Parliament's Monsoon Session: Question Hour & Zero Hour To Be Dropped? Adhir Ranjan Writes To Speaker Seeking Continuation

Question Hour is the first hour of a sitting session of Lok Sabha devoted to questions that Members of Parliament raise about any aspect of administrative activity

Photo Credit: PTI

Ahead of Parliament’s monsoon, politics is bustling over the issue of Question Hour and Zero Hour, following the reports of government mulling to cut short the working time. Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to Speaker Om Birla demanding that the Question Hour and Zero Hour be continued during the Parliament session. In his letter, Chaudhary has written that in a Parliamentary system, Question Hour and Zero Hour have been provided to the MPs as a special right, in which they raise important issues besides asking questions to the government. Question Hour is the first hour of a sitting session of Lok Sabha devoted to questions that Members of Parliament raise about any aspect of administrative activity. The concerned Minister is obliged to answer to the Parliament. Zero Hour' is the session that is held after the Question Hour, normally at 12 noon in which MPs raise burning issues. The letter from Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary comes at a time when talks are going on about postponement of the Question Hour during the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting on September 14 though, no final decision has been taken in this regard yet. In order to ensure smooth proceedings of the Lok Sabha, the Speaker has called a crucial  meeting in which the new rules for the Lok Sabha proceedings during pandemic are likely to be finalized.