Parliament disruptions COST India Rs 25 crore in 12 days!

The current Lok Sabha has completed half its tenure (two-and-a-half years) but it has utilised just 72 per cent of the allotted time so far. In the ongoing winter session, it has convened every day since November 22 but not conducted any business at all.

As against 1,110 hours available, the House sat for only 798 hours and 39 minutes. The current Lok Sabha appears to be jinxed as it has wasted a record number of hours in just two-and-a-half years, surpassing total disturbances during the full five-year term of the previous Houses.

In the 15th Lok Sabha, 28 per cent of precious working hours have been lost in pandemonium and adjournments.

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The PRS Legislative Research, a Delhi-based NGO which has access to all Parliament records, has revealed in an analysis the declining interest of the MPs in conduct of regular business, for which they are elected and paid for.

Our present Parliamentarians can take lessons from members of the ninth Lok Sabha, which worked far longer than its mandatory working hours. It sat for 115 per cent of the total 654 hours allotted, the eighth Lok Sabha for 111 per cent, 108 per cent in the 11th Lok Sabha and 109 per cent in the 12th Lok Sabha.

The malady of disturbances started taking a toll on the functioning of Lok Sabha since the 13th Lok Sabha, convened during the National Democratic Alliance's regime, when nine per cent of allotted hours were lost as the House sat for 1,940 hours and 39 minutes as against the allotted time of 2,136 hours.

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The loss increased to 13 per cent in the 14th Lok Sabha, when the actual hours of sitting were 1,736 hours and 35 minutes, as against the allotted time of 1992 hours.

According to a PRS press release, the number of hours the Lok Sabha has been meeting over the last 25 years indicates a steady decline in the actual time Parliament does any work since the last 13 years or so.

The study pointed out that many of the Bills were passed in the current Lok Sabha with barely five minutes of debate. That is the case with 17 per cent of the 57 Bills passed so far.

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The government has piled up almost 200 Bills, while only 57 have received the Lok Sabha's nod so far.

It is estimated that the exchequer loses Rs 25 lakh for every hour lost in the House due to disruptions.

Taking into account the loss of six working hours every day in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the continuous disruption and daily adjournment of the two Houses since the winter session must have caused a loss of not less than Rs 25 crore.

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