The Lok Sabha’s failure to transact any business since the resumption of the Budget session on April 22 deepens a worrying trend that has seen an acrimonious House losing over half an hour to disruptions and adjournments for every hour of business transacted by the current House.
According to statistics compiled by the Lok Sabha secretariat, as many as 633 hours were lost on account of interruptions and adjournments until the 12th session of the 15th Lok Sabha, totalling more than 50% of 1,156 hours of sittings of the House.
The lament that our MPs are not the most diligent of public representatives seems borne out by their record in the current Lok Sabha with the treasury benches and the opposition clashing over scams like 2G, Commonwealth Games and Coalgate, and regional parties also being major disrupters.
Contentious issues like Telangana and regional one-upmanship have spilt onto the floor of the Lok Sabha. The situation has been aggravated by the government’s floor management being average for most of this Lok Sabha’s tenure while an aggressive opposition has not been inclined to cooperate either.
Sources in the parliamentary affairs ministry said nearly 41 hours were lost in the first-half of the ongoing session due to adjournments following disruptions over Coalgate, the Nirbhaya gangrape case, and alleged atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The opposition’s postrecess protests over the leaked draft report of the JPC on 2G and alleged government interference in the CBI’s inquiry into the coal scam ensured a shutdown over the last four working days.
A rough calculation puts hours lost so far this session at nearly 65, and indications are that this figure may only rise in the days to come given the new low in governmentopposition ties over the 2G draft report and the fresh controversy over Coalgate.
As demands for grants for four ministries of agriculture, coal, textiles and new and renewable energy face the guillotine at 6pm on April 30, the current session—the 13th for the 15th Lok Sabha—could end up as the Budget session that recorded maximum time lost.
While the Budget session of 2011 recorded maximum disruptions, resulting in loss of nearly 70 hours, the 2012 Budget session saw 48 hours being lost to adjournments, while the figure for 2010 was just 25 hours.
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