Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Indian Parliament

This paper reconceives parliamentary inefficiency as a development and financial issue instead of a party wrangle. It measures the total operating outlay of India's two chambers—₹1,316 crore a year, or approximately ₹6,580 crore for a five-year term—then juxtaposes those sums against a long productivity decline: from an average of 135 days of sitting a year in the First Lok Sabha to a mere 55 days in the 17th, a decline of a staggering 59%. By a cost-per-minute standard of ₹2.5 lakh and current disruption points (e.g., ₹133 crore lost during the Monsoon Session of 2021 and ₹23 crore over three disrupted days in 2025), the research calculates a minimum ₹500 crore five-year financial loss solely from unproductive hours. Finally, the study assesses the cost of opportunity of waste by two policy avenues. First, a differential social-welfare channel: clearing MNREGS dues and financing more than 41,000 rural dwellings under PMAY, with instant relief at the household level. Second, a general stimulus channel: returning ₹500 crore as tax relief, simulated with an 0.8 MPC (marginal propensity to consume) and a 5× multiplier for ~₹2,500 crore economic impact. The analysis ends with proposed institutional solutions—a fixed, pre-announcement annual calendar, stricter liability for disruptions, and a shift in public opinion from the mantra of the "politics of disruption" to the economics of development"—placing parliamentary time as a national scarcity with quantifiable payback.