Om Birla, Lok Sabha Speaker, said that MPs' questions & Ministers' answers should be brief & within a short duration in the Question Hour sessions.
On March 16, 2021, Birla requested that the questions and answers be short during the Question Hour. He suggested that the Members of Parliament could set forward their questions within a short duration. The Ministers could reply to the queries in few words to accommodate more questions, he said.
The Lok Sabha describes Question Hour as a system through which the government understands the country's pulse and adapts its policies and actions accordingly. It states that the government connects with the people through questions in the Parliament as members can ventilate the public's grievances.
According to Lok Sabha's Procedure for Short Notice Questions, one Short Notice Question is usually put down to answer in a day. When the Lok Sabha's sitting commences after the Question Hour, or if there is no Question Hour and formal business on the agenda is finished, the Speaker calls a member to ask his Short Notice Question and the concerned minister to answer. The Speaker will ask the next member in the list if the first member is absent, and if no other members whose names appear for Short Notice Question are present and no member has been authorized on his behalf, the Speaker directs the answer to be laid on the Table. If a minister wants to answer a Short Notice Question of public concern, the Speaker may permit the minister to read both question and the answer.
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