LUCKNOW: Sensitizing the lawmakers about their responsibilities towards people, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urged them to be disciplined and dignified while airing their views in the house.
The LS Speaker was speaking during the inauguration of the 7th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association India Region Conference at the UP Legislative Assembly here on Thursday.
Reminding the lawmakers of their responsibilities as people’s representatives, Birla said they should come out strongly and emotionally while putting forth their point in the house but in a dignified manner.
He claimed that the rising polling percentages year after year since independence were the testimony to people’s increasing faith in democracy. “This enhances the responsibility of lawmakers to come up to the mark on the performance index decided by public,” he said.
"Our faith in democracy in deep-rooted. It is the soul of our nation and India leads the world on this count,” Birla said.
"Therefore, the onus lies on the members that they put forth their views strongly, emotionally, but in a disciplined and restrained manner while adhering to the traditions of Parliament and in a dignified manner," he said in an apparent reference to the repeated unruly behaviour of lawmakers inside legislatures.
"We have been a country of different religions, castes, languages and dialects. Unity in diversity has been the ethos of our democracy which has kept our parliamentary traditions always alive," he said.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is composed of over 180 branches formed in Legislatures of Commonwealth countries enjoying parliamentary democracy. This year's conference is being attended by about 100 delegates. One delegate each from Australia and Malaysia are attending the conference as observers.
The agenda of the meet comprises enhancing the powers of public representatives to analyse the Budget proposals in first session and second session would deal with drawing lawmakers’ attention towards legislative responsibilities.
All the CPA branches are geographically grouped into nine Commonwealth regions. The CPA India region, earlier a part of CPA Asia region, became an independent region in September 2004.
The India Region of CPA consists of the India Union Branch (Parliament) and 30 states/union territories branches. Such conferences of CPA India Region are held once in two years and the 6th conference was held in 2017 in Patna.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Lal Ji Tandon, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly Hriday Narayan Dixit and Chairman of UP Legislative Council Ramesh Yadav also spoke at the programme.