NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha has clocked a productivity of 99.8 per cent during the Budget Session that concluded Thursday.
It is the third best productivity of the House during the last 14 sessions since the Monsoon Session (243rd session) of 2017.
As against the scheduled 29 sittings, the Rajya Sabha held 27 sittings including 10 during the first part of the Budget Session and 17 during the second part. Two sittings were given up ahead of Holi and Ram Navami on the suggestions of leaders of various parties in the House.
This Budget Session started on a positive note without disruptions and forced adjournments during the first 12 full sittings, the best such stretch during the last three years.
The House witnessed forced adjournments on six days, all during the second part of the Session. The members sat beyond the scheduled hours on 11 days. In all, 21 of the 27 sittings were free of forced adjournments.
As against the scheduled sitting time of 127 hours 54 minutes, the House functioned for 127 hours 44 minutes. The productivity of the House would have been 100 per cent but for the loss of these 10 minutes.
While functional time of 9 hours 26 minutes was lost due to disruptions and forced adjournments, the House gained 9 hours 16 minutes with members sitting beyond the scheduled hours.
The members discussed four ministries of Railways, Development of North-Eastern Region, Tribal Affairs and Labour and Employment for a total time of 22 hours 34 minutes. This was the best performance in this regard in the last 12 years, after five ministries were discussed in 2010.
Of the total functional time, 37 per cent was spent on debates on Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the members of both Houses, Union Budget for 2022-23 and the working of four ministries. 23 per cent of the time was spent on the Government's Bills and 10 per cent on raising issues of public importance through Zero Hour and Special Mentions.
During this Budget Session, the Rajya Sabha has passed 11 Bills including the six on Appropriation and Finance Bills that were returned. One Bill, the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 was introduced in the House on Thursday.
135 Starred Questions, accounting for 37.50 per cent of the total 360 listed, were orally answered in the House. Members raised issues of public importance through 248 Zero Hour and 168 Special Mentions.
During the second part of the Budget Session, the eight Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees of Rajya Sabha held a total of 16 meetings for a total duration of 19 hours 30 minutes. The average attendance in these meetings has been 50.10 per cent with the Committees on Home Affairs, Education and Health and Family Welfare reporting average attendance of over 60 per cent.
The average duration of these 16 meetings has been one hour 13 minutes. These committees submitted 36 reports during the second part of the session including 30 on the demands for grants of various ministries and departments.
The productivity of the Rajya Sabha during this session has improved from 94 per cent during the Budget Session last year.