Rajya Sabha lost 52.30 percent of sitting time in Winter Session’s first week

The Rajya Sabha lost 52.30 percent of the scheduled sitting time during the first week of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament on account of “disruptions and forced adjournments” due to the constant protests by opposition parties, ANI reported on Sunday.

 As quoted by ANI, the situation seemed to be returning to normal as the productivity in the Upper House remained above 95 percent on the last two days of the week that ended on 3 December, ANI also reported. The best productivity of 100 per cent was reported on Friday.

Since the commencement of Parliament’s Winter Session on Monday, there have been continuous disruptions in the functioning of both Houses due to the protests by the members of Opposition parties, said Hindustan Times in a report.

It said, in a move that further fuelled anger in opposition leaders, 12 of their lawmakers in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the Winter Session on the very first day on Monday following a motion brought in by the government.

The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the Monsoon Session in August when marshals were called after opposition leaders stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

Among the suspended members six are from the Congress – Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh. Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri are from the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai, the CPI’s Binoy Viswam and CPI(M) leader Elamaram Kareem.

On Friday, Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu held discussions with some opposition leaders and ministers to urge both sides to further discuss their stated views on the suspension of 12 members of the House in the wake of their demand for a revocation, said _Hindustan Time_s.

The Winter Session began on 29 November and is likely to conclude on 23 December.

With inputs from agencies