Report on Performances of State Assemblies

Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance

Why in News?

According to a new report by PRS, a non-profit organisation, Indian state legislative assemblies continue to meet for less than 30 days on average.

• Lesser assembly meetings – Aftermath of 2020 pandemic, the number of meetings has remained close to 20 days a year including the year 2024.
  • Odisha met for the highest number of days (42), followed by Kerala (38).
• While, some states have set a target for the minimum number of annual sitting days either through legislation or through Rules of Procedure, none of them have met these targets in any year.
• Duration of sitting - The average duration of each sitting was 5 hours.
• Timing for budget discussion - In 2024, states discussed budgets for 7 days on average.
• Vacancy in office of Deputy Speaker – It is vacant in 8 state Assemblies.
  • Jharkhand has not elected one for over 20 years.
  • Incidentally, the Lok Sabha too has not had a Deputy Speaker since June 2019.

Article 178 of the Indian Constitution requires Assemblies to choose two members as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker as soon as possible.

• Bill passage – In 2024, states on average passed 17 of them.
  • Of the over 500 bills passed, Karnataka passed the highest (49), followed by Tamil Nadu (45). Delhi passed just 1 bill, followed by Rajasthan with 2.
• About half of the bills passed relate to education, finance, and local governance.

• Lesser discussion of bills – 51 % or over 250 of all bills passed, were passed within a day of introduction.
• 8 states passed all bills within a day of introduction.
  • Jharkhand, Mizoram, Puducherry and Punjab had also passed all bills within a day in 2023 and 2022.

Reference

Down To Earth| Report on Performance of State Assemblies