Monsoon Parliament Session "Most Productive" In Last 20 Years: Minister

The Monsoon session of Parliament was the most productive session in the last 20 years, Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said on Saturday.

As many as 20 bills were passed in the Monsoon session that concluded on Friday. The productivity of the Lok Sabha was 118 per cent and that of the Rajya Sabha was 74 per cent.

Mr Kumar thanked members of both the Houses for a successful session and termed it a festival of social justice, as a bill to give constitutional status to the OBC Commission and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill were passed.

The Monsoon session had commenced on July 18. It had 17 sittings spread over a period of 24 days, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said.

During the session, a motion of no confidence against the government was also defeated with a massive margin.

Twenty-two bills -- 21 in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha -- were introduced. The Lok Sabha passed 21 bills and the Rajya Sabha passed 14 bills during the session. Twenty bills were passed by both the Houses of Parliament.

This was an achievement considering that it was a short session, and a considerable time was devoted to discussions on issues of national importance and the election of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Mr Kumar added.