Lok Sabha Debates
Valedictory References Made On The Conclusion Of The 14 Th Session Of 13 Th Lok ... on 23 December, 2003
t46 18.19 hrs. VALEDICTORY REFERENCES Title : Valedictory references made on the conclusion of the 14th Session of 13th Lok Sabha.
MR. SPEAKER: Hon. Members, now we conclude the Fourteenth Session of the Thirteenth Lok Sabha which commenced on 2nd December, 2003. In all, the House had 16 sittings spread over 94 hours.
During this period, the House transacted substantial business. The Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for the year 2003-2004 were passed by the House.
With the co-operation of Party Leaders and Members of all sections of the House, we have been able to pass 21 Bills during the Session. Important Bills passed by the House include the Constitution (Ninety-seventh) Amendment Bill, 2003 which inter-alia provides for restricting the size of the Council of Ministers and amends the Anti-Defection Law by omitting the provisions relating to splits; the Constitution (One-hundreth Amendment) Bill, 2003 providing for inclusion of Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution; the Prevention of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2003; the Industrial Development Bank (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Bill, 2002; and the Delimitation (Amendment) Bill, 2003.
With immense sense of satisfaction, I may say that during this Session, a lot of mutual co-operation was shown by the Opposition and the Treasury Benches towards each other. This was indeed in the true spirit of parliamentary democracy. We were able to amicably resolve certain situations, which, at times, seemed to threaten creation of a deadlock in the House. A case in point is the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Bill, 2003, which could be passed with the co-operation of Members from both the sides. Similarly, the situation arising out of the differences on the National Tax Tribunal Bill, 2003 was resolved with the help of leaders of both sides.
The House had fairly long discussions on five matters of urgent public importance under Rule 193.
The discussion on the recent incidents of violence in Bihar, Assam, Maharashtra and some other parts of the country due to Recruitment Policy of Railways was concluded with the adoption of a unanimous Resolution by the House, expressing anguish over the loss of innocent lives in the incidents and appealing for maintaining regional harmony and strengthening the unity and integrity of the country.
The other discussions were on the statement made by the hon. Prime Minister on 10th December, 2003 on the resignation of Shri Dilip Singh Judeo, Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests from the Council of Ministers; on the recent stamp paper scam; on the ATR on the Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Stock Market Scam; and on Unemployment.
Attention of the Ministers concerned was called in respect of six matters of public importance in response to which statements were made. Eight other statements were also made by Ministers on different important matters.
As regards the Question Hour, 61 Starred Questions were answered orally. Replies to the remaining 259 Starred as well as 3166 Unstarred Questions were laid on the Table of the House. There were two Short Notice Questions as well, which were orally answered. One Half-an-Hour discussion was also taken up.
The device of Special Mentions under Rule 377 was used by Members to raise 174 matters in the House. As many as 37 matters of public importance were also raised during the ‘Zero Hour’.
Coming to the Private Members’ Business, three Bills were discussed and were withdrawn by the leave of the House. Discussion on a Private Member’s Resolution on Privatisation of Central Public Undertakings was also held and the debate adjourned to next Session.
During this Session, the Departmentally Related Standing Committees presented as many as 45 Reports.
A matter of perennial worry to me has been the time lost due to disruptions. During this session, seven hours and sixteen minutes were lost due to disruptions and consequent adjournments of the House. I am, however, happy that the House sat more than double the time that was lost, i.e. for an additional fourteen hours and seventeen minutes in the lunch hours and late evenings. This could be made possible only with the whole-hearted support and cooperation from all sections of the House.
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Leader of the House, the hon. Leader of the Opposition, the Leaders and Deputy Leaders of Parties and Groups in the House as also to their Chief Whips and Whips, and indeed to each and every Member of the House, for their kind cooperation and courtesy extended to me and to my colleagues in conducting the proceedings of the House.
I would also like to express my appreciation for and thanks to the officers and staff of the Lok Sabha Secretariat and allied agencies for their valuable support in running the House. I also thank the media for covering the proceedings of the House.
I am sure I will continue to have the whole-hearted support and cooperation of Members in the coming year as well.
May I now wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
________ 18.23 hrs. NATIONAL SONG (The National Song was played.) MR. SPEAKER: The House stands adjourned sine die.
18.24 hrs The Lok Sabha then adjourned sine die.
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