95 absent from all Parliament committees’ meetings: Naidu
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 2
Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Monday reeled out in the House to dispel the negative impression in public that the sittings of Parliament had steadily declined. His assertion was based on his review of meetings of all the eight Department-Related Standing Committees (DRSCs) of the Rajya Sabha held during the recess of the Budget Session to discuss on Demands for Grants of Ministries. The Parliament reconvened for the Budget Session today after the break.
Poor attendance
- This time, 95 members of 244 did not attend any meeting on the Demands for Grant
- 23 of the 78 Rajya Sabha members did not attend any meeting this time against 11 in last review
- 78 of 166 LS members did not attend any meeting as against 72 in the last review
95 MPs did not attend even a single meeting of the parliamentary standing committees that reviewed allocations for different ministries post-presentation of the Union Budget, Naidu said.
There are 24 DRSCs of both the Houses, including 16 of the Lok Sabha. As per Naidu’s account, if the meetings of all the DRSCs are factored in, the total sittings of Parliament during a year will be over 100 days. He observed that the general impression was that the sittings of the Parliament were steadily declining over the years and it was around 60 to 70 sittings per year now as against 100 to 150 days per year in the 50s.
He informed that all the Rajya Sabha DRSCs held 20 meetings to discuss the Demands for Grants of 18 ministries over a total duration of 63 hours during the recess. Proportionately, the work done by the 16 Lok Sabha committees amounted to another 20 sittings of the Parliament.
The work put in by all the total 24 DRSCs regarding the grants equaled 30 days of the Parliament functioning. “This alone takes the total sittings of the Parliament during a year to over 100 days,” Naidu said, adding that if the total range of functions of these committees was considered, the number of sittings would be even more.
Regarding meetings of Rajya Sabha’s committees during the recess of the current Budget Session, he said the overall attendance of members in the 20 meetings had been 45.35 per cent. “I am happy to inform that the attendance of the Rajya Sabha members at 52.57 per cent continues to be higher than that of Lok Sabha at 46.37 per cent,” Naidu said.
He noted that members had taken more interest in issues concerning Health, Human Resource Development, Home Affairs and Tourism and Transport and lesser interest in Commerce, Industry and Science and Technology.
The Rajya Sabha’s DRSCs have 255 members.
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