RS productivity falls to 47.9%, Venkaiah Naidu calls for introspection

New Delhi : Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday called for a collective reflection and individual introspection as the House clocked a productivity of 47.9 per cent only, which is the fifth lowest of the 12 sessions held in over four years.The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, a day ahead of the schedule.
Naidu expressed his concern and unhappiness over the functioning of the House. In his brief valedictory remarks, Naidu urged the MPs to collectively reflect and individually introspect on the way the session has gone by.He observed; “The winter session of the august House concludes today. I am not happy to share with you that the House functioned much below its potential. I urged all of you to collectively and individually reflect and introspect if this session could have been different and better. I don’t want to speak elaborately on the course of this session as it would lead me to take a very critical view. Statistics regarding various aspects of functioning of the House during this session will be released to the media for wider dissemination.”The Rajya Sabha clocked productivity of 47.90 per cent during the 18 sittings of the winter session that concluded Wednesday. Out of the total scheduled sitting time of 95 hours 06 minutes, the House could discharge business only for 45 hours 34 minutes.

This session’s productivity of 47.90 per cent is the fifth lowest among the 12 sessions presided over by Naidu over the last four years.A total time of 49 hours 32 minutes was lost due to persistent disruptions and forced adjournments. The time lost amounts to 52.08 per cent of the available time.The Question Hour was the worst hit with 60.60 per cent of the total Question Hour time available having been lost as forfeited on account of disruptions. Question Hour could not be taken up at all on seven of the 18 sittings.Ten Bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha during the session while the discussion on the Appropriation Bill scheduled to be concluded on the last day was not taken up.A total time of 21 hours 07 minutes was spent on discussing the Government Bills, including the Appropriation Bill accounting for 46.5 per cent of the functional time of the House. 127 interventions were made by the MPs in these debates.The members could avail only about 30 per cent of the time available for Zero Hour during the session and only 82 Zero Hour submissions could be made during the 18 sittings. 64 Special Mentions were made by the MPs.During the Winter Session period, seven Department Related Standing Committees of the Rajya Sabha have held a total of 19 meetings over a total duration of 28 hours 36 minutes. These Committees clocked an average duration of 1 hour 32 minutes and an average attendance of about 51 per cent in these meetings.The Committee on Transport, Tourism & Culture held the highest of seven meetings with the highest average duration of 2 hours 05 minutes per meeting. The Committees on Health and Family Welfare, Commerce and Home Affairs reported good attendance of about 60 per cent or more.