Sabha without being elected to it

There was no question hour; no well for members to come streaming into; no place for placards and banners; no visitors in the galleries peering excitedly into the two houses to watch democracy at work and history being made. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were virtually unrecognisable, shrouded in plexiglass and an air of sorrow, as Parliament got down to work on the first day of the monsoon session.

The melancholy was underlined by obituary notices in both houses, which suspended work for an hour in memory of fallen comrades. These included former President Pranab Mukherjee, former Minister for Rural Development