As Parliament assembled for the Budget Session today - the last session before the general elections this year - the 17th Lok Sabha is set to go down in history as having had the least number of sittings for a full term house since 1952.
The previous Lok Sabha had registered 331 sittings, which was till now the least number of sittings for a Lok Sabha that has lasted its full five years. The present Lok Sabha, whose term is almost over, has had 265 sittings till the end of the Winter Session.
The Budget Session, which will conclude on February 9, is slated to have eight sittings. So, the maximum number of sittings of the current Lok Sabha can be 273. This will be much lower than the 331 sittings that the 16th Lok Sabha registered. The average number of sittings of the Lok Sabha every year in the present term works out to 54.6 days.
Apart from the number of sittings, the amount of time spent working has also seen a decline. In 2023, in the Budget Session, the Lok Sabha had registered a productivity of 34 per cent. The lower house functioned for 43 per cent of the allocated time in the Monsoon Session. The productivity was much better in the Winter Session for the Lok Sabha, standing at 74 per cent.
While there has been a decline in the number of sittings and also the productivity, the legislative activity has been high, with the opposition accusing the government of rushing bills through in the midst of din. In the budget session last year, which otherwise saw very low productivity, a total of eight bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha and six were passed. In the Monsoon Session, a total of 22 bills were passed by the lower house. During the Winter Session last year, 12 bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha, and 18 bills were passed by the lower house.
The opposition has been critical of the government for allegedly calling or cutting short sessions at their own convenience without consulting the opposition parties. This Lok Sabha will also come to an end without having elected a deputy speaker. The post has been vacant since June 23, 2019.
