Parliament worked for only half the time alloted to budget session this year compared to 2012 budget session. “Total productive time in Lok Sabha was 95 hours, i.e, only 49 percent of the scheduled time. This was significantly lower than the 2012 budget session, during which the productive time was 89 percent,” said a document prepared by PRS Legislative Research, a Delhi based think tank tracking parliament.

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In Rajya Sabha, the total productive time was marginally better than the lower house. “Total productive time in Rajya Sabha was 83 hours, i.e, 52 percent of the scheduled time. In 2012, Rajya Sabha worked for 94 percent of scheduled time during the budget session,” the study said.

But out of the total productive time spent by MPs in both houses, the study found that 30 percent of time scheduled was spent on transacting financial business in Lok Sabha while only 16 percent time was spent on budget discussions.

“Lok Sabha spent 29 hours on discussing both the general and railway budgets. The Rajya Sabha spent around 13 hours,” the study said. In the entire budget session only two bills were passed — the sexual harassment bill and the criminal law bill — while government listed 38 bills for consideration.

“At the end of this session, 116 bills are pending in parliament,” the study said.