Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has brought important changes in the question hour procedures from Monday when the upper house meets for the budget session.

In a notification issued by the upper house today, it has been made clear that once a question is admitted it has to be answered, whether the member asking it is present in the house or not. Earlier,if a member was absent, the question wasn't taken up. This will not happen from Monday. The minister concerned will have to answer it.

Parliament has been grappling with the problem of absence of members during the question hour. As their questions are not taken up, the ministers are not held accountable to their responsibilities. The Rajya Sabha chairman has addressed this problem with the notification.

The Lok Sabha is expected to follow suit soon.

A few other changes in the procedure are as follows:

Not more than one "starred" question from one member will be put in the list of questions for oral answers. If a member asks more than one then it will be placed in the category of written answers.

Each question listed for oral answer will be in the name of only one member.

Unless the chairman directs otherwise, where a member has given more than one notice of "starred" questions for same day, his questions for oral answer will be selected in the order indicated by him or in the order of receiving the question.