The Monsoon Session ended four days ahead of schedule.
The government did not have much of a legislative agenda. Obviously they were not in any urgency to pass any Bill. The Bills passed by Lok Sabha, such as the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill and the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, could easily have been passed by Rajya Sabha this Wednesday. I was prepared to participate in the discussion on the Wild Life Bill… Normally what happens is that when Bills are passed by the Lok Sabha they come to the Rajya Sabha immediately. But this time around the government didn't seem to have the appetite for continuing the session till Friday, with two holidays (Tuesday and Thursday) in between.
In his valedictory address, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said that in the 16 sittings of the House, business could be conducted only for some 35 hours, whereas over 47 Hours were lost due to interruptions
These are numbers that can be read either way. The fact of the matter is the government took two weeks to agree to a discussion on price rise and GST hike. Had they agreed on the first day, we would have had a productive session throughout. But for two weeks they kept delaying and delaying…and that really washed out and unfortunately set the tone for the entire session. And they didn't agree to a discussion on the Agnipath scheme.
The government agreed to hold only one discussion
They didn't agree to a discussion on Agnipath at all. They have never agreed for the last two…
