Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stressed that shouting slogans and showing placards neither add to the prestige of the members nor the dignity of legislature and only meaningful debate and discussions in the House enhance the dignity of the legislature.
Birla said this after inaugurating a two-day orientation programme for newly-elected members of UP assembly in Lucknow on Friday.
Of the total 403 members of UP assembly, a sizable 128 are first time legislators and 200 MLAs have been elected for a second or more terms. Of the total legislators, 47 are women members.
"The better discussion and dialogue in the House, the more there will be an increase in dignity and prestige of the legislature. People's representatives must adopt the highest standards of conduct in the House and maintain the sanctity of the legislature,” the Lok Sabha speaker said.
Birla further said, "By creating disturbance inside the House or by shouting slogans and waving placards, neither the prestige of the members nor the dignity of the House increases. Therefore, we should not encourage such practices. Legislatures are platforms for debates and discussion and not for sloganeering.”
The Lok Sabha speaker said that serious and purposeful discussions and dialogue would lead to better outcomes in the form of better legislations which would bring positive change in the lives of the people.
“Law is meant to change people's lives, to ensure rights to the people and to make their life easier and simpler. Therefore, the more simple and easy the laws become, easier and speedy justice will be delivered to the people,” he said.
Referring to the importance of attendance in the House, Birla said that low attendance of MLAs in legislative assemblies was a matter of serious concern.
"The longer public representatives sit in the House, the more they get guidance from their senior and experienced legislators and there will be meaningful discussions and dialogues in the House," he opined.
Emphasising on taking inputs from the people for making laws, Birla said that people's representatives should get inputs from the people so that their hopes and aspirations could be incorporated in legislation.
Referring to the effective use of technology by legislators, the speaker said, "We all live in a digital era where rapid progress in information and communication technology has made great impact on the role and functions of legislature and its members. Information technology has completely changed the working of legislatures across the globe."
Birla informed that the legislatures of India were being brought on a single digital platform through One Nation-One Legislative Platform, i.e. E-Vidhan, which would not only develop the parliamentary system technologically, but would also work to connect all democratic institutions of the country.
Referring to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the speaker called upon all members to work hard towards socio-economic transformation of the poor and deprived standing at the last rung of society.
He expressed happiness that the present legislative assembly of UP was unprecedented in many respects as 47 women members had been elected to it, which was the highest number of women members in any state assembly so far.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana also addressed the MLAs on the occasion.
Yogi said that 'E-Vidhan' had been implemented with the aim of 'One Nation, One Application’.
"The UP assembly has been linked with the latest technology as per the wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'digital mission' and hence E-Vidhan has also been implemented in the UP assembly,” he said.
"The first paperless budget was presented in the UP assembly two years ago. Then E-Cabinet was implemented and now entire proceedings of the UP assembly will be paperless. If needed, hard copies of documents will be made available to the members. In future assembly proceedings will become entirely paperless,” Yogi said.
"With the implementation of E-Vidhan, members of the House will no longer need to carry bulky bags and assistants for carrying bundles of files and documents. There are also instances of security personnel intercepting the ministers' assistants carrying the bag. E-Vidhan has given a permanent solution to this problem,” the chief minister said.
Leader of opposition in UP assembly and former chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, praised the government and the assembly speaker for the transformation of the Assembly Hall with the application of information technology.
"I congratulate Speaker Satish Mahana and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the transformation of the assembly. It appears that I have come to an IT centre not the assembly,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
Later in the day, Birla met UP Governor Anandiben Patel and discussed several issues.
Earlier, Birla met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and discussed strengthening of democratic tradition of legislatures. Birla also met several eminent persons during his Lucknow visit.