The winter session of Parliament wrapped up on Friday, highlighting a notable decline in productivity for both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the overall productivity rate remained around 58 percent throughout the session. The Institute for Policy Research Studies (PRS) reported that the Lok Sabha operated for only 52 percent of its scheduled time, while the Rajya Sabha recorded a productivity rate of just 39 percent.
Before the session concluded, the Lok Sabha referred two bills related to simultaneous elections—the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill—to a Joint Committee of Parliament. This committee is composed of 27 members from the Lok Sabha and 12 from the Rajya Sabha. Some notable members from the Lok Sabha include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Anurag Thakur, and Bansuri Swaraj, while Rajya Sabha members include Sanjay Kumar Jha, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Sanjay Singh. The committee is expected to present its report to the Lok Sabha during the first week of the next session.
The session comprised 20 sittings that lasted approximately 62 hours. The Lok Sabha achieved a productivity rating of 57.87 percent during this period. Discussions marking the 75th anniversary of the Constitution’s adoption started on December 13 and concluded the following day. Throughout the session, five government bills were introduced, with four successfully passed. Members raised 61 starred questions orally and addressed 182 matters of urgent public concern during the Zero Hour, totaling 397 issues addressed under Rule 377.
Notably, PRS indicated that just one bill—the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024—was passed in the first six months of the 18th Lok Sabha, the lowest in the last six Lok Sabha terms. The functioning of the question hour faced considerable disruption; the Rajya Sabha did not hold this session on 15 out of 19 days, and in the Lok Sabha, the question hour rarely extended beyond 10 minutes on 12 of the 20 days. This segment is crucial for holding the government accountable for its actions.
Moreover, no private member’s business was addressed in the Lok Sabha, while only one resolution was discussed in the Rajya Sabha. A note from PRS pointed out that the 18th Lok Sabha has yet to elect a deputy speaker, mirroring the scenario of the 17th Lok Sabha, which also functioned without one throughout its entire term.
