Lok Sabha productivity touches 20-year high with 130%, here's how the lawmakers achieved this

The current Budget Session of the 17th Lok Sabha(LS) has been working overtime hitting a 20-year high of 130% while the Rajya Sabha (RS) too has a productivity of 98% as of Saturday, according to think tank PRS Legislative Research.

With such high productivity, the Central government is mulling to extend the ongoing Parliament session by 2-3 days, according to PTI. The current budget session which began on June 17 was originally set to conclude on July 26. Now the session may be extended till Aug 2 as discussed in the BJP parliamentary meeting on Tuesday.

(Photo: PRS)

What makes this Budget Session so productive?

Bills:

According to PRS, 22 new bills have been introduced in the Parliament - 19 in the Lok Sabha, 3 in Rajya Sabha. Out of 22 bills introduced, 10 have already been passed in both parliamentary houses as of July 20, while 11 have been passed in Lok Sabha only and 2 in Rajya Sabha.

Here are the bills passed (both LS and RS):

• The Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Bill, 2019
• The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019
• The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill, 2019

Bills passed only in one house:

• The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2019 - Passed by RS
•  The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 - Passed by RS
• The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2019 - Passed by LS

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Orders Lawmakers Not To Talk During Proceedings Of The House, Calls It 'unacceptable'

Questions:

In terms of questions, the productivity of this Budget Session in the Lok Sabha is 99% with questions being answered by ministers for 143 hours. Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha, the productivity is 64% with questions being answered by ministers for 117 hours.

(Photo: PRS)

NIA Amendment Bill 2019 Passed In Lok Sabha After Heated Debate, With 278 Members Voting In Its Favour

Interestingly, while the Lok Sabha has had questions discussed at least one hour daily in the budget session, the Rajya Sabha has had six days with no questions being raised on the Assembly floor.

(Photo: PRS)

Lok Sabha Sits Till Close To Midnight To Conclude Debate On Railways

The Lok Sabha, chaired by Speaker Om Birla, has been working for more than its scheduled time and has sat till midnight on two occasions to complete its legislative business. On July 11, the Lok Sabha sat till 11.58 PM to conclude a discussion on demands for grants for the Railway Ministry, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi saying it is for the first time in nearly 18 years that the Lower House had sat for this long. Similarly, on June 17, the Lok Sabha was in session till 11:59 PM to conclude demands for grants to agriculture and rural development ministries, according to PTI.