The Winter Session of Parliament in 2016 was a total washout with the productivity of work done in Lok Sabha at 17.39 percent and that of Rajya Sabha at 20.61 percent. Lok Sabha worked for 14 percent of the scheduled hours, while Rajya Sabha for 18 percent.
Instead of rational debate between the Narendra Modi government and the Opposition in the two houses, they ended in ruckus over demonetisation and Rahul Gandhi's claim that the Prime Minister was corrupt. There was no discussion over the numerous I-T raids and seizures of cash and gold from individuals and banks.
In the month-long session these are the bills that were passed:
| The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016 |
| The Appropriation (No.5) Bill, 2016. |
| The Appropriation (No.4) Bill, 2016 |
| The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016 |
In the Lok Sabha, non-legislative debate took 28 percent of the time and in the Rajya Sabha it took a whopping 55 percent of the time, according to think tank PRS Legislative.
Eight legislative bills were introduced during the session and only two were passed. One bill was withdrawn.
Senior BJP leader LK Advani said on Thursday that he feels like resigning because of the chaos in Parliament. On Friday, Vice President Hamid Ansari said that both the sides need to introspect over what is dissent, disruption and agitation.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda said, "I have never witnessed this type of atmosphere. I am sorry, it is the people's money we are spending. I agree with him (VP Hamid Ansari) 200 percent, members should introspect."
The Congress and other opposition parties and the BJP engaged in acrimonious shouting in Parliament over the past month and failed to come to a resolution for political one-upmanship.
A crucial bill for women, the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, was listed in Lok Sabha. If passed, it would have increased maternity leave for women from 23 weeks to 26 weeks.
Rolling out Central GST and Integrated GST bills would have led to the bill come into place from April 2016. However, since the bill did not see the light of day this session, it will be taken up in the Budget Session in 2017, delaying it further.
The government is planning to advance the Budget Session to February 1 so that GST can be rolled out by March 31, the Indian Express reported.
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