Rajya Sabha chairman urges Centre, Opposition parties to resolve Parliament logjam

Following the logjam in the Parliament since the beginning of the Monsoon Session, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday urged both the Narendra Modi-led Central government and the Opposition parties to jointly resolve the existing deadlock in the Parliament.

Rajya Sabha Chairman meets heavyweights

Concerned over the issue, the Rajya Sabha Chairman held a meeting with the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and Leader of the House Piyush Goyal on Monday evening.

As per sources, Rajya Sabha Chairman Naidu also discussed the issue in the House with the Leader of the Opposition at Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, after the first adjournment of the House on Tuesday.

Parliament ruckus affects productivity

It may be noted here that the Rajya Sabha secretariat had recently stated that the House has lost 40 out of 50 working hours till date due to continual adjournments as the 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 the Rajya Sabha secretariat. While the Centre has laid a statement on the Pegasus spyware issue, no debate has happened on the issue, as demanded by the Opposition. The Monsoon Session commenced on July 19, 2021, and will continue till August 13, 2021.

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. In spite of repeated adjournment notices, no debate has been held on Farmers' protests, Pegasus issue. 

Meanwhile, the Centre on July 31 has tasked Defence Rajnath Singh to reach out to the Opposition leaders. Amid repeated adjournments in the House, the Opposition has pinned the blame for the impasse on the stubborn attitude of the treasury benches over the Pegasus 'snooping' row and the agitation against the farm laws.