Our Parliament completes 60 years on May 13, 2012. The first meeting of Lok Sabha was held on May 13, 1952. Since then, it has kept the Foundation of Indian Democracy alive. Below are few facts about Indian Parliment
First chairman of Rajya Sabha – S. Radhakrishnan.
First Speaker of Lok Sabha – G.V. Mavalankar.
First Lok Sabha meeting was on May 13, 1952.
First Lok Sabha held 677 sittings for about 3,784 hours.
Around 48.8 percent of time of first Lok Sabha was used for legislative business.
Percentage of graduates has increased from 58 percent in 1952 to 79 percent in 2009 (includes post-graduate and doctoral degrees).
Women constitute 11 percent of members in the 15th Lok Sabha. In comparison, only 5 percent of MPs in the first Lok Sabha were women.
In the first Lok Sabha, there was no MP over the age of 70. This number has risen to 7 percent in the current Lok Sabha.
The first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills each year. This has decreased to 40 in the 15th Lok Sabha.
Parliament passed 118 Bills in 1976. This was the highest number of Bills passed by Parliament in a single year.
The lowest number of Bills was passed in 2004 when only 18 Bills were passed by Parliament.
Lok Sabha met for an average 127 days in the 1950s and Rajya Sabha for 93 days. This has decreased to 73 days for both houses in 2011.
(with inputs from PRS legislative Research)