Why 16th Lok Sabha was extraordinary in many ways

By Rukmini S

The last sitting of the 16th Lok Sabha was on February 13. This was an extraordinary Lok Sabha in many ways — while disruptions rose to record levels of scheduled time, there were also deep debates.

This was the second least hard-working full-term Lok Sabha in history. But, in general, Lok Sabha productivity has been falling.


16th Lok Sabha lost 16% of its scheduled time to disruptions, better than the 15th Lok Sabha (37%), but worse than the 14th Lok Sabha (13%). Rajya Sabha lost 36% of its scheduled time.

While successive governments have been spending less and less time on actual legislative business, the 16th Lok Sabha spent the second highest share of time on legislation in history — a third of its total time.

MPs took their time discussing bills, and bills were not on the whole passed in a hurry.

However, the last budget was passed in a tearing hurry

Younger MPs asked more questions than older MPs. But older and male MPs get more opportunities from their parties to participate in debates. Shiv Sena, AIADMK and Congress MPs asked more questions, and Shiv Sena, BJP and Biju Janata Dal MPs participated in more debates.

MPs with Maximum Attendance

MPs with Least Attendance

(Source: PRS India)

(Rukmini S is a journalist)