RS panel to consider rescheduling Question Hour

To tackle disruptions during Question Hour, Rajya Sabha on Wednesday appointed a committee to look into a proposal to defer Question Hour from 11 am to 12 noon.

The committee headed by Deputy Chairman Prof P J Kurien, has Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla and BJP MP Chandan Mitra as members.

During the Question Hour, ministers reply to queries from MPs related to their ministries.
Unhappy over repeated disruptions of the Question Hour, Chairman Hamid Ansari on Tuesday had reacted sharply and suggested that either it be “dispensed with altogether” as “members do not seem to attach much importance to questions answered”, or it be “shifted to some other part of the day.”

The Chairman convened a meeting of the Rules Committee of Rajya Sabha Wednesday afternoon, where it was decided to constitute a committee to look into rescheduling the Question Hour.

The meeting is said to have favoured deferring Question Hour from 11 am to 12 noon, and not doing away with it altogether.  Members said the change would enable them to raise matters of urgent public importance at 11 am without hampering Question Hour.