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The Lok Sabha  adjourns today for a three-week recess.  The Rajya Sabha is scheduled to adjourned on March 18.  Here’s a brief look at the activity of Parliament this session (data till March 15): Productive Hours: The session has witnessed more than its fair share of disruptions.  In the 14 sitting days, over 22 hours has been lost to interruptions in the Lok Sabha and over 26 hours in the Rajya Sabha.  The number of productive hours so far is 53 and 50 hours in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. [Click here to compare with previous sessions.] The session began with protests by the Opposition, putting pressure on the Government to schedule a debate on price rise.  After the presentation of the Budget, the protests revolved around the petroleum price hike.  The disruptions in the Rajya Sabha were on account of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which resulted in the suspension of seven MPs. On March 9 the Rajya Sabha was adjourned five times, before the passage of the Bill. Legislative business: This session, the government had listed 63 Bills for introduction, 16 pending Bills for consideration and passing and 10 pending Bills for consideration and passing if their Standing Committee reports are submitted. Other than financial business transacted, which includes passage of Demand for Grants and Appropriation Bills, the only legislation that has been passed so far is the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha also has passed one Bill that replaces an Ordinance - the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Bill. In the 14 sitting days, the House has spent 6 hours on legislative business. Question Hour: Another important aspect of parliamentary business is the Question Hour.  Interestingly, the Lok Sabha rules were amended before the start of this session to ensure that the absence of MPs does not result in the collapse of Question Hour.  However, the amount of time spent on questions in both Houses this session has remained under 5 hours.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 was passed by Lok Sabha yesterday. The Bill will be discussed next by Rajya Sabha. Unlike the Lok Sabha, where the UPA government holds a majority in the House, the composition is different in Rajya Sabha. As on 28th December 2011, the total strength of Rajya Sabha is 243 members . The UPA has a combined strength of 95 members in the House, well below the 50% mark.  (Of course, there will be some absent members which will change the arithmetic a bit.)  The passage of the Bill thus depends on the stand taken by other political parties and their numbers in the House. Here's how the figures stack up:

Party Numbers
Indian National Congress (INC) 71
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) 7
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 7
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) 6
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference 2
Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) 1
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) 1
Total UPA 95
   
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 51
Janata Dal (United) 8
Shiv Sena (SS) 4
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) 3
Total NDA 66
   
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 13
Communist Party of India (CPI) 5
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) 1
Total Left 19
   
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP ) 18
Biju Janata Dal (BJD ) 6
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK ) 5
Samajwadi Party (SP ) 5
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD ) 4
   
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP ) 2
Bodoland People's Front (BPF ) 1
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD ) 1
Lok Janasakti Party (LJP ) 1
Mizo National Front (MNF ) 1
Nagaland People's Front (NPF ) 1
Telugu Desam Party (TDP ) 4
   
Nominated 8
Independent and others 6
   
Total 243