Pravash Pradhan
Post News Network
NEW DELHI: The first full-fledged Budget session of the NDA government concluded last week. While 23 Bills were passed in this session, the government faced stiff opposition in the passage of crucial bills like the Land Acquisition Bill and had to concede to the demands of Opposition benches. However, the overall productivity of Parliament was high.
According to a study conducted by Parliamentary Research Service (PRS), Lok Sabha worked for 123 per cent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha productivity was at 101 per cent and it was most productive year in last 15 years. The prominent issue that dominated both houses was agrarian issue. With 148 participants, Lok Sabha debated for 13 hours and 16 minutes on farmers’ issue while in Rajya Sabha it was discussed for eight hours and 18 minutes with 35 participants.
From Orissa perspective, it was an important one. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs had actively participated in the house. Out of 12 first-time MPs, 10 members had attendance between 90 to 100 per cent while two MPs like Jhina Hikaka and Sakuntala Laguri had 61 per cent and 79 per cent respectively, as per the data given by Lok Sabha official site. Among the old timers, Siddhanta Mohapatra had the lowest attendance of 59 per cent.
Apart from Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahatab and Dhenkanal MP Tathagata Satpathy, newcomers like Balasore MP Rabindra Kumar Jena, Jagatsinghpur MP Kulamani Samal and Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi had actively participated in several important discussions. Mahatab and Satpathy had spearheaded the attack against the government on the Land Bill and surprised many political observers.
BJD played its cards tactfully in the first half of the session from February 23 to March 20 by showing some amount of leniency towards the government. But in second half of the session, BJD leaders strongly opposed the Land Bill forcing the government to send it to the joint panel of Lok Sabha.
Though BJD in principle supported the Goods and Services Tax, yet senior BJD leaders like Satpathy and Mahatab sought amendments in the bill and criticised the government for bringing the bill in a hush-hush manner without referring to the standing committee.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit during the Parliament session had added to the rumor mill. Even his meeting with MPs in Parliament house was perceived as his tactics to put pressure on the BJP led government and bargain for the interest of the state. The Chief Minister is learnt to have directed his party MPs to raise Orissa matters vociferously in the house and follow up the development issues related to Orissa with concerned Union Ministers.
During this session, issues like Centre’s apathy towards Orissa in General Budget, national highways in Orissa, Bhubaneswar metro project, and farmers’ issues in the state were raised by the members in the house. BJD MPs like Baijayant Panda, Pinaki Mishra, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and Prasanna Kumar Patsani were seen actively participating in the house. Dhenkanal MP had criticised the government for extending the session three days more till May 13 which was scheduled to be ended May 8.