NEW DELHI: A publication compiling the proceedings of 407 sittings of the Central Legislative Assembly spanning 1924 to 1930, along with the first quarterly magazine of the Delhi Assembly ‘Vidhan Chetna’, will be unveiled later this week, officials said on Tuesday.
The officials said that the compilation represents a significant effort by the secretariat to preserve the foundational record of India’s parliamentary history.
Preserved in their original form, the volumes document several important debates of the period and include thousands of speeches delivered by figures such as Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Madhav Shrihari Aney, Ghanshyam Das Birla and others. The publication also highlights the contribution of Vithalbhai Patel, the first Indian president of the Central Legislative Assembly, they said.
For much of the past century, these proceedings remained confined to limited archival collections and were seldom available for sustained public or scholarly engagement, it added.
The first edition of ‘Vidhan Chetna’ will feature articles by the parliamentarians, constitutional experts, and legislators, among others, apart from reports on events and programmes organised at the Assembly.
Volume to release on May 28
The 89-volume publication will be released on May 28 in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, said the secretariat. It has been prepared under the guidance of Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta, spanning across 32,376 pages.