New Delhi : Parliament has been adjourned sine die after another disrupted session. The cost is not just taxpayer money: lost Question Hour means fewer answers, less debate and weaker scrutinParliament was adjourned sine die on Thursday, bringing the Monsoon Session to an end after weeks of disruptions, repeated adjournments and political deadlock. However, beyond the familiar scenes of protests and slogans lies another cost—the parliamentary time paid for by taxpayers but not used for debate, scrutiny and accountability.
The Monsoon Session was scheduled for 19 sittings between July 20 and August 13.
The session did manage to pass some legislation, but disruptions repeatedly ate into the time available for parliamentary business. And one of the most consequential casualties was Question Hour, the part of the day’s proceedings in which MPs can directly question ministers about the government’s functioning.
So, how much does a Parliament washout cost? Why is Question Hour so important? And what are the consequences when MPs repeatedly lose the opportunity to question the government?
How Much Does It Cost To Run Parliament?
A figure frequently cited in discussions on parliamentary disruptions is Rs 2.5 lakh per minute.
The estimate dates back to 2012, when then parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said running Parliament cost about Rs 2.5 lakh a minute, roughly Rs 1.25 lakh each for the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. PRS Legislative Research has cited the same estimate while examining the financial cost of disruptions.
This is an old estimate, and not a current official cost per minute, but provides a useful way of illustrating the financial consequence. Adjusting for 14 years of inflation and price rise since then would also mean the actual present-day cost would be higher.
The Rs 23-Crore Example
During the early days of the 2025 Monsoon Session, PRS data showed that by the end of the first three days of disruptions, the Lok Sabha had lost 1,026 minutes and the Rajya Sabha 816 minutes.
Using the Rs 2.5 lakh-per-minute estimate, that translated into an estimated Rs 23 crore worth of parliamentary time lost—Rs 12.83 crore for the Lok Sabha and Rs 10.2 crore for the Rajya Sabha.
The larger point remains: when MPs prevent a House from functioning, the expenditure on Parliament—its buildings, staff, security, technology and other infrastructure—continues even when scheduled legislative work does not.
Is A Washout Just About Wasted Money?
No. The bigger cost is the parliamentary work that does not happen.
PRS Legislative Research has repeatedly pointed out that disruptions have consequences beyond the financial cost. When proceedings are repeatedly stalled, MPs lose opportunities to question ministers, debate legislation, raise matters of public importance and scrutinise government policies.
This creates a peculiar situation: Parliament can still pass Bills during a disrupted session, while the deliberative part of Parliament, the questioning, scrutiny and debate that is supposed to accompany law-making, gets squeezed.
What Is Question Hour?
Question Hour is the period when MPs formally ask ministers questions about the functioning of their ministries, government policies and matters of public interest.
It is particularly important because starred questions receive oral answers, allowing MPs to ask supplementary questions based on the minister’s response. Unstarred questions receive written replies.
In other words, Question Hour is not merely another parliamentary debate. It is one of the few institutional mechanisms through which an MP can put a specific question to a minister and demand an answer on the floor of the House.
Why Does Losing Question Hour Matter So Much?
Imagine a ministry facing questions over an infrastructure project, a government scheme, an examination paper leak, unemployment, a health programme or expenditure of public money.
An MP can ask the relevant minister for facts, figures, timelines and explanations. The minister has to respond. Other MPs can then ask supplementary questions. When the House is repeatedly disrupted during this period, that entire chain of accountability is broken.
PRS has specifically noted that time lost during Question Hour cannot simply be recovered by extending the sitting later in the day. Even if Parliament works longer afterwards, the opportunity for MPs to question ministers orally during that particular Question Hour is gone.
This makes Question Hour different from ordinary legislative business.
And This Has Happened Before
The problem is not unique to the 2026 Monsoon Session.
During the 16th Lok Sabha, Question Hour in the Lok Sabha functioned for about 67 per cent of its scheduled time, while over the last four Lok Sabhas cited by PRS, it averaged only about 59 per cent.
