Monsoon Session hit by uproar, only 37 hours of work completed
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu)- The monsoon session of Parliament was completely marred by uproar. A total of 120 hours were allotted for discussion in the session that began on July 21, but due to continuous uproar, only 37 hours of discussion could be held in the Lok Sabha. Speaker Om Birla gave this information before adjourning the Lok Sabha indefinitely on Thursday.
This time there was a complete deadlock in Parliament over the Bihar SIR process. Assembly elections are to be held in Bihar in the next few months. The opposition alleges that the votes of the people of Bihar have been cut through the SIR process. The opposition remained adamant till the last day for discussion in the House on these issues. Meanwhile, many incidents like sloganeering, tearing and throwing bills and waving placards were seen in Parliament. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressed serious concern over the conduct of some members and cited the use of slogans and placards written in unparliamentary language. Even in the last minute of the monsoon session, sloganeering was seen in the House by opposition MPs. Opposition members kept raising slogans of 'Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod' in the Lok Sabha.
Om Birla said that "the whole country is watching our conduct." He urged all the members to maintain the dignity of the House and protect the values of the world's largest democracy. Despite the Speaker's persuasion, the uproar continued. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh arrived to participate in the proceedings at 12.04 pm on the last day of the session. Amidst the uproar of the opposition, Speaker Om Birla informed about the work done in the last one month while adjourning the House. Om Birla informed that 120 hours were allotted for discussion. However, only 37 hours could be used due to repeated disruptions from the opposition members. Speaker Birla said that 419 starred questions were submitted, yet only 55 were answered. The Speaker informed that 14 bills were introduced and 12 were passed in the entire session, including the Income Tax Bill, Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill and National Sports Administration Bill. The Online Gaming Regulation Bill was also passed. However, the 130th Amendment Bill to the Constitution was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Speaker Om Birla informed the House that a special discussion was held on 'Operation Sindoor' on 28-29 July, in which Prime Minister Modi addressed the House. On August 18, a special discussion was held on the achievements of India's space program. Speaker Om Birla's tone was harsh while commenting on the conduct of some members on the last day of the House. He told the agitating MPs that the whole country watches our conduct and functioning as public representatives. The public elects us here with expectations, so that we can discuss issues of their interest and important topics. Earlier, he refused to consider several adjournment notices received on Thursday, but allowed some brief work, including the submission of reports of some committees. Kalyan Vaijnathrao Kale presented the report of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. Gajendra Singh Patel presented the report of the Social Justice and Empowerment Committee for 2024-25.
How much does a discussion in Parliament cost?
Whenever there is a discussion in Parliament, the cost of one minute is equal to the income of a common man for the whole year. Here, 2.5 lakh rupees are spent for one minute. That means more than 1.5 crore rupees are spent in one hour. This figure was given by former Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal in the year 2012, now after about 13 years, this cost can be many times more. This includes the entire cost of live telecast, air conditioning and staff. During this time, many additional employees are also employed, along with this, MPs are also given travel and other allowances.