Parliament, demonetisation and GST

ABSTRACT This paper exploits the property of random selection of questions for answering in Parliament to analyze the party-wise share of questions submitted, normalized by seat share, at two major economic policy events during the term of the Sixteenth Lok Sabha (LS16) – demonetization on 8 November 2016, and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 1 July 2017. Parties are grouped into three: the ruling party (BJP); allied parties in the ruling NDA coalition; and parties in opposition. The paper also charts the change over time in the types of questions asked, and mines the official responses for information not normally available through the usual channels.