The Parliamentary Monsoon Session, which spanned from July 20 to August 13, 2026, saw limited activity, with the Lok Sabha operating at 15% of its planned capacity and the Rajya Sabha at 33%. A comprehensive analysis titled “Vital Stats: Functioning of Parliament during the Monsoon Session 2026” has been released to provide a deeper understanding of this session’s dynamics.
The report offers several important findings: – The Lok Sabha approved 11 pieces of legislation; notably, 9 of these were passed with minimal debate, as no Member of Parliament, apart from the minister, contributed to the discussions.
– In the Rajya Sabha, the level of debate was slightly higher, though still constrained by time. An illustrative example is the discussion on the amendment to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, where 16 MPs shared the floor for a total of just 50 minutes, averaging about three minutes per speaker.
– Both houses experienced significant disruptions, particularly during the Question Hour, which was severely impacted. In the Lok Sabha, only 1% of the allocated time for Question Hour was used, amounting to a mere 9 minutes. The Rajya Sabha managed somewhat better, utilizing 12% of the scheduled time, or approximately two hours.
– Regarding oral answers to questions, the Lok Sabha managed to address only 2 out of 380 questions, while the Rajya Sabha responded to 16 out of 285.
– The report also highlighted a decline in the frequency of half-an-hour and short duration discussions in the 18th Lok Sabha. – Additionally, for the second session in a row, no private members’ business was taken up in the Lok Sabha.
This analysis underscores a session characterized by limited parliamentary discussion and significant underutilization of scheduled session time.
