MPs haven't worked this hard in 15 yrs

At last, our lawmakers are taking their work seriously. As per a data, the Parliament session, which concluded on Wednesday, was one of the most productive in 15 years.

The Lok Sabha, or Lower House of the Parliament, worked for 123% of the scheduled time, whereas Rajya Sabha, or Upper House, worked for 101%.

Surprisingly, the Question Hour was also attended keenly, giving high number of responses, and money bills were also discussed more than they have been in the last three years.

As per data collated by a think-tank, PRS Legislative Research, in Rajya Sabha, 31% of the scheduled questions were answered orally, the highest ever in the last 10 years, while in Lok Sabha 22% questions were answered orally.

The session had the highest instances of recorded voting in the past 15 years. However in the 16th Lok Sabha, 17% of the bills were passed by recorded vote.
On an average, in the past 15 years each Lok Sabha session recorded nearly 5% of the bills being passed by recorded voting.

Another highlight was that no private members' bill has been passed in either of the Houses in the last 47 years and in this session, such a bill mooted by Tirucha Siva giving equal rights to transgenders was unanimously passed by the Upper House.

Economic Times reported that in this session, one-third of the bills introduced replaced ordinances. As compared to 39% ordinances replaced by bills in this session, previous session like the 14th Lower House session saw 11% bills replacing ordinances, while in the 15th Lok Sabha, the number was just 8%.

The session also saw passing of important legislations such as the black money bill and constitutional amendment for the Indo-Bangladesh land boundary agreement.

(Image:Indiatimes)