Question Hour

Generally, the first hour of the parliamentary sitting is slotted for the Question Hour. During this one hour, Members of Parliament (MPs) ask questions to ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
The questions are of three kinds, namely, starred, unstarred and short notice.
- A starred question (distinguished by an asterisk) requires an oral answer and hence supplementary questions can follow.
- An unstarred question requires a written answer and hence, supplementary questions cannot follow.
- A short notice question is one that is asked by giving a notice of less than ten days. It is answered orally.
In addition to the ministers, the questions can also be asked to the private members (MPs who are not ministers).
Regulation: The presiding officers of the both Houses (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
Question Hour is strictly regulated and mentioned in the rules of procedure.

The ‘Question Hour’ is an important part of the parliamentary proceedings and has assumed greater importance because the members can elicit information through questions on matters affecting the day-to-day life of the citizens for which Ministers are collectively answerable to the legislature.
Asking questions of the government has a long history in our legislative bodies. Prior to Independence, the first question asked of the government was in 1893. It was on the burden cast on village shopkeepers who had to provide supplies to touring government officers.
This parliamentary device is primarily meant for exercising a kind of legislative control over executive actions. Members’ questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
With the broadcasting of Question Hour since 1991, Question Hour has become one the most visible aspects of parliamentary functioning.
Besides, the Members also find an opportunity through this device to criticise Government’s policies and programmes; ventilate public grievances; expose Government’s lapses; and extract promises from Ministers.

Question Hour, which had been suspended by the government during the monsoon session, will resume when Parliament meets for the budget session from January 29.
The government had claimed that suspension of Question Hour was an additional precautionary measure to tackle the COVID pandemic. The suspension had been strongly criticised by the Opposition.

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