As the Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die on Wednesday, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu congratulated the members and the leaders for turning around the Upper House as a functional House breaking away from a disruptive past. “With a productivity (utilisation of the available time) of 104.92 per cent, this Session is the most productive of the last 17 Sessions. The House reporting 100 per cent or more productivity for the first time in the last five years. The 232nd Session in 2014 reported 105.47 per cent productivity. During the last five sessions, productivity of the Rajya Sabha ranged from a low of 7.44 per cent to a maximum of 65.60 per cent,” Naidu told the House.
In his concluding remarks, Naidu also said 32 Bills passed in the 249th session, which is the highest in the last 17 years and the fifth best in the last 41 years. “35 Bills were passed during the 197th Session in 2002. The highest number of Bills passed in the last 41 years since 1978 was 37 Bills during 131st session in 1984,” Naidu said. The House passed only 33 Bills during the last five Sessions with a total of 88 sittings.
Naidu added that with a total duration of 195 hours spent on transacting business over 35 sittings, this budget Session turned out to be the best of 36 Sessions during the last 11 years. “The 217th Session in 2009 had a total business time of 147 hours 27 minutes,” he said. 173 hours and 33 minutes were spent on transacting business in the last five sessions. With 35 sittings, he said, this Session was the longest in the last 14 years. The longest Session since 1952 was the 9th Session held in 1955 with as many as 50 sittings.
About 151 starred questions could be orally answered during the session. The earlier record is answering 165 such questions during the 204th Session in 2005. “With 40.27 per cent of starred questions orally answered during this Session (151 of 175), it marked the best in the last 16 years and 51 Sessions. The 198th Session in 2003 had logged 43.63 per cent,” Naidu said. By presenting 194 special mentions, this budget session set the best record in this aspect in the last 12 sessions. During the zero hour, 326 submissions were presented and it turned out to be the best in the last 20 years spanning 63 Sessions. “The next best in this regard being 205 such submissions during the 242nd Session in 2017. During the last five Sessions, a total of only 241 zero hour submissions could be made over 88 sittings,” Naidu said.