'Laws or Papri Chaat?': Derek O'Brien laments 'bulldozing' of legislation in Parliament

Lashing out at the Centre for bulldozing bills through Parliament, TMC MP Derek O'Brien on Monday, pointed out that either Houses have passed 12 Bills in the past 10 days. Clocking an average time of under seven minutes of debate, O'Brien questioned if Parliament was passing legislation or papri chaat. The Parliament's monsoon session which started on July 19, will end on August 13.

TMC: 'Bills or Papri chaat?'

O'Brien listed the four bills passed in Rajya Sabha under 10 minutes of debate - Marine aids to navigation, Juvenile Justice Bill, Factoring Regulation and Coconut Development Board - with the last being passed in a minute of discussion. Similarly, in Lok Sabha, eight bills have passed under 15 minutes of debate - Factoring regulation, National instituted of Food technology and management, Insolvency and Bankruptcy, Supplementary demands for grants, Appropriation No. 3 & 4, Inland vessels and Airports economic regulatory authority of India. As per PRS, Lok Sabha has clocked 14% productivity while Rajya Sabha clocked 21% productivity this session.

Parliament chaos affects productivity

The Rajya Sabha secretariat stated that the House has lost 40 out of 50 working hours during the first two weeks of the session due to continual adjournments as Opposition continues to protest against Pegasus allegations. "Of the total 50 working hours available, 39 hours 52 minutes have been lost due to disruptions. A mere 1 hour 38 minutes of Question Hour out of its 9 dedicated hours," stated RS secretariat. Matters related to COVID were discussed in the session for 4 hours 37 minutes during the first week, while Centre has laid a statement on the Pegasus spyware issue. No debate has happened on the issue, as demanded by Opposition.

In Lok Sabha, as per PRS, the session has functioned only for 8.6 hours with questions taking the highest share of time. With low productivity of 14%, Lok Sabha has devoted 45.7% of the time to questions, 13.2% to legislation, 13.4% to non-legislation and 25.9% to other issues. Inspite of repeated adjournment notices, no debate has been held on Farmers' protests, Pegasus issue. Amid a rise in COVID cases in some states, Lok Sabha has earmarked a discussion on the COVID situation on Friday.