NEW DELHI:
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, on June 18, said that Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Northeast participated actively in debates, question hours as well as in all other proceedings of the House during the past three years of the 17th Lok Sabha.
“All the members took part in a positive way. The members always raised issues related to their constituencies,” Birla said.
Birla, who is completing three years in office on June 19, also said that he always tried to bring reforms in all aspects of the House proceedings.
“I was also a member. So, during the last three years I tried to bring reforms for participation of members. I have tried to promote digitization in every aspect,” he said.
Referring to meta data-digitization, Birla said that easy availability of information related to Lok Sabha is being ensured through keyword search using meta data method.
“By the end of June 2022, the Hindi version of the debates of the 1st to 14th Lok Sabha will be digitised. The Hindi version of the 15th to 17th Lok Sabha debates is likely to be digitized by the end of the year,” he said.
Around 46 lakh digital pages have been uploaded on the portal at eparlib.nic.in. By the end of July 2022, the English version of all Lok Sabha debates will be digitised. By March 2023, efforts are being made to digitize the first part of the day’s proceedings (starred and unstarred questions). The process of digitization of about 20 million pages of library documents is expected to start in July 2022, he said.
Talking on the work of the new Parliament building Birla said that the work is progressing as per schedule and satisfaction.
“As per the current pace of progress, the construction work will be completed by October this year. After holding necessary trials, the Winter Session of Parliament this year is likely to be held in the new building,” the Speaker said.
The effort is to build a state of the art new Parliament building, which will be a symbol of a new and self-reliant India in a very short period of time. The new Parliament House will be the structure of fulfillment of the aspirations of 21st century India. In the new building, we will witness India’s glorious culture, its rich traditions and its golden future, Birla said.
“The new building would be a green building equipped with necessary facilities for environmental and energy conservation. The new building will have a seating capacity of 888 members in the Lok Sabha chamber, and during joint sessions of both Houses, 1272 members can be seated. The Rajya Sabha chamber will have a seating arrangement of 384 members,” he said.
He said that the new building is being made techno-friendly for MPs. “Members’ desks will be equipped with multimedia screens through which they will be able to vote in the House, register attendance and request for an opportunity to speak in the House. They will be able to access the MP Portal through the touch screen available in it. Apart from this, they will also be able to access the documents uploaded earlier in their personal folders,” he added.