How serious are our parliamentarians about the legislative work? A report by PRS Legislative Research shows that no private members’ bill has been passed by parliament since 1970. In the year 1956, a maximum of six private member bills were passed.

The report also shows that on an average, Congress MPs have introduced more such bills than their BJP counterparts. In fact, recently the young Congress MP from Ludhiana, Manish Tewari, has moved a private member bill to amend the anti-defection law. The amendment seeks to provide freedom of expression to parliamentarians without fear of loss of membership for toeing an independent line in all instances except no-confidence motions and money bills.

Ruling parties cut a sorry figure in the report as it says when a party forms the government its average per head contribution of Private Members’ Bills usually decreases.

Read the full report.