The Budget Session of the Parliament was held from June 17th 2019 to August 7th 2019. This was the first session of the Parliament after the elections for the 17th Lok Sabha. In the past, the Parliament used to hold a short session for oath-taking after the election of the new Lok Sabha. This session would be followed by the Budget Session.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, the oath-taking session was combined with the Budget Session. Initially, the session was planned to be held from June 17th2019 to July 26th2019. It was extended to August 7th2019. During the Budget Session, Lok Sabha had sittings for 37 days and Rajya Sabha had sittings for 35 days.
During this session, Lok Sabha worked for 281 hours which is 135% of the scheduled hours. This is higher than any other session of the Parliament in the past 20 years. On an average, Lok Sabha worked for 81% of its scheduled time in the past 20 years. Rajya Sabha worked for 195 hours which is 100% of the scheduled hours. On an average,Rajya Sabha has worked for 76% of its scheduled time during a session in the past 20 years.
Questions – Highest in 20 Years for Answers
Question Hour functioned for 95% of its scheduled time inLok Sabha and, 65% inRajya Sabha during this session.During this session, 36% of the questions were answered orally in Lok Sabha by ministers. This is higher than any other session in the past 20 years. 40% of the questions received an oral answer from a minister in Rajya Sabha. This is the second highest among all sessions in the past 20 years.
On an average, 15% of the questions in Lok Sabha and 17% of the questions in Rajya Sabha received were answered orally during a session in the past 20 years.
Legislative Business is the Highest in Ten Years
The time spent by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the first session is given in the chart displayed.
Lok Sabha spent 46% of its time on legislative business. The corresponding figure for Rajya Sabha is 51%.
38 Bills were introduced in Parliament during the Budget Session (excluding the Finance and Appropriation Bills). 28 Bills out of these were passed during this session. This is the highest for any session in the last 10 years.
265 first-term MPs (Members of Parliament) have been elected to the 17th Lok Sabha. The number of women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha is 78.
94% of the first-term MPs participated in a debate in the Budget Session. This is significantly higher than the 16th Lok Sabha where 82% of the first-term members participated in a debate in the first session.
Top Performers – Two Women MPs Top the Entire Lok Sabha
The performance of Members is evaluated by their Initiated Debates, Private Members Bills and Questions.
Ms Supriya Sule (NCP, Maharashtra) participated in 34 Initiated Debates, introduced 4 Private Members Bills and raised 109 Questions, bringing the total tally to 147. She is a third-time MP. She had secured the No 1 position in the 16th Lok Sabha also. She is a Sansad Ratna Awardee.
Dr Heena Vijayakumar Gavit (BJP, Maharashtra) participated in 12 Initiated Debates and raised 106 questions with a total tally of 118. She is a second-time MP. She was honoured with Sansad Ratna Awards consecutively for four years during the 15th Lok Sabha.
PreSense congratulates both of them for their excellent performance during the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha.
The 17th Lok Sabha has started with a big bang. It is hoped that the Members will continue to maintain this high spirit and guide the nation towards prosperity.
By G Priya Dharshni, Deputy Editor, PreSense
(Data and graphics Source: PRS Legislative Research)
Published in August 2019 issue of eMagazine PreSense
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