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Parliament: Both Houses adjourned sine die

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 11 Aug 2023, 09:26 am

New Delhi: Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on Friday with frequent disruptions, slogans and walk-outs marring the Monsoon session of the Parliament that began on July 20.

During the Monsoon session, Lok Sabha passed as many as 20 bills, including the controversial National Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2023, even as productivity of the Lower House remained low.

A no-confidence motion brought against the government in Lok Sabha was defeated.

In the current session, Rajya Sabha passed 25 bills including the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023.

Addressing a press conference today, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that 23 bills were passed by both the Houses during their sittings.

As many as 20 bills were introduced in Lok Sabha while five were introduced in Rajya Sabha.

In Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah today introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Bill, 2023 which will replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 respectively.

With the opposition bloc under newly-minted alliance name I.N.D.I.A insisting for a comprehensive state from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the ongoing violence in Manipur before holding a discussion on the issue, proceedings in both the Houses were disrupted leading to reduced number of sitting hours and lower productivity.

During the Monsoon session, Aam Aadmi Party's two MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha while Lok Sabha suspended Congress Party's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for misconduct.

On almost all days of the Monsoon session, opposition parties raised the issue of Manipur violence and insisted for discussion on the law and order situation in the state by suspending the House business under Rule 267.

In Rajya Sabha, the government agreed for short-duration discussion on Manipur under Rule 176 but opposition parties dug their heels for discussion under Rule 267.

In his valedictory remarks, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed his anguish over lost sitting hours due to continued disruptions and adjournments in the House.

"Once again, we yielded to the allure of narrow interests and allowed disorder to be the 'new normal' in the proceedings of the House. It appears that my appeals have not resonated well with our Members. The frequent unwholesome spectacle of disruptions only indicates that my message has not found the attentive audience it deserves," he said.

As per official Rajya Sabha statistics, a total of 50 hours and 21 minutes during the 17 sittings of the House were lost due to avoidable disruptions, adversely impinging on the overall productivity of this session.

Most bills saw almost no participation in debate from the opposition.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Opposition agreed to participate in discussion on Delhi services bill only to display their show of strength as they had no interest in other legislative business.

Unfortunately, despite our repeated requests and endeavours the Opposition did not take part in the discussion due to political reasons," he said.

Joshi said that the government never wanted a bill to be passed without discussion and noted that discussions happened almost on all the Bills in Rajya Sabha.