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The central government is planning to call the Monsoon Session of the Parliament from the third or last week of August. The timings for both the houses have been modified. As per latest information, in the Lower House – Lok Sabha session will be held from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm whereas in the House of Elders – Rajya Sabha session will be held from 4.00 pm to 8.00 pm.
The Monsoon Session may run for about a month. During the upcoming parliament session, the government is planning to pass 11 ordinances from both the Houses. All of these have already been approved by the Union Cabinet. Some 40 other bills also expected to be tabled.
In the middle of this ongoing pandemic when the country is grappling with rising COVID-19 cases, holding the monsoon session of the parliament will not be an easy task. It is anticipated that the Speaker’s, Chairmen’s and Visitor’s galleries may be used for sitting arrangement of MPs to maintain social distancing in both the Houses.
Earlier, a “hybrid” monsoon session of Parliament mixing both “virtual” and “physical” arrangement was anticipated by many experts. It was speculated that under such arrangement, some MPs would have been allowed to attend Parliament in person, while others would have joined via government’s online platforms to ensure social distancing norms are followed by lawmakers.
However, Secretary Generals of both the Houses had reportedly told the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha Chairmen that the current logistical infrastructure was inadequate to ensure such a hybrid arrangement. Also, procedurals rules of the Houses of Parliament would also have to be amended to ensure ‘hybrid’ session of Parliament.
Given the space constraint at parliament, physical presence of all MPs during same time could have posed several challenges risking spread of coronavirus. Hence, Parliament has decided to split the session timings for both the houses.
