Gandhinagar

Lok Sabha Speaker Ms Sumitra Mahajan today said the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies upheld the democratic values of the nation and reposed people’s faith in the institutions. She said the legislative bodies are not just law-makers but also debate on smooth functioning of the system.

She was inaugurating the 78th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India in presence of Gujarat Assembly Speaker Mr. Ganapat Vasava and Chief Minister Ms. Anandiben Patel. It is being attended by Speakers, Deputy Speakers and Secretaries of Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils of different states in the country.

They released on the occasion a book on important proceedings of the Gujarat State Assembly like Budget Sessions during the period 2002-12, titled ‘Lokshahi-na Dhabkara’.

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi also sent a message for the success of the conference.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Mahajan said that Speakers have a very special role to play a balancing act between the ruling party and the opposition in the House and balancing different party rule in different states. It is the Speaker’s job to bring debate on track in case it goes astray.

She suggested that the duration of the sessions should be increased. The quality of debates could be improved by preparing issue-based notes in consultation with experts. She said the opposition has every right to speak, but the government should be allowed to function. She urged the people’s representatives that criticism for the sake of criticism should not be the sole criterion of criticism. In this context, she said that though the chairmen of the Public Accounts Committee belonged to the opposition parties they did their job well.

The Gujarat Chief Minister described the Speakers’ Conference as an effective bridge to discuss similarity and uniformity in the proceedings of State Assemblies in the country, an essential event to uphold high traditions of the country’s democracy. Such conferences are also needed to uphold the importance of decency and decorum of democratic traditions as enshrined in the Constitution, including small things like remaining present in the House.

She recalled the contributions of particularly two great Speakers, namely Vitthalbhai Patel and Ganesh Vasudev Mavlankar. It is everybody’s responsibility to preserve Indian democracy attained after Independence.

Mrs. Patel said that time has come to discuss the working of the presiding officers with the changing times, and also the Media for transparency and come out of prevailing gloom. There is need to involve greater participation of youth in the nation with predominance of youth in the population. The people’s representatives should set the example of how to behave for the people to emulate, she said.

The Gujarat Assembly Speaker in his welcome address hailed the Indian democracy as unique example of binding together people’s representatives belonging to widely different political ideologies, based on nationalism and not regional parochialism. There is need to strengthen the democratic institutions. He wished the pearls of collective wisdom emerging from the conference would serve as a garland of pearls decorating the parliamentary system.

Those present at the inaugural session included Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Mr. P.J. Kurien, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Mr. M. Thambi Durai. Gujarat Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Mr. Atmaram Parmar proposed a vote of thanks.

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