The winter session of Parliament, 2010 was worst among the 82 sessions since the beginning of the 8th Lok Sabha in 1985, says PRS Legislative, a Delhi based think tank.

Parliament was adjourned for the most of the time due to the demand raised by the opposition parties to form a JPC to investigate the 2G. “Lok Sabha worked for 7 hrs and 37 min, 5.5 percent of available time and Rajya Sabha for 2 hrs and 44 min, 2.4 percent of available time,” the study says.

“This session has been unique insofar that Parliament continued to be stalled throughout the duration of its sitting. Earlier Parliament used to resume work for all sessions since the beginning of the 8th Lok Sabha (1985),” the study said.

The PRS points out two other sessions that saw low performance – 10th Lok Sabha, November 1995 (Sukhram telecom controversy) and 14th Lok Sabha, June 2004 (tainted ministers controversy).

Only nine legislative bills  were introduced during this session while the Lok Sabha managed to pass two pending bills with the Rajya Sabha failing to clear a single one.

According to the study, “The Supplementary Demands for Grants (Appropriation Bills) were passed in both houses without discussion.”

C.V. Madhukar, director of PRS Legislative research recently wrote in the Indian Express. “This hurried passing of legislation and demands for grants can have serious policy costs which are far in excess of the cost of running of Parliament.”

The study noted that question hour was held twice in Lok Sabha and no private business was taken up due to the logjam. “This session, Private Members did not get an opportunity to discuss any of their Bills or Resolutions.”

The winter session of parliament began on November 9 and concluded on December 13.

Study One

Study Two