NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that the 17 Lok Sabha passed 222 bills in the last five years.
The last session of the 17th Lok Sabha, which commenced on January 31, 2024, was adjourned sine die today. With this, the Seventeenth Lok Sabha was also adjourned sine die.
On this occasion, presiding over the proceedings of the House, the Lok Sabha Speaker said that the Seventeenth Lok Sabha is historic in many ways as a total of 274 sittings were held during the 17th Lok Sabha, which lasted for a total of 1354 hours. The House sat late for more than 345 hours and completed its business.
Birla informed the House that it lost a total of 387 hours to disruptions. The overall productivity of the 17th Lok Sabha has been around 97 percent, which is the highest in the last 5 Lok Sabhas.
The Lok Sabha speaker further said that the 17th Lok Sabha passed 222 laws. During this period, 202 bills were introduced and 11 were withdrawn by the government.
He also said that the 17th Lok Sabha, which held its first meeting in June, had 540 members who participated in discussions held in the House.
Om Birla added that women MPs saw maximum representation in the 17th Lok Sabha and the House also witnessed their active participation in the proceedings.
Speaking on some of the historic laws passed during the 17th Lok Sabha, Birla said that the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill, 2023, was the first bill to be taken up for discussion in the new building of Parliament and the historic bill was passed on the same day with the support of all parties. Also, the House passed many historic laws such as the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, Muslim Women (Protection of Marriage Rights) Bill, Consumer Protection Bill, Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, Industrial Relations Code, etc.
He said that during the 17th Lok Sabha, many ineffective laws from the pre-independence era were repealed and replaced by new laws. Three Constitution Amendment Bills were also passed by the House during the term of this Lok Sabha.
Birla informed the House that during the 17th Lok Sabha, 4663 starred questions were listed, out of which 1116 questions were answered orally. In the same period, 55889 unstarred questions were also asked, which received written answers in the House. All the listed starred questions were answered orally on two occasions during this Lok Sabha.
729 Private Members’ Bills were introduced in this Lok Sabha. During the 17th Lok Sabha, 26,750 papers were laid by ministers.
Birla said that during this Lok Sabha, 5568 matters were taken up under Zero Hour, while 4869 matters under Rule 377 were raised by the Members. A total of 161 matters were taken up in one day under Zero Hour on July 18, 2019 and 1066 matters were raised during Zero Hour in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, which is a record. For the first time in this Lok Sabha, in order to ensure executive accountability, respective ministries were requested to respond to issues raised during Zero Hour and a good number of responses were received from the ministries concerned.
Birla said that during the 17th Lok Sabha, 534 statements were made by ministers on various subjects. 12 discussions under Rule 193 were also held during this Lok Sabha.
Parliamentary Standing Committees presented a total of 691 reports in this Lok Sabha and more than 69 percent of the committee recommendations were accepted by the government.
Speaking on innovations undertaken during the 17th Lok Sabha, Birla mentioned about PRISM, Briefing Sessions for Members of Parliament, home delivery of library books to MPs, digitization of proceedings, Mobile app, sharing of MPs’ video footage on Whatsapp, etc. He said that maximum use of digital technology is being made in parliamentary work while realizing the vision of paperless offices in the 17th Lok Sabha. Presently, more than 97 percent of question notices are being given through electronic means.
Speaking on the austerity measures in the 17th Lok Sabha, Birla said that during the 17th Lok Sabha, savings of around Rs 875 crore were made, which is 23 percent of the budget of the Secretariat. The canteen subsidy was completely abolished during this Lok Sabha, resulting in an annual saving of around Rs 15 crore. Facade lighting in Samvidhan Sadan and the merger of Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV have led to savings of crores of rupees.
Parliamentary delegations from 16 countries visited India during this Lok Sabha. Also, 42 Indian Parliamentary Delegations visited abroad. He said that the active participation in international parliamentary forums is indicative of India’s growing stature and prestige at the global level.
This was the last day of the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha, before the general polls which are slated to be held in April-May this year. (ANI)