Rs 2.5 lakh per minute: The cost of Parliament logjam

The logjam in Parliament’s Monsoon Session over Manipur continues. On Tuesday, home minister Amit Shah in letters to Opposition leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the Opposition to rise above party lines and cooperate with the Centre to discuss the issue in Parliament. But what does this logjam in Parliament cost the Indian taxpayer? Let’s take a closer look: Time wasted, low productivity First, let’s briefly look back at the recently concluded Budget Session – which took place from 31 January to 6 April and 14 February to 12 March. As per News18,  the Lok Sabha functioned for a mere 45.9 hours out of its slated 133.6 hours and the Rajya Sabha worked for 32.3 hours out of its allotted 130 hours.

The Financial Express reported that no bills were passed in the first half of the Budget Session.

The second half of the Budget Session was even worse than the first half, according to Financial Express. The Lok Sabha ran for a minuscule 1.45 hours of its slated 36 hours, while the Rajya Sabha functioned for just 2.78 hours out of its scheduled 35.50 hours in the second half. In all, the Budget Session saw its lowest productivity in five years, as per News18. Indian Express quoted a report by PRS Legislative Research (PRS) as saying: “Entering the final year of its term, the 17th Lok Sabha has functioned for 230 sitting days so far. Of all the Lok Sabhas that completed the full five-year term, the 16th Lok Sabha had the lowest number of sitting days (331). With one more year remaining in the term, and 58 average sitting days a year, the 17th Lok Sabha is unlikely to sit for more than 331 days. This could make it the shortest full-term Lok Sabha since 1952.” Indian Express quoted MoS Parliamentary Affairs Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal as saying the Lok Sabha overall recorded a productivity of 34 per cent, while the Rajya Sabha’s productivity was 24.4 per cent during the entire Budget Session. The newspaper quoted Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar as saying the productivity in the Budget Session’s first half was 56.3 per cent compared to an “abysmal 6.4 per cent” in its second half. [caption id=“attachment_12894862” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jagdeep Dhankhar in the House on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi. PTI[/caption] Dhankhar pegged the House productivity at just 24.4 per cent. “Let’s ponder over the dismal performance of the House and find a way out,” Dhankhar added. But recent history shows the logjam has seemingly become a trend. As per Indian Express, the Lok Sabha in 2022 functioned for 177 hours, while the Rajya Sabha did so for 127.6 hours. In 2021, those figures were at 131.8 hours and 104 hours respectively. In 2020, the Lower House functioned for 111.2 hours and the Upper House for 93.8 hours. Monetary cost Financial Express quoted ex-Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achary as pegging the cost of running Parliament at Rs 2.5 lakh per minute. Achary told the newspaper this comprises the building upkeep as well as electricity, water, petrol, and food bills, parliament security, salaries and allowances of MPs, their bodyguards, parliament staff and all employees involved directly or indirectly.

The newspaper in March estimated the cost of the Parliament logjam in the Budget Session at Rs 10 crore over just six days.

The 2021 logjam in Parliament was projected to have cost the taxpayer around Rs 133 crore. What do experts say? News18 quoting from a piece entitled The Cost of Parliamentary Disruptions by Chakshu Roy, head of legislative and civic engagement initiatives at PRS, notes that “a decline in the productivity of Parliament impairs its ability to effectively perform the duties that have been entrusted to it by the Constitution". “With Parliament being disrupted routinely, Members of Parliament (MPs) are not able to ask ministers tough questions during question hour to assess the work that their ministries are doing. With disruptions eating into the time available for parliamentary business, adequate time is not available for debating legislation. As a result, bills either get passed without effective debate or remain pending in Parliament. With Parliament meeting for a fewer number of days and with its productivity falling on account of disruptions, MPs are not able to raise matters of urgent public importance and bring it to the attention of the government,” Roy wrote.

But Roy noted that there’s money than just money at stake.

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Speaking to Financial Express in March, Roy said the ‘failure to have constructive debates to address contentious issues should concern all of us as citizens.’ “When Parliament does not function, laws needed to address challenges in governance are not legislated, the government gets away with minimal scrutiny over its functioning, and MPs lose out on the opportunity to represent the interests of their constituents. A larger cost still is the loss of faith in the institution of Parliament and its role in upholding Indian democracy,” Roy added. Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament remain disrupted ever since the Monsoon session began on July 20 with the Opposition parties demanding a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Manipur violence before a discussion. The Opposition has tried to corner the government on the Manipur violence after a video of a 4 May incident appeared on social media recently showing two women stripped and paraded naked by a mob. The Manipur Police has arrested several accused seen in the video. The police said a case of abduction, gang rape and murder has been registered at the Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district. More than 160 people have lost their lives and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on 3 May. With inputs from agencies