97 pc productivity but 387 hours lost due to disruptions during 17th Lok Sabha: Om Birla
New Delhi : Speaker Om Birla on Saturday said that the overall productivity of the 17th Lok Sabha has been around 97 per cent, the highest among the tenures of the last five Houses. The lower House of Parliament also lost a total of 387 hours to disruptions, he said.
The fifteenth session of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha, which commenced on January 31, 2024, was adjourned sine die today. With this, the Seventeenth Lok Sabha was also adjourned sine die.
In his valedictory remarks, the Lok Sabha Speaker said that a total of 274 sittings were held during the last five years which lasted 1,354 hours. The House sat late for more than 345 hours and completed its business.
He said the Seventeenth Lok Sabha, which held its first meeting on June 17, 2019, has been historic in various ways.
Birla said that out of 543 members of the seventeenth Lok Sabha, 540 members participated in discussions held in the House. He added that women MPs saw maximum representation in the 17th Lok Sabha and the House also witnessed their active participation in the proceedings.
Birla further said that the 17th Lok Sabha passed 222 bills. During this period, 202 bills were introduced and 11 were withdrawn by the government.
He said Nari Shakti Vandan Bill, 2023 was the first bill to be taken up for discussion in the new building of Parliament and the historic bill was passed on the same day with the support of all parties.
The House also passed other significant legislations including Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, Muslim Women (Protection of Marriage Rights) Bill, Consumer Protection Bill, Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, Industrial Relations Code and others.
Birla said that during the 17th Lok Sabha many ineffective bills from the pre-independence era were repealed. Three constitution amendment bills were also passed by the House during the term of this Lok Sabha.
The Speaker said that 4663 starred questions were listed, out of which 1116 questions were answered orally. In the same period, 55,889 unstarred questions were also asked for which written answers were given. All the listed starred questions were answered orally on two occasions during this Lok Sabha.
A total of 729 Private Members’ Bills were introduced in this Lok Sabha and 26,750 papers were laid by ministers.
Biral said 5568 matters were taken up under Zero Hour while 4869 matters under Rule 377 were raised by the members. A total of 161 matters were taken up in one day under Zero Hour on July 18, 2019 and 1066 matters were raised during Zero Hour in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, which is a record.
For the first time in this Lok Sabha, in order to ensure executive accountability, respective ministries were requested to respond to issues raised during Zero Hour and a good number of responses were received from the ministries concerned.
Birla said that during the 17th Lok Sabha, 534 statements were made by ministers on various subjects. Twelve discussions under Rule 193 were also held during this Lok Sabha.
Parliamentary Standing Committees presented a total of 691 reports in this Lok Sabha and more than 69 percent of recommendations were accepted by the government.
Speaking on innovations undertaken, Birla mentioned about PRISM, Briefing Sessions for Members of Parliament, home delivery of library books to MPs, digitization of proceedings, Mobile app, sharing of MPs’ video footage on Whatsapp.
Birla said that maximum use of digital technology is being made in parliamentary work while realising the vision of paperless office. More than 97 per cent question notices are being given through electronic medium.
Speaking on the austerity measures, Birla said savings of around Rs 875 crore were made, which is 23 per cent of the budget of the Secretariat.
Canteen subsidy was completely abolished during this Lok Sabha resulting in an annual saving of around Rs 15 crore. Facade lighting in Samvidhan Sadan and the merger of Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV have led to savings of crores of rupees.
Parliamentary delegations from 16 countries visited India during this Lok Sabha. Also, 42 Indian Parliamentary delegations visited abroad. Birla said that the active participation in international parliamentary forums is indicative of India’s growing stature and prestige at the global level.