During the 2023 Monsoon Session, PRS found that Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha lasted less than a minute on eight days. Only 9 per cent of questions listed for oral answers received oral replies in the Lok Sabha and 28 per cent in the Rajya Sabha.
The 2025 Budget Session offers the opposite example: Question Hour functioned for 78 per cent of scheduled time in the Lok Sabha and 83 per cent in the Rajya Sabha.
What Does A Disruption Do To Bills?
Disruption can have two very different effects.
If the House spends less time debating a Bill, legislation can remain pending for longer. But Parliament can also compensate by compressing legislative business into the remaining hours.
PRS data from earlier sessions shows that Bills have sometimes been passed after very limited discussion. During the 2023 Monsoon Session, for instance, Lok Sabha passed 20 Bills after less than an hour of discussion each; nine were passed within 20 minutes.
PRS also found during the 2025 Monsoon Session that several Bills were passed with limited discussion.
That creates another concern: A Parliament that loses time to disruption may end up having less time for deliberation even when legislation eventually gets passed.
What About Parliamentary Committees?
Committees are another important part of legislative scrutiny. They allow MPs to examine Bills in greater detail, hear from stakeholders and study provisions away from the political theatre of the main chamber.
But committee scrutiny is not a substitute for debate on the floor of Parliament.
PRS has previously pointed out that while committees can examine legislation closely, Parliament itself must still debate and deliberate on laws because MPs are ultimately responsible for passing them. And committee scrutiny itself can be affected if legislative business is compressed or Bills are moved through the Houses without adequate time for examination.
Does Every Minute Lost Mean Rs 2.5 Lakh Is Literally ‘Wasted’?
Not quite.
The Rs 2.5 lakh figure is an estimate of the cost of running Parliament per minute, based on a statement made in 2012. It does not mean that every time the House is adjourned for one minute, the government writes a cheque for Rs 2.5 lakh that disappears.
Parliament’s staff, security, infrastructure and other expenses are incurred whether or not MPs are debating at every moment.
The number is therefore best understood as a way of estimating the value of parliamentary time lost, rather than a precise bill for every minute of disruption. PRS itself has noted that the older estimate is useful for illustrating the financial cost, but the larger consequences are democratic and legislative.
So, Who Is Responsible? Government Or Opposition?
This is where the political argument begins.
The government typically argues that the Opposition uses disruption to prevent Parliament from functioning and wastes taxpayers’ money. Opposition parties, on the other hand, argue that protest and disruption can become necessary when the government refuses to allow debates on issues they consider urgent.
That argument has played out again this session. The government has repeatedly said it is willing to discuss issues within parliamentary rules, while opposition parties have demanded discussions on issues, including the NEET controversy, police action against protesters, and the alleged donation fraud in Ram Mandir.
The result has been a familiar cycle: protest, adjournment, negotiation, another disruption and further loss of time.
What Is The Real Repercussion?
The most serious consequence is not the rupee value attached to a minute. It is that Parliament risks becoming better at passing laws than at scrutinising them.
A functioning Parliament has at least three broad roles—Make laws, approve and scrutinise public spending, and hold the executive accountable.
Disruptions can impair all three.
When Question Hour is lost, ministers face fewer direct questions. When debates are shortened, MPs have less time to argue over legislation. When sessions lose working days, fewer public issues can be raised.
And when Bills are pushed through in compressed time, lawmakers, and consequently citizens, may have less opportunity to examine what a proposed law actually changes.
PRS has described disruption as a long-running problem that affects the ability of MPs to question ministers, debate legislation and raise matters of urgent public importance. It has also warned that disruption should not become an entrenched feature of parliamentary functioning.
What Does The Taxpayer Get?
A Parliament session is ultimately funded by the public.
The taxpayer pays for the MPs, staff, security, buildings, technology and the entire institutional machinery that keeps Parliament running. But the value of that expenditure is not simply measured by how many Bills are passed.
It is also measured by whether elected representatives get to ask questions, ministers are forced to provide answers, legislation is properly debated and the government is subjected to scrutiny.
That is why the end of the Monsoon Session with the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die is not merely a story about how many hours Parliament worked. The more consequential question is what Parliament could have done with the hours it lost.
