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“Being in Parliament today was like being in a cemetery — it had as many dead people. That was the scene in the hall as finance minister Jaswant Singh presented his maiden Budget, with dozens of MPs nodding off to sleep — waking up to see if there was some action — finding none, and then nodding off again. One young MP sitting in the centre aisle did not wake up at all; he slept through the entire proceedings, his head landing, every so often, onto the shoulders of the woman sitting next to him.”
According to a report prepared by the National Social Watch Coalition, titled “Citizens Report on Development and Governance - 2006″, current Parliamentary expenditures are seventy two lakhs per day.
This works out to twenty thousand rupees per minute. In 1951, the costs was one hundred rupees per minute.
If this is not stunning enough, there is more, according to the report. Even with all this money being spent, a lot of the time is wasted. The coalition’s survey also found that the total time wasted in pandemonium was as follows:
11th Lok Sabha - 1996 to 1998: 5.28% of the time was wasted.
12th Lok Sabha - 1998 to 1999: 10.66% of the time was wasted.
13th Lok Sabha - 1999 to 2004: 22.40% of the time was wasted.
14th Lok Sabha – 2004 to 2006: 38.0% (More than 1/3rd) was wasted in the first two Sessions itself.
Rajya Sabha – 201 and 202nd sessions: 46% (almost half the time) was wasted.
Courtesy: Financial Express.
Posted: 2003-03-01 00:00:00+05:30 IST
Updated: Mar 01, 2003 at 0000 hrs IST
Following is my comments:The above statistic though not latest (latest data is under search), explains how a few of the elected representative conduct themselves in the Lok Sabha. A few of the Members have not spoken a single word in whole 5 years term. One of the leading TV channels covered a “sleeping-beauty” of aged four time consecutive MP from Tamilnadu. In live telecast, viewers never miss to see a few restless members and not having due concern of the proceeding of the house.
The most agonizing factor is that if the ruling party brings proposal for discussion, the opposition party makes a point to vehemently oppose it, however significant and healthy is proposal. The whole House looks like with dense noise much comparable to kindergarten school. This partisan outlook should end in the interest of common person.
The main question now arise, how could a few members are so careless in the proceedings after having huge amounts being spent on them from the public exchequer. Can such members be not identified and not be re-elected however they are influential in his/her area? We all know what best language the Speaker has attributed to erring members of parliament.
