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The government on Saturday claimed the monsoon session of Parliament, which saw the passage of the landmark food security and the land acquisition Bills, was “successful”. However, close scrutiny suggests more time was lost in the monsoon session this year than in any other monsoon session in history. In the run-up to the general elections next year, the monsoon session has been touted as the last productive Parliament session.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders said an agreement had been reached on the legislation to liberalise the insurance sector. They added the Bill to allow a higher cap on foreign direct investment in insurance would have been passed in the monsoon session, had it not been for reports suggesting a ‘deal’ between the BJP and the government. Internally, anti-Congress hawks in the BJP forced their party to back off from moving ahead on the insurance Bill. “If there is no media glare, we might consider passing the insurance Bill in the winter session,” a senior BJP leader told Business Standard.
This session’s legislative agenda included 43 Bills to be passed by Parliament; 38 of these were rolled over from the previous session. Of the 43 Bills, the Lok Sabha passed just 16; eight bills were introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Of the 16 Bills cleared by the Lok Sabha, four were passed on a single day---Friday. This was after the Lok Sabha, till August 18 (midway through the session), didn’t succeed in passing a single Bill.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said “substantive work” was completed in the month-long session and made much of the fact that a key economic reform legislation, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, which was hanging fire for about a decade due to political differences, was passed.
Earlier this year, the Budget session of Parliament saw the passage of only two Bills, apart from the appropriation Bills, of the 38 listed for passing. The two Bills were the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill.
| BILLS PASSED BY PARLIAMENT IN MONSOON SESSION, 2013 |
2010: Parliament passed 21 Bills and introduced 26 Bills 2011: 13 legislative Bills were introduced and 10 Bills were passed. Several hours were lost due to interruptions on issues of corruption, Lok Pal and appointment of Gujarat Lokayukta. The Lok Sabha worked for 67% of the scheduled hours and the Rajya Sabha just 62%. 2012: Several hours were lost due to interruptions on issues of black money, violence in Mumbai and allocation of coal blocks. The Lok Sabha worked for 20% of the scheduled hours and the Rajya Sabha for 27%. 102 Bills were pending at the end of this Monsoon Session. One Bill was withdrawn, 6 legislative Bills were introduced and 4 Bills were passed.
Source: PRS |
The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Friday, while the Rajya Sabha would be adjourned on Saturday. “Some very heavy Bills—the food security and land acquisition Bills—have been passed. On several days, both the Houses sat till night,” Nath said. “So, substantive work has been done in the monsoon session of Parliament,” he told reporters outside Parliament House.
The first two weeks of the monsoon session were marred by frequent disruptions over several issues—the decision on a separate state of Telangana, the alleged land deals of Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, Chinese incursions, the killing of five Indian soldiers at the Line of Control and the fuel price rise.
The session saw the suspension of 12 members from Andhra Pradesh for resorting to “grave disorder”.
