President prorogues Budget Session of Parliament
President Ram Nath Kovind today prorogued the Budget Session of Parliament, after both the Houses were adjourned sine die earlier in the day.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha were adjourned sine die, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, met briefly to recommend prorogation of the session. According to separate statements issued by secretariats of both the houses, President Ram Nath Kovind has prorogued the Budget session.
The session that commenced on January 29 was held in two phases. While in the first half the Union Budget was presented, the second half was nearly washed out because of disruptions.
During the session, Lok Sabha held 29 sittings and Rajya Sabha held 30 sittings.
Five Bills were passed in Lok Sabha while Rajya Sabha passed only one bill. The first half of the Budget session was successful with 134% & 96% productivity in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. But the 2nd half saw only four percent and eight percent productivity in the lower house and Upper house respectively. The average productivity of Budget session is Lok Sabha was 23% while in Rajya Sabha 28%.
In his valedictory remarks in the Rajya Sabha, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu expressed anguish over the functioning of the House during the second part of the Budget Session. He said a total of 124 hours of precious time has been lost due to disruptions as against only 45 hours of functioning.
The govt held the Congress responsible for seeking to damage Parliamentary democracy. It accused the opposition party of disrupting both the Houses.and dis-regrading govt’s willingness to discuss any issue in Parliament.
127 hours and 45 minutes were lost to disruptions in Lok Sabha. and 120 hours were wasted in Rajya Sabha. While the first half of the session was highly productive, with Lok Sabha clocking 134% productivity and Rajya Sabha working for 96% of the scheduled time.
The productivity in second the half fell dramatically. with Lok Sabha clocking 4 % productivity and Rajya Sabha working for 8% of its scheduled time.