Parliament lost over 1,000 hours due to disruptions: Report

Disruptions and forced adjournments led to the loss of 577 hours in the 15th Lok Sabha while the Rajya Sabha lost 442 hours, a report said here on Tuesday.

The 7th Citizens' Report on Governance and Development 2013 by National Social Watch (NSW) said 152 parliamentarians (31 %) in the Lok Sabha have criminal cases against them while a total of 17 % of women parliamentarians have cases pending against them as well.

The total value of assets of 542 MPs in the Lok Sabha is Rs29.2 billion, with an average of Rs53.8 million each.

Further, Indian parliamentarians are paid more than their counterparts in Japan, Singapore, Italy and Pakistan, the report said.

"Indian MPs' pay package is about 68 times higher than the per capita income of the country. So, in terms of the ratio of pay package to national per capita income, India ranks second after Kenya and pays almost double than the US," said NSW spokesperson Amitabh Behar.

The report said that in nine sessions in 2010-12, Lok Sabha worked for less than two-thirds of the time per day. As a result, the number of pending bills doubled during this time from 49 to 104.

Out of 34 bills passed during 2011, five were passed in less than five minutes and another six within 30 minutes.

"Increasing resort to 'street politics' within the two houses compromise their efficiency as crucial bills remain pending for years, or are passed without sufficient deliberations," said Behar.

When it comes to representation of women, both houses perform abysmally.

"The average women representation in the Lok Sabha from 1952 to 2013 is 6% while in the Rajya Sabha, it is 9%," the report said.