Rajya Sabha productivity improves by 5.6% in second week, five bills passed

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha recorded a productivity of 52.50 percent, an improvement by 5.6 percent over that of the first week in which the House was repeatedly adjourned due to Opposition’s protest demanding revocation of suspension of 12 members for the remainder of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. During the first two weeks of the current session, Rajya Sabha spent 34.25 percent of the functional time on the government’s legislative business and passed five bills with two of the bills, the Farm Laws Repeal Bill and the Dam Safety Bills, being cleared by the Upper House in the first week. Of the total scheduled sitting time of 56 hours for the first two weeks, 28 hours 30 minutes was lost due to disruptions and forced adjournments. The House clocked productivity of 52.5 percent transacting business for 14 hours 57 minutes out of the scheduled sitting time of 28 hours 30 minutes during the second week. The productivity of the House has been 49.7 percent during the first week of the session after it lost 52.30 percent of its scheduled sitting time. During these two weeks, the House passed a total of five bills spending 34.25 percent of the functional time on the legislative business. Two bills were passed in the first week whereas three were passed in the second week. A total of 56 MPs took part in the debate of these bills spending 9 hours 48 minutes. 21.89 percent of the functional time were spent on the Starred questions. During the second week, a Short Duration Discussion on price rise was listed in the Business but could not be taken up. The High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Condition of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021 has been listed in the Business of the House for Monday, November 13, for consideration and return.