Your MPs are getting down to business: LS productivity up to 103 %

The 15th Lok Sabha worked for only 61 percent of its scheduled hours of business, hit no doubt by the deadlock between the UPA and the chief opposition party, the BJP, which allowed little work to be conducted in the last year of the UPA rule. In contrast, in the past three weeks, the 16th Lok Sabha has recorded a 103 per cent productivity, according to a report by PRS Legislative. [caption id=“attachment_1641307” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] A report in The Times of India says the jump in numbers could be partially explained by the “brute majority the NDAS government enjoys in the lower House”. An earlier report in Business Standard said the first ten days of the Budget Session itself saw 98 per cent productivity, while the Rajya Sabha’s productivity was at 64 per cent. According to data from PRS Legislative, the last session of the 15th Lok Sabha ended with 291 Bills being introduced in the five-year tenure of which 37 were inherited from the 14th Lok Sabha. Parliament had a target of passing 328 Bills, but in reality managed to push through only 179 Bills, 116 Legislative Bills and 63 Finance and Appropriation Bills. Sixty-eight bills pending in Lok Sabha lapsed at the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha. That was a sharp departure from the average – Lok Sabhas that have lasted more than 3 years have passed an average of 317 bills during their tenure. Of course, the 15th Lok Sabha was also among the worst in terms of performance over its five year term, with frequent disruptions over a range of issues including the 2G spectrum scam, coal blocks allocations, the Telangana struggle, the Commonwealth Games scam and FDI in retail. There was a sharp decline in time spent on legislation, reports have pointed out. The 2G scam, in fact, rendered the session held in November-December 2010 almost a complete waste with only about seven hours of business. The remaining business hours were a complete washout. In the final three sessions of Lok Sabha between August 2012 and May 2013, total time lost to disruptions was more than time spent on sittings. According to another PRS report the 15th Lok Sabha saw “the worst performance of the lower house in more than fifty years”. In comparison to its 61 percent productivity, the 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas worked for 91 percent and 87 percent of their scheduled time respectively.