15th Lok Sabha passed only 54 per cent of proposed legislation

A Delhi based non-profit research organisation which has scrutinised the performance of the lower house of Parliament has said the 15th Lok Sabha was the worst performing one since Independence, and that the declining trend began in the 13th Lok Sabha. Only 61 per cent of working time was productively used and around 60 per cent of question-hour time was lost because of disruptions. The previous two Lok Sabha terms fared much better—the 13th Lok Sabha and 14th Lok Sabha utilised 91 per cent and 87 per cent of the allocated time productively, says the report, released PRS Legislative Research.

This Lok Sabha passed only 179 out of the total 291 bills introduced. This is the least number of bills passed by a Lok Sabha in a full five year term. The 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas passed 297 and 248 bills respectively.

The performance of the upper house or Rajya Sabha was only slightly better. It used only 66 per cent of its allotted time in productive work.

Productivity of the 15th Lok Sabha



Monsoon session 2010 was most productive

The study shows that in terms of total number of bills passed, this Lok Sabha's monsoon session of 2010 can be considered most productive. The highest number of bills (24) were passed in this session in the past five years. This session had also passed highest number of legislative bills (21). The other sessions when the parliamentarians performed relatively better were: Budget session 2012, followed by winter session 2009, and Budget 2010. The winter session of 2010 and monsoon session of 2012 were found least productive. No legislative bill was passed in the winter session of 2010 and no finance bill was passed in the monsoon session of 2012.

Out of 179 bills passed, 63 were finance bills. The 15th Lok Sabha had inherited 37 bills from the 14th Lok Sabha. The total bills which Lok Sabha considered was 328. See table below for session-wise details of performance.

	*LB introduced	**FB introduced	Total bill introduced	LB passed	FB passed	Total passed
Budget 2009	12	5	17	3	5	8
Winter 2009	19	3	22	14	3	17
Budget 2010	28	9	37	6	9	15
Monsoon 2010	23	3	26	21	3	24
Winter 2010	9	4	13	0	4	4
Budget 2011	9	5	14	3	5	8
Monsoon 2011	13	1	14	10	1	11
Winter 2011	28	2	30	15	2	17
Budget 2012	17	9	26	12	9	21
Monsoon 2012	6	0	6	4	0	4
Winter 2012	8	1	9	6	1	7
Budget 2013	16	11	27	2	11	13
Monsoon 2013	24	1	25	12	1	13
Winter 2013	6	2	8	1	2	3
Winter 2013-14-II	10	7	17	7	7	14
Total	228	63	291	116	63	179
*LB—legislative bill **FB—finance bill Source: PRS Legislative Research

Another record broken

Out of total 228 legislative bills introduced, 68 will lapse with the term of the 15th Lok Sabha expiring. This number is the highest in Lok Sabha's history. In terms of passing bills, first, second, and fifth Lok Sabhas were very productive. According to the Constitution, if a bill is introduced in Rajya Sabha and not passed by it, the bill shall not lapse on dissolution of Lok Sabha. Therefore, 60 bills will be kept pending for the consideration of the 16th Lok Sabha after elections. The 15th Lok Sabha had inherited 37 such bills from 14th Lok Sabha.

68 bills to lapse



MPs' participation in debates

An analysis of the work done by the 15th Lok Sabha threw up some astonishing facts. No Lok Sabha MP attended the debate on the bill to protect women from sexual harassment at work place. The bill was passed in just 19 minutes in Lok Sabha. But this bill was debated for nearly three hours in Rajya Sabha and passed after debate by 16 MPs.

Legislative work of 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014)   Bills introduced in Lok Sabha: 291 out of 328 bills put up for consideration Bill passed in Lok Sabha: 179 (54.5 per cent) of total considered bills and 78 per cent of introduced bills)

Similarly, not a single upper house MP attended the debate on recently passed Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood& Regulation) Bill of 2012. The bill was accepted by the upper house in just eight minutes.

In Lok Sabha, 36 per cent of the bills were passed without debate and discussion in less than 30 minutes. Of these, 20 bills were passed in less than five minutes.

The study shows that 480 MPs in Lok Sabha and 307 MPs in Rajya Sabha participated in debates in 5 years in the case of 16 bills studied by PRS. It means, on an average, only 30 MPs in Lok Sabha and 19 MPs in Rajya Sabha participated in debates and discussion.

Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011, and National Food Security Bill, 2013 were among the prominent pieces of legislation discussed at length by parliamentarians. Altogether 100 MPs from both houses deliberated over these bills in detail.

Bills discussed and passed



60 per cent question hour time lost in din Lok Sabha lost 61 per cent and Rajya Sabha lost 59 per cent of question hour time. A total 6,479 questions were scheduled for oral answer in Lok Sabha and 6,512 in Rajya Sabha in the past five years. Only 10 per cent questions were answered in Lok Sabha and 12 per cent answered in Rajya Sabha.

Precious time lost



Time spent on budget discussion

Over the years, Parliament has been spending less time on discussing budget. In 2011, the budget was passed without the standing committee deliberating demand for grants from various ministries.

In 2013, the finance bill and demand grants of 16.6 lakh crore were voted and passed without discussion. The interim budget in 2014 was passed without discussion. In 2011, 81 per cent of total demands by ministries and in 2012, 92 per cent of total demands by ministries were voted on without discussion.

Little scrutiny of discussion of budget

Web edition Web edition News News News PRS Legislative Research Productive work done … Down to earth Bills that will … Bills passed by 15th …