MONSOON SESSION

 

MONSOON SESSION

SARASIJ MAJUMDER

This Monsoon Session is the darkest black spot in our Parliamentary Democracy. Worse—minute by minute VDO Clips of everyday are available in Social Medias.

Treasury Bench was forced to be disciplined, as they had to conduct the sessions—Opposition, without any such responsibility, behave much worse than Animals! The less I discuss about them—the better.

Statistically, During the Monsoon Session of Parliament (held from July 20 to August 13, 2026), a total of 12 Bills were passed by both Houses of Parliament.

Complete List of Passed Bills:

As documented by PRS Legislative Research and official PIB Releases, the following 12 bills successfully cleared both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha:

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026: Tightens rules to prevent paper leaks and organized cheating. Increases minimum punishment to 5-10 years in jail for exam. paper leaks; fine up to ₹50 lakh. For organized crime, 7-10 years prison and minimum ₹10 crore fine.  Widely debated over 17 total hours across both Houses. Received President's assent.

The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Accords statutory penal protection to the national song, Vande Mataram. Prevents intentional disruption of Vande Mataram. Violators face up to 3 years in prison, a fine, or both. Enacted as law following Presidential assent on August 7, 2026. Now—what will happen to Mrs. Maino, for her behavior when the same national song was being  played, and she signaled to stop?

The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Streamlines verification procedures for delayed registrations.

The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026: Replaces an ordinance to expand the number of Supreme Court judges from 33 to 37.Increases the maximum judge ceiling to 37 (excluding the Chief Justice) to handle backlogs. Replaced a previously standing executive ordinance. Assented on August 11, 2026.

The Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2026: Authorizes government spending adjustments for excess grants.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Introduces a national digital platform for registration and simplifies dispute resolution.

The Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026: Widens definition of bank records to fully recognize electronic and cloud-based files. THIS BILL NEEDED TO BE DELIBERATED. I HAVE SERIOUS CONCERN ON THIS BILL.

The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Grants critical tax exemptions to select foreign institutional investors.

The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026: Approves changing the official name of the state of Kerala to 'Keralam'. Authorizes  the transition of the state's structural name to 'Keralam'.  Passed following a unanimous resolution from the Kerala State Assembly.

The National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Expands the operational scope of multi-state co-operatives.

The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026: Implements structural updates to tribunals for streamlined judicial functioning.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026: Reformulates critical mineral lease regimes to push for Atmanirbhar Bharat goals. THIS BILL , ALSO NEEDED A DEBATE.

Session Overview: According to media updates on Live Law, the session concluded amidst strict opposition protests concerning paper leaks and related issues. Consequently, apart from the Public Examinations Bill, most of the legislation was cleared with minimal or no floor debate.

Additionally, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 was introduced but deferred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for further evaluation. The sooner GOI passes this bill, the better.

REVIEW:

The 2026 Monsoon Session of Parliament (July 20 to August 13, 2026) was characterized by historically low productivity and severe legislative gridlock, making it one of the least productive sessions in the past two decades. Frequent disruptions caused a near washout of debate, yet the government managed to pass a high volume of bills with minimal floor discussion.

Performance Metrics Comparison: Official figures provided by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr. Kiren Rijiju alongside data compiled by PRS Legislative Research highlight a stark collapse in functioning hours:

 

PERFORMANCE DIMENSION:

Lok Sabha:

Official Productivity: 19% (PRS estimates ~15%)

Actual Functioning Hours:~17.5 Hours total

Sittings / Total Days:19 Sittings over 25 Days

Bills Passed: 12 Bills.

Bills Passed Without Debate : 9 Bills  (81% of Lower House legislation)

RAJYA SABHA:

Official Productivity: 39% (PRS estimates ~33%)

Actual Functioning Hours:~37.4 Hours Total.

Sittings / Total Days: 19 Sittings over 25 Day

Bills Passed: 12 Bills/Bills Passed Without Debate 9 Bills.

Key Takeaways and Structural Highlights:

1.    Severe Decline in Legislative Scrutiny, Passed in Minutes: While the session was statistically "successful" for the government in terms of bill volume (12 bills cleared), independent watchdogs like Civils-Daily Analysis heavily criticized the quality of governance.

2.    Single-Speaker Passing: Nine of the eleven bills passed in the Lok Sabha saw no Member of Parliament speak on them other than the introducing Minister. Critical bills, such as the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, rewrote Centre-State power divisions with zero floor debate.

3.    Lone Debated Bill: The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 was the only piece of legislation to undergo any structured, multi-hour floor discussion across both Houses.

4.    The Total Collapse of Question Hour: Minimal Accountability: Question Hour—the primary mechanism for MPs to hold ministers accountable—was completely unproductive. In the Lok Sabha, the entire session yielded only two orally answered questions.

5.    Political Flashpoints Driving Disruptions: The united Opposition consistently blocked standard procedures to demand immediate discussions on major structural friction points: Stiff student protests and police actions over the NEET paper leaks.

6.    Contentious political rows regarding Ram Mandir donation oversight.

7.    The Jantar Mantar and Haldwani 'Shuddhi Karan' rows, which triggered fierce shouting matches between leadership benches.

8.    Humongous Taxpayer Costs: According to public expenditure estimates tracked by NDTV India News, running the Lok Sabha costs roughly ₹2.5 lakh per minute.  Due to more than 7,000 minutes lost to sloganeering, walks outs, and sudden sine die adjournments, the session resulted in an estimated loss of ₹175.6 crore in public value.

9.    The Political Blame Game: The session closed in a highly confrontational state with both sides trading blames. The Government accused the Opposition of intentionally avoiding structured debates despite Home Minister Amit Shah offering to expand timelines for student protest discussions. Conversely, Opposition leaders argued that the treasury benches systematically stifled and censored critical topics, turning the Parliament into a mere rubber stamp for quick law passage without systemic consensus.

10. Those of you, like me, observed the Running VDO relay of Parliament sessions—can judge which party is speaking the TRUTH.

What Emerge:

This Democracy has become a very costly democracy at the cost of Peoples’ Money, yielding very little benefit to Citizens. I suggest all opposition MPs of both the houses must bear the cost.

Sources of Information: Mentioned in the ‘BLOG’ and also available in Public Domain.