Lok Sabha works more, Rajya Sabha clocks near 100 %

New Delhi, Feb 9 : The first half of the Budget session ended on Thursday with the Lok Sabha working more than the allocated time, and the Rajya Sabha trailing just short of 100 percent. Both the houses witnessed protests over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments on his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

In the session that started with an address by President Pranab Mukherjee to a joint sitting of both houses, the Lok Sabha worked around 113 per cent of its allocated time, while the Rajya Sabha trailed -- working 97 per cent of the time decided.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Thursday also thanked the opposition parties for the cooperation.

The last day of the session before it went into near a month-long break saw protests from the Congress over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "bathing with a raincoat" jibe on his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

Modi on Wednesday said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh knew the "art of bathing wearing a raincoat", and triggered an uproar in the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress had staged a walkout from the upper house following the comment, and staged protests in both houses on Thursday.

On Thursday, the Lok Sabha saw a brief adjournment during the question hour as Congress members raised the issue. In the zero hour, the lower house witnessed protests again but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan refused to allow the issue to be raised as it was related to the Rajya Sabha.

Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal members then staged a walkout from the lower house.

The Rajya Sabha meanwhile lost the whole of its proceedings in the first half, witnessing its first adjournment soon after it met at 11 a.m. till 12 noon, and then again when Chairman M. Hamid Ansari adjourned the house till 2 p.m.

The Upper House however took up a discussion on the general budget after that.

The session also saw opposition members protest demanding a probe in the death of E. Ahamed, president of the Muslim league and former Union Minister who had a heart attack in the central hall of Parliament right after the address of President Pranab Mukherjee to a joint sitting of both houses.

Congress members want a probe into Ahamed's death by a parliamentary panel. Trinamool Congress members meanwhile protested over alleged misuse of CBI against their party members in the two houses. 

A debate on a Motion of Thanks to the President's address remained the highlight with both government and opposition using it as an opportunity to discuss demonetisation among other issues.

The opposition parties came together targeting the government over the demonetisation deaths. However, the issue did not find a mention in Prime Minister's reply to the debate in either of the houses.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday also concluded the debate on the general budget, which remains incomplete in the upper house.

Replying to the debate, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stressed that cash in the economy has led to rise of corruption, justifying demonetisation.

"We were a high cash economy and this economy leads to tax evasion, corruption and a parallel economy. If you are a cashless society, crimes will still take place, but cash is the biggest facilitator of crime," the Minister said.

All together five bills were introduced in Lok Sabha - The Finance Bill, The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2017, The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill, 2017, The Indian Institutes of Management bill 2017, and The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2017.

Both houses passed The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2017 for cashless transfer of salaries.

The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill, 2017, or the demonetisation bill which formally make the banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes a law, was passed only in the Lok Sabha.

However, being a money bill, Rajya Sabha's approval would not be required.

Under Article 109(5), if Rajya Sabha fails to return a money bill to Lok Sabha within 14 days, it is deemed to have been passed anyway.

The second half of the Budget session, which will start on March 9 and conclude on April 12, will see the Finance bill being passed and also discussions on the Demands for Grant for different ministries.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the Lok Sabha will discuss Railway, Defence, Coal and Agriculture ministries, while the Rajya Sabha will discuss Information and Broadcasting, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions ministry, which comes under the Prime Minister, Railways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ministries.