Context: The 17th Lok Sabha, which is entering its final year, 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, 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.
Poor Functioning of 17th Lok Sabha
- The latest session (Budget session) held from January 31, 2023, to April 6, 2023, with a recess from February 14 to March 12 saw limited legislative activity, and minimal discussion on the Budget amidst continuous disruptions.
- In this session, the Lok Sabha functioned for 33% of its scheduled time (46 hours) and the Rajya Sabha functioned for 24% (32 hours).
- In the 15 days of the second part of the session, the Lok Sabha worked for 5% of its scheduled time and the Rajya Sabha for 6%, with most of the time spent on the procedural work of tabling papers.
- In this Lok Sabha, so far, 150 Bills have been introduced and 131 Bills have been passed (excluding Finance and Appropriation Bills).
- The latest Budget session was the sixth shortest Budget session since 1952.
- The Lok Sabha spent 18 hours on financial business, of which 16 hours were spent on the general discussion of the Budget.
- The Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address was the only item discussed in the latest session.
- The latest session also saw the least amount of time spent on questions in the current Lok Sabha. Question Hour functioned for 19% of the scheduled time in the Lok Sabha and 9% of the scheduled time in the Rajya Sabha.
- About 7% of starred questions were answered in each House.
- No Private Member Bills were introduced or discussed in this session.
- Each House discussed one Private Member Resolution only.
