Originally, the session was supposed to terminate after 17 sittings on December 29.
In his farewell speech on Friday, Birla noted that nine bills had been introduced, seven of which had been enacted, including the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill, the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Amendment), and the additional demands for grants. Large-scale initiatives including the Digital Data Protection Bill, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, and the Higher Education Commission of India, which were not included, would no longer be implemented until next year.
Image credit: Tribune IndiaThe government’s effort to influence appointments to the higher judiciary was also on display during the session. In fact, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar mentioned the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to reject the NJAC Bill on his very first day in office, claiming it amounted to sacrifice of legislative sovereignty.During the discussion of the additional grant requests, the House also witnessed spirited debates on the health of the economy. In one such discussion, TMC MP Mahua Moitra called the government’s management of the macroeconomic fundamentals pappu to highlight its incompetence while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended it.In comparison to the previous few sessions, which saw considerable acrimony between the Opposition and the Treasury benches, the winter session ran generally more smoothly. This time, in response to the administration rejecting their demands, the opposition parties generally kept to walkouts. According to a statement released by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the productivity of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha starting on December 7 was approximately 97% and 103%, respectively.What was your experience regarding this session? Does this session aware you more about internal functioning of Indian legislature?
