Three of the nine Bills were disposed of in two minutes or less, while five took six minutes or less. Seven were passed within nine minutes. Only one took more than 10 minutes, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, which took 14 minutes.
| Photo Credit:
Sansad TV via PTI Photo
Over the past fortnight, the Lok Sabha passed nine crucial pieces of legislation in a collective total of just 52 minutes—averaging under six minutes per Bill and highlighting the extraordinary speed with which major laws are being pushed through.One Bill, the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was passed in barely one minute.The calculation excludes the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, which was debated in the House. The nine other Bills were taken up for consideration and passage between July 30 and August 11.Three of the nine Bills were disposed of in two minutes or less, while five took six minutes or less. Seven were passed within nine minutes. Only one took more than 10 minutes, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, which took 14 minutes.The most striking instance was the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, taken up at 12.07 pm on July 31 and passed at 12.08 pm, just one minute later.The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was taken up at 12.12 pm on August 7 and passed at 12.14 pm, taking two minutes. The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, similarly took two minutes, from 2.12 pm to 2.14 pm on August 6.The Bankers’ Book Evidence Bill, 2026, took four minutes, from 2.12 pm to 2.16 pm on August 5, while the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026, was cleared in five minutes, from 2.13 pm to 2.18 pm on August 11.The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026, which changes the statutory strength of the country’s highest court, was taken up at 2.04 pm on August 3 and passed at 2.10 pm, taking six minutes.Two Bills passed on Tuesday took nine minutes each. The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, was taken up at 2 pm and passed at 2.09 pm, while the National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was taken up at 2.15 pm and passed at 2.24 pm.The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, took the longest among the nine. It was taken up at 3.31 pm on July 30 and passed at 3.45 pm, giving the House 14 minutes for consideration and passage.The contrast with the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, is particularly notable. The Bill was introduced at 2.12 pm on July 28 and passed at 3.21 pm on July 29, after debate in the House.The Bills in the nine-Bill set deal with subjects of considerable consequence that include tribunal administration, taxation, banking evidence, the strength of the Supreme Court, MSMEs, registration of births and deaths, national honour and the functioning of cooperative institutions, besides the alteration of the name of a state.The speed of passage raises questions about the extent of floor-level parliamentary scrutiny when the formal consideration-and-passage stage for an entire Bill lasts one, two or even five minutes.
