2 Bills Passed, Lok Sabha Ran For Less Than An Hour A Day This Winter Session

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha or lower house of Parliament ran for a total 19 hours in the 21-day winter session, not even averaging an hour a day, while the Rajya Sabha did marginally better at 22 hours. The rest of the time was lost to slogan shouting and disruption, mainly over the government's notes ban and its impact on people. Between the two Houses they could pass only 2 bills and most other legislative work listed by the government, including bills related to the  mega reform Goods and Services Tax or GST, have been pushed to the Budget session to be held from January.

The Lok Sabha lost nearly 90 hours of work in the session, which ended today, the Rajya Sabha lost more than 86 hours. Each hour of a Parliament session costs the exchequer about Rs 2 crore.

The government and the Opposition have blamed each other for the washout, each claiming that it was ready to discuss the notes ban but the other side scuttled the debate. Through the session they failed to resolve how to conduct the debate - with or without a vote at the end.

In a strong message as he adjourned the house for the session, Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice President Hamid Ansari lamented that, "regular and continuous disruptions characterised the session... the symbolism of dignified protest so essential for orderly conduct of Parliament proceedings was abandoned," and said this had "deprived members of the opportunity to seek accountability of the executive through questions and discussions on matters of public concerns."

He asked lawmakers to "introspect on the distinction between dissent, disruption and agitation."

Last week President Pranab Mukherjee had said, "For God's sake, do your job. Leaders are not elected to sit in dharna in Parliament."

"We tried hard to the run the Houses from the first day... We wanted a debate on the notes ban and said the Prime Minister would speak too but the opposition kept disrupting Parliament," said parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar.

The Congress led a delegation of opposition parties to meet the President and complained that the government did not allow Parliament to function and "stifled" the opposition's voice.

"We are extremely pained by this trampling of our democratic rights and the suppression of our right to present our views and make our voices heard in Parliament. We are deeply concerned that our parliamentary democratic system itself is under severe threat," said the Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge after the meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had abolished 500-and 1000-rupee notes in a sudden announcement on November 8 aimed at combating corruption and black money. The move took out 86 per cent money in circulation, resulting in a massive cash crunch. The opposition has attacked the government for what it calls a poorly implemented strategy that has punished the poor rather than the corrupt.

PM Modi has promised that the cash situation will ease soon and that demonetisation holds long term benefits for the people.