Amid concerns expressed in some quarters over the debates in Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday said quality debates take place in the House and he is working on further improving those.
Mr Birla listed several initiatives such as upgrading the library and providing research material to MPs, taken by the Lok Sabha Secretariat during his tenure as the Speaker.
Continuous efforts are being made to improve the quality of debates, he said.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana had last year expressed concern over the debates in Parliament and had said that it was in a “sorry state of affairs”. “There are a lot of gaps and ambiguity in the law-making process due to lack of debates,” he had said.
Asked about the remarks made by Justice Ramana, Mr Birla said that quality debates do take place in Parliament.
“Debates take place in Parliament…quality debates take place. We are working on further improving the quality. The Lok Sabha Secretariat has been organising briefing sessions by domain experts for MPs on bills listed for introduction. Research note is also given to them,” the Lok Sabha Speaker said.
Several efforts have been made to further improve the library and now home-delivery of books for MPs have also been started, he said.
“It should be noted that on an average each bill is discussed for more than two hours,” Mr Birla said.
Mr Birla, who is set to complete three years as Lok Sabha Speaker on Sunday, said the productivity of the House is above 100 per cent and it has worked for nearly 1,000 hours in eight sessions so far in the 17th Lok Sabha.
