Lower House has edged over Upper House in terms of productivity during the ongoing session of Parliament. Lower House refers to Lok Sabha or the House of Representatives, while the Upper House means Rajya Sabha or the House of Elders.
According to an analysis of the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, productivity of Lok Sabha during the current session so far has been 105 per cent against 104 per cent during the last Budget session this year.
On the contrary, productivity of Rajya Sabha so far during the current winter session has been 68 per cent against 106 per cent during the Budget session this year. The winter session, which started on November 24, is scheduled to end on December 23.
One of the key reasons for better performance of Lok Sabha is that the Modi Government has a complete majority with 336 members (simple majority means 272 members in a House with 542 members), while it is in minority in Rajya Sabha with 61 members (simple majority means 123 members in a House with 250 members).
Now with BJP marching in many states, equation in Rajya Sabha will change by 2016-17. It may be noted that Lok Sabha members are elected by the people, while the members of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of State Assemblies.
Passage of Bills
In terms of passage of Bills too, Lok Sabha performed better. It has passed 17 Bills during the current winter session so far against 12 Bills during the last Budget session and 17 Bills passed during last year’s winter session.
However, Rajya Sabha gave its nod to 11 bills against 12 and 17 Bills during this year’s Budget session and last year’s winter session, respectively.
Pending crucial Bills
Current equation is causing trouble to the Government as the Upper House is still to take up crucial Bills relating to facilitation of auction of coal blocks, enhancing FDI limit in the capital starved insurance sector and enabling the extension of Delhi Special Provisions Act that expires by the end of this month. However, the Government has the option to take ordinance route for Coal and Insurance Bills.
Utilisation of time
In terms of utilisation of time, Lok Sabha has lost only 2 hours and 10 minutes so far due to interruptions. The Lower House witnessed interruptions during five of the 20 sittings losing time in the range of 12 to 55 minutes on each of these days. The House however, worked over time on eight days for a total additional duration of 8 hours and 36 minutes with a net gain of additional working hours of 6 hours 26 minutes.
Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, witnessed interruptions during 15 of the 19 sittings (for which data is available) losing a total time of 44 hours and 9 minutes. Time lost on each day of such interruptions ranged from 45 minutes to 323 minutes (5 hours 23 minutes). However, members of the Upper House worked over time on seven days making up for 8 hours and 46 minutes. The net loss of time on account of interruptions in Rajya Sabha has been 35 hours and 38 minutes.
The Ministry noted high points of winter session as introduction of 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST), passing of two labour reform laws by both the Houses, passing of The Companies(Amendment) Bill by the Lok Sabha and introduction of The Electricity (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha.