New Delhi, Feb 13 (UNI) Expressing disappointment over low productivity in Rajya Sabha owing to disruptions during the just-concluded budget session, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said that a dysfunctional House was a matter of serious concern as it posed threat to parliamentary democracy.
On the last day on Wednesday the House adopted--without discussion--the motion of thanks to President for his address and passed five Bills including the interim budget.
The motion was adopted by voice vote after amendments moved by opposition parties were withdrawn. The Interim Budget 2019-20 was also passed by voice vote without debate.
However, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, could not be taken up.
The Consumer Protection Bill was also dropped after opposition members blocked it even as Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan was on his feet to table it. Opposition members objected to the nature of amendments such as formation of an Authority saying it was against the federal structure.
The Chairman later said he had called for the Consumer Bill to be considered as there was a ``misunderstanding and a communication gap’’.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Opposition Leader Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) and leaders of various parties including Sharad Pawar (NCP), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Derek O’Brien (TMC) watched, Mr Naidu said, ``With a heavy heart I have to say that this short but important Budget session of Rajya Sabha turned out to be yet another wasted opportunity which is a matter of serious concern as it poses a serious threat.
``Members will have to decide whether they want the House to be a performing one or a dysfunctional one,’’ he said in his closing remarks before adjourning the House sine die.
Urging members to evolve a ``collective conscience’’ to enable effective functioning of the House to prevent any further damage to its standing, Mr Naidu said the House of Elders are expected to show the way to others. During the session, 44 hours were lost due to disruptions.
Presenting a `Report to the People’ on the functioning of the House, he said since June 2014, Rajya Sabha held 18 sessions and 329 sittings till Wednesday and passed only 154 Bills.
``This comes to less than a bill in two sittings. The bills passed during this period is 34 lesser than the 188 bills passed during 2009-14 and an astonishing 58 bills lesser than the 251 bills passed by this House during 2004-09. These statistics clearly show that the legislative output of this House has substantially declined since 2014,’’ he said.
``In terms of bills passed, it ranged from just one Bill in case of the Winter session of 2016 and the Budget session of 2018, two bills passed during the Monsoon session of 2015 to a maximum of 14 bills each passed during the monsoon sessions of 2016 and 2018,’’ he said.
The Chairman noted that since June 2014, the productivity of the House was only 60 per cent. Of the total 18 sessions in the last five years, the productivity of the House had been below the five-year average of 60 per cent in respect of eight sessions.
Observing that the Chair had its ``limitations in altering the scripts of the some sections of the House’’, he asked if that be so what could be a way forward.
The Report of a two-member committee to examine the existing provisions of the Rule of Business of the House in terms of their adequacy to enable smooth functioning of the House was awaited, he said.
Hoping there will not be further downslide in the coming sessions, he said, ``As the House of Elders, we need to lead by example. We must script a new chapter next time we meet, a chapter we can be proud of.’’
On the final day, three Bills namely the Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill 2019, the Appropriation Bill, the Finance Bill, 2019 were returned and two Bills namely, the Personal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (3rd Amendment) Bill, 2019 were passed.
Apart from that, six Bills including Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill, the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (3rd Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the International Financial Services Centre Authority Bill, 2019, the Cinematographers (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2019 were introduced during the session.
This was the last session before general elections which are due in May 2019.
UNI GP SHK1945