Monsoon Session of Parliament to Commence

[GS Paper 2 – Indian Parliament]

Context – The Monsoon session of Parliament for the year 2022 will commence from July 18, a press release by the Lok Sabha secretariat said.

Both Houses of Parliament are likely to meet from July 18 and the session will conclude on August 13, according to the release. The Monsoon session usually commences in the third week of July and concludes ahead of Independence day.

Key Highlights

• Last year’s Monsoon session ended on a stormy note as Opposition parties had disrupted both Houses over the government’s unwillingness to allow discussion on the Pegasus snooping scandal, the farmers’ protests, and the rise in prices, especially of auto fuels.

• Monsoon Session in 2021 was the third least productive Lok Sabha session of the last two decades, with a productivity of just 21 per cent. Rajya Sabha logged a productivity of 28 per cent, its eighth least productive Session since 1999.

Sessions of Parliament

• The summoning of Parliament is specified in Article 85 of the Constitution. The power to convene a session of Parliament rests with the Government. 

• The decision is taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs which is formalized by the President, in whose name MPs are summoned to meet for a session.

• India does not have a fixed parliamentary calendar. By convention (i.e. not provided by the Constitution), Parliament meets for three sessions in a year:

1. The longest, Budget Session (1st session), starts towards the end of January, and concludes by the end of April or first week of May. The session has a recess so that Parliamentary Committees can discuss the budgetary proposals.
2. The second session is the three-week Monsoon Session, which usually begins in July and finishes in August.
3. Winter Session (3rd session), is held from November to December.

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