The Monsoon Session of the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Friday after 19 sittings that saw the passage of 14 legislations, including the Banking (Amendment) Bill, and the suspension of six Congress members for “highly unbecoming” behaviour.
The Monsoon Session also witnessed the elections to the posts of the President and the Vice President of the country.
Heated debate and verbal duels were witnessed between the opposition and treasury benches during the session on vital issues like cow-lynching and mob-violence, agrarian crisis and the attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat allegedly by Bharatiya Janata Party workers.
A special discussion was also held on the 75th anniversary on the Quit India Movement.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the House sat for 71 hours during the Monsoon Session. She said 29.58 hours were wasted due to disruptions, but the House tried to compensate it by sitting for 10.36 extra hours.
Starred questions numbering 63 were given oral answers and 4,370 unstarred questions were given written responses.
Ministers laid 1,270 statements during the session, while members also introduced 28 Private Members Bills in the House.
Crucial legislations like the Company (Amendments) Act 2016 and the NABARD (Amendment) Act 2017 were also passed by the Lok Sabha.
The session saw six Congress MPs getting suspended for five days for hurling papers at the Chair, termed as “highly unbecoming” behaviour. The suspended Congress members were Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh, Adhir Rajan Chowdhury, Ranjeet Ranjan, Sushmita Dev and M K Raghavan.
RAJYA SABHA
Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo
The Monsoon session of the Rajya Sabha also came to an end after passing nine bills and debates on a number of crucial issues like lynchings and the agrarian crisis facing the country.
A highlight of the session was that the new Chairman Venkaiah Naidu took over on its last day on Friday.
During the 19 sittings, the House sat for more than 80 hours but lost nearly 25 hours due to disruptions over various issues.
The House also sat late for more than seven hours to complete legislative and other business.
Naidu, before adjourning the House sine die, gave an overview of the proceedings during the session that began on July 17.
During the session, members spoke on the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement and a resolution was adopted.
Two new members Vinay Dinu Tendulkar, Sampatiya Uikey joined the House while Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati and M Venkaiah Naidu resigned.
During the session, references were also made to the passing away of Union minister Anil Madhav Dave and sitting member Palvai Govardhan Reddy as well as 11 former members.
References were also made to torrential rains in several parts including the north-east and terror attack in Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Among the Bills passed by the House were National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public Private Partnership) Bill, Right of children to free and compulsory education Bill etc.
The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill was referred to a Select Committee while the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill was referred to a joint committee.
There were 87 special mentions and 17 hours of short duration discussions.
During the session, 285 starred questions and 3,040 unstarred question were admitted and answered. Of these 46 starred questions were orally answered. Question Hour could not be taken up on three days due to disruptions.
Several reports, including those by various committees were also presented during the session.
