Sad and perplexed with the frequent disruptions of Parliament and Assemblies of different States, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday asked the MPs and MlAs to discharge their duties and responsibilities reminding them that they are elected as representatives of people.
“You all are elected representatives and it would not be fair, if you do not discharge your duties,” said Pranab Mukherjee while addressing the special session of Himachal Pradesh Assembly on the occasion of its golden jubilee celebrations here.
“In democratic parliamentary system, the core principle is that majority will rule and minority will oppose, expose and even sometimes depose but this should be done within the legal framework of the entire system,” added Mukherjee.
He added that now a day’s handful of minority had resorted to disruption of work making it unable for the ruling party to carry out the important legislative business. Recalling his school days, Mukherjee said he was taught in school that there are three ‘D’ in democratic parliamentary system that is debate, dissension and decision.
“Now, I find that there is one more ‘D’ added to three D’s and that is disruption,” said Mukherjee cautioning the elected representatives to stay away from it. “I have been in Parliament since the age of 34 and I can tell you that parliamentary democratic system is most effective system in the world,” he added.
“Now days, only 30 to 35 per cent time of Parliament is devoted to money and
finance while the revenue expenditure has grown manifold,” he said. Recalling the first Budget, he said that the first Finance Minister RK Shanmukham Chetty tabled the Budget of little more than Rs100 crore but now the Finance Ministers are tabling Budgets over lakh crores.
Mukherjee said that if MPs and MlAs do not scrutinise the mounting expenditure and sit for business then who will do it, as without the permission of House, not a single penny could be spent. He said that political organisations should seriously ponder over the problem of disruptions of houses and find a solution before it’s too late.
lauding the efforts of Himachal Pradesh Assembly for having minimum disruptions in the State’s Assembly, he said that the House in past 10 years has met for 356 days and passed several important bills which is matter to be applauded.
Earlier, Speaker Brij Bihari Butail highlighted the historic importance of the building in which Himachal Pradesh assembly is running and welcomed the president for the occasion.
Tagore a rare guiding personality: Pranab
Rabindranath Tagore was a renaissance man and such men are found rarely in history, said president Pranab Mukherjee while inaugurating the Tagore Centre for the Study of Culture and Civilisation in Indian Institutes of Advance Studies (IIAS) at Shimla.
Addressing the gathering including scholars and fellows, Mukherjee said that the Tagore had captured not just the times he lived in but also the complex questions of the human mind, the questions that transcend locations and are pertinent for all communities across the world.
‘Education holds the key to nation’s development’
Highlighting the importance of education President Pranab Mukherjee said it is necessary tool for national progress, human empowerment and social change and asked for introspection to find the answers for degradation of values.
Mukherjee, on a three-day visit to Himachal Pradesh, was addressing a huge gathering of students, teachers and parents on the occasion of XXth convocation of prestigious Himachal Pradesh University at Shimla.
“The rising incidents of crime against women and children call for effective measures to ensure their safety and security. It also underlines an immediate need to arrest the moral decline in our society,” said Mukherjee.
He said a nation’s development is dependent to a large extent on its educational status. “Strategy of high economic growth is to overcome poverty and ensure development for all. We have to make economic growth relevant for our people, especially those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid,” he said.