Why in News ?
Lok Sabha adjourned sine die and one of the shortest sessions in India’s parliamentary history
- It was packed with 25 Bills
- The extraordinary situation of Lok Sabha MPs sitting in both Houses of Parliament to enforce COVID-19 social distancing rules.
- The session was shortened by eight days.
About the recent session
- Lok Sabha productivity clocked at 167% with 25 Bills passed
- 2,300 unstarred questions answered
- 68% of the sittings dealing with legislative work
- 370 Zero Hour mentions.
Parliament Sessions
There are usually three sessions in a year
- Budget Session (February to May)
- Monsoon Session (July to September)
- Winter Session (November to December)
Summoning : The Parliament should meet at least twice a year. the maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months.
Adjournment : An adjournment ends a meeting. It could be done using a motion to adjourn. An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time. Power vested with presiding officer of the house.
A session of Parliament : Consists of many meetings of two sittings a morning sitting from 11 am to 1 pm and post-lunch sitting from 2 pm to 6 pm.
A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment or adjournment sine die or prorogation or dissolution
(in the case of the Lok Sabha).
- Adjournment Sine Die : Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
- The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of
the House.
- The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of
- Prorogation : The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) declares the House adjourned sine die, when the
business of a session is completed and the President issues a notification for prorogation of the session. - Dissolution : A dissolution ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held.
- Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution.
- Automatic dissolution, that is, on the expiry of its tenure of five years.
- Whenever the President decides to dissolve the House.
- Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution.
Source : The Hindu
Topic
GS II : Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these
Current Affairs Compilation : 24 September 2020