NEW DELHI, May 13:
The 239th session of the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die today after the House led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi bade farewell to 53 retiring Elders and wished them well in the future.
On the last day of the Budget Session, Vice-President Hamid Ansari summed up the just-concluded session as ‘’short and challenging’’ during which it sat for 69 hours and passed 12 government bills. As many as 2391 unstarrred questions were taken up of which 61 were oral Questions in the session, he noted.
Earlier, the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Wednesday. In an acknowledgement of a more cooperative Opposition stand in ensuring passage of legislation, the Chairman, who had previously lamented the waste of legislative time due to stalling by Opposition members, stressed that the Budget session had seen lively debates though the House proceedings were occasionally disrupted.
The Vice-President said while the House bade farewell to 53 retiring Members, due for retirement in June and July, it welcomed 13 new members.
‘’Members have shown an extraordinary ability to debate and dissent, to accommodate and differ amidst their political compulsion and ideological positions,’’ he said.
Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, bidding the departing Members well for their future, said they had a long inning ahead. On the working of the House, the Minister said while MPs raised many issues, created disturbances but had worked hard too. However, he favoured more debates, pointing out that through debates, solutions could be found.
‘’The Rajya Sabha passed 24 laws some of which were very important for the country,’’ he admitted. On the debate over the need for a bicameral legislature, Mr Jaitley said the Upper House had its importance.
‘’The kind of people who enter think seriously and sincerely and have compelled even Lok Sabha to reconsider some of its legislation,’’ he added.
He thanked the House for its cooperation in passing legislation saying it was the majority and maturity of politics that it is finding solutions through debate.
During the Session, the House was informed by the Chair about the resignation of Mr Vijay Mallya, representing the state of Karnataka, and Dr Pranav Pandya, a nominated Member.
The House had 15 sittings during which more than 19 hours were lost on issues like Uttarakhand political crisis, AgustaWestland chopper deal, lynching of Muslims in Jharkhand, irregularities in CAG report on KG Basin gas project of Gujarat, water trains sent to Bundelkhand and Prime Minister’s remarks against UPA leaders during electioneering in Tamil Nadu.
However, to compensate the lost hours, the Members sat late for more than 10 hours to complete legislative and other important business. Even as the term of office of 53 Members were due to expire in June and July, the House welcomed 13 members elected from Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala.
Nagaland, Punjab and Tripura, including sitting members Anand Sharma of the Congress, and six nominated Members.
(UNI)
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