New Delhi: Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned ‘sine die’ today, a day ahead of schedule.
The Winter Session, which began on 29 November, saw a deadlock between the Opposition and the government in the Rajya Sabha over the suspension of a dozen MPs due to alleged unruly behaviour during the previous Monsoon Session.
The suspended MPs demonstrated in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament complex every day, with support from Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and other MPs.
Yesterday, the Lok Sabha saw a heated discussion on the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which seeks to raise the age of legal marriage for women from 18 to 21.
Members of the Congress and other Opposition parties opposed the Bill and questioned the ‘haste’ with which it had been brought to the House.
Introduced by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani, the Bill, which proposed amendments to the 2006 law, was sent to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for further discussion.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said that the performance of the House in the Winter Session had been below expectation. ‘It could have been better. All need to introspect what went wrong. Rules, regulations, procedures, and precedents must be taken into account,’ he said.
Rajya Sabha has clocked productivity of 47.90 per cent during the 18 sittings of the Winter Session that concluded today. Out of the total scheduled sitting time of 95 hours 6 minutes, the House could discharge business only for 45 hours 34 minutes.
‘I don’t want to speak elaborately on the course of this Session as it would lead me to take a very critical view. Statistics regarding various aspects of functioning of the House during this Session will be released to media for wider dissemination,’ Naidu said.