Digitisation of House debates to be done by year-end: Speaker Om Birla
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, June 18
Speaker Om Birla on Saturday said parliamentary debates from the first to the 17th Lok Sabha will be digitised by year end opening a world of research possibilities for scholars and parliamentarians. The digitisation of both Hindi and English debates is at advanced stages and will be completed in two categories –names of MPs and debate subjects – by 2022 end.
The Speaker also noted that digitisation of 20 million pages of Parliament library documents is starting this July with the exercise expected to cut costs besides helping the institution contribute its part in national climate change mitigation efforts.
“Digitisation of parliamentary debates right from the first to the 17th Lok Sabha will be a remarkable accomplishment. All these debates are currently scattered at different places. We are also ensuring uniform digital platforms to host the biographies of national icons Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and others so that everything ever written about them is available at one place,” Birla told The Tribune in an interview as he completes three years in office on Sunday.
The Speaker said the new Parliament building would “most likely be completed in time by October-November 2022.”
“We are trying to hold the winter session this year in the new Parliament building. Preparations are underway on war footing. There is only a seven-day lag in construction timelines, which can be covered. We had given the October-November estimation for completion of the project and I am very hopeful the winter session of 2022 will be held in the new green Parliament building,” said Birla, who has presided over the most productive eight sessions of any Lok Sabha from the 14th to the 16th.
Eight sessions of the current Lok Sabha have clocked 106 per cent productivity.
Corresponding productivity of the first eight sessions was 86 pc for the 14th Lok Sabha; 71 per cent for the 15th Lok Sabha and 95 per cent for the 16th Lok Sabha.
Asked about his digitization campaign, Birla said the advantages of going paperless have been many and crores had been saved in costs.
”The 17th Lok Sabha has managed unprecedented savings of Rs 668.86 crore through use of digital technologies. The savings from Lok Sabha’s allotted budget was only Rs 7.01 crore in the 12th Lok Sabha, Rs 99.52 crore for the 13th LS, Rs 145.07 crore for the 15th Lok Sabha, Rs 94.17 crore for the 15th and Rs 461 crore for the 16th Lok Sabha. So you can see the jump in financial savings,” Birla said.
Reiterating the need to amend the Anti-Defection Law, on which the presiding officers of state assemblies and legislative councils recently failed to reach a consensus, Birla said, “The committee of presiding officers looking at the issue is in the process of seeking legal opinion on redrafting the anti-defection law clause. Once the draft is ready, we will present it to the government.”
The Speaker lamented the trend of disruptions in Parliament and state assemblies saying, “In Parliament, MPs can have differences of ideology and issues but not of hearts. I will keep working to ensure this.”
Asked if he favoured virtual meetings of parliamentary committees (as demanded by the opposition during the Covid 19 pandemic) going forward, in line with the current digitization push, Birla said, “Virtual meetings will lead to MPs taking partisan positions. That will cause division. The concept of closed door meetings had a purpose. It should stay that way.”
Asked whether MP pensions should be curtailed in light of some states like Punjab rationalising MLA pensions, Birla said, “MP pension is not much.”
Ex-MPs are entitled to Rs 20,000 monthly pension. MPs who’ve served over five years get Rs 1,500 additional every month.
