Monsoon Session of Parliament Begins

• 14 Sep 2020

Why in News

Recently, the monsoon session of Parliament began after several months which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• However, the government has suspended Question Hour for the session and has also curtailed the Zero Hour.

Key Points

• Parliament Session:
  
  • The President of India is empowered to summon each House of Parliament from time to time.
  • The maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months. That means the Parliament should meet at least twice a year.
  • A ‘session’ of Parliament is the period between the first sitting of a House and its prorogation.
  • There are usually three sessions in a year, viz,
    
    • Budget Session (February to May)
    • Monsoon Session (July to September)
    • Winter Session (November to December)
  • The period between the prorogation of a House and its reassembly in a new session is called ‘recess’.
• Meetings of Session:
  
  • A session of Parliament consists of many meetings. Each meeting of a day consists of two sittings, that is, a morning sitting from 11 am to 1 pm and post-lunch sitting from 2 pm to 6 pm.
• Termination of Session:
  
  • A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment or adjournment sine die or prorogation or dissolution (in the case of the Lok Sabha).
  • Adjournment: It suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time, which may be hours, days or weeks.
  • Adjournment sine die: It means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
    
    • In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly.
    • The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) of the House.
  • Prorogation: The President issues a notification for prorogation of the session after the business of a session is completed and the presiding officer declares the House adjourned sine die.
    
    • The President can also prorogue the House while in session.
  • Dissolution: Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution. Rajya Sabha, being a permanent House, is not subject to dissolution.
    
    • A dissolution ends the life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held.
    • The President is empowered to dissolve the Lok Sabha.

Source: TH