Budget sesion very productive, the best in the last 5 years: Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: Putting aside the failure to pass the land bill and GST bill, the government claimed on Wednesday that the just-concluded budget session was one of the most productive in several years, with the Houses passing nearly two dozen bills each.

Parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, “In terms of number of bills passed by both Houses during the budget session, the highest number of 24 bills were passed by both the Houses, the best in the last five years. A total of 22 bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha and two bills in the Rajya Sabha , while the Lok Sabha passed 23 bills, the Rajya Sabha passed 24 bills.” Naidu maintained that the session was the most productive during the last decade with Lok Sabha working for 117% of the scheduled working hours and Rajya Sabha reporting a productivity of 101%.

Among the important bills passed in this session is the Constitution amendment bill on the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, insurance bill, black money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and imposition of tax bill, coal bill and the mines and minerals bill.

Government got bills on five of the six ordinances it had promulgated since the winter session passed in this session. However, government had to bow to Opposition pressure and send GST bill to a Rajya Sabha select panel. Government slammed the Opposition for giving notices for suspension of question hour on most working days.