The newly elected members of the 17th Lok Sabha have registered record productivity of 128 percent so far, as per statistics collated by non-profit organisation PRS legislative reserach.
The study by the organisation suggests that the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha is the most productive session so far in the history of the lower house, reported the Economic Times.
The research study measures productivity as the number of hours the house actually functioned as a percentage of the number of hours officially earmarked for it to work. The Lok Sabha official working hours are from 11am to 6 pm, with an hour-long break between 1 and 2 pm.
The first session of the Lok Sabha has already functioned 150.2 hours and will end on 26 July.
As compared to this time, the first session of the 15th and 16th Lok Sabha had measured a productivity of 67 percent and 66 percent respectively.
Previous Budget Sessions Surpassed
According to the report, this year, the time MPs have spent deliberating and discussing grants has surpassed all records of the previous years budget sessions. The most Lok Sabha MPs worked before this was during the budget session of 2015 when the house functioned for 246.02 hours, registering productivity of 122 percent. Budget Session 2016 recorded 198.2 hours at 121 percent productivity, the data showed.
Although the MPs seem to be working so hard, this doesn’t seem to go so well for the support staff and security of the Lok Sabha.
The support staff pulls 16 hours shift with no facility of transport back home. They end up leaving after the MPs who leave around 11:30 PM. They are required to report back next day at 8:30 PM.
Although they might complain of sleep deprivation, a strong bond has been established among the officials who carpool and commute together.
(With Inputs from Economic Times)
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