The first phase of the Budget session of Parliament has been productive and the most significant and rewarding of the four sessions since the Government assumed office, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday.

“With the passing of the Mines and Minerals and Coal Mines Bills replacing the Ordinances, Parliament has enabled the beginning of a new era of transparent governance in the country,” he said, adding that the insurance Bill hiking foreign direct investment in the sector was the next major outcome, thanking the Congress for its support. 

Calling for broad political consensus on developmental issues, Naidu said that the land acquisition Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha, will be taken up in Rajya Sabha during the next phase of Budget session. A wider national debate on this issue was welcome, he added.

He termed the introduction of the Foreign Incomes and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 in Lok Sabha as a “historic initiative.”

“[The] Lok Sabha has passed 14 Bills while Rajya Sabha cleared seven and both the Houses passed a set of seven Bills. Productivity of Lok Sabha has been 123.45 per cent while Rajya Sabha has worked for 106.79 per cent of the scheduled time. Lok Sabha sat beyond the scheduled business hours on 11 days while the Upper House did so on nine days,” he added. The disruption of proceedings has also come down, he said. “While the Lok Sabha lost one hour 46 minutes due to interruptions, the House functioned for an additional 27 hours 12 minutes. Rajya Sabha has lost four hours 21 minutes but made up an additional 11 hours 41 minutes.” 

Stating that there were quality debates in both the Houses, Naidu said that 106 members of Lok Sabha and 53 of Rajya Sabha participated in the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. In the Lok Sabha, 238 members participated in the debate on Railway Budget while 176 did so on General Budget. The participation in Rajya sabha was 42 and 52, respectively.

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