Debate vital, but decorum must be kept, says Om Birla

Maintaining that debate and discussion are part of the democratic process, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday said the decorum of the House must be maintained at any cost.

Birla was addressing a function on the foundation day of the Bihar Assembly, where he unveiled the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA), aimed at creating paperless legislative processes. “Elected representatives must maintain the decorum of the House. Members of the assemblies and Parliament have the privilege to express their views. They should share their opinions. But they must maintain dignity while sharing their views,” he said.

“Debate and discussion are all part of the democratic process, but decorum of the House must be maintained at any cost. They should also learn the rules of legislative functioning,” he added.

Birla said empowered legislators are the foundation of a strong democracy.

He said that public representatives empowered by the trust of the people energise democracy by taking issues to their resolution and by making law-making meaningful.

“Today we are witnessing a decline in the decorum of legislative chambers,” he said, appealing to members to avoid sloganeering, disruptions, and entering the Well of the House, and instead present their views through dialogue and reasoned debate.

“The true strength of a legislator comes from moral values, a sense of responsibility, and knowledge of constitutional procedures. A capable legislator makes governance more transparent, accountable, and people-centric,” he said.

Birla said Bihar has been the birthplace of democratic traditions, and its heritage has provided the ideological foundation for the country’s parliamentary system.

NeVA is a workflow system deployed on the NIC cloud to help conduct legislative business in a paperless manner.

It equips members to handle diverse businesses smartly by putting information regarding rules of procedures, the list of businesses, notices, bulletins, bills, questions and answers, and committee reports, among others, in their hand-held devices, officials said.

The aim of the project is to bring all the legislatures of the country together, thereby creating a massive data depository, they said.

Speaking at the programme, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh said, “Bihar is rapidly growing. The Rs 3.47 lakh crore State budget shows that Bihar’s progress is remarkable and commendable”.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav remained conspicuous by their absence from the programme, which was also attended by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

“The CM was supposed to attend the function, but because of his already scheduled engagements, he did not attend it with permission of the Assembly speaker,” State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said.

Addressing the gathering, Rijiju said Bihar is the land of Buddha and knowledge.

“Elected representatives from the State speak well in the Assembly as well as in Parliament. We must remember that if elected representatives are strong in terms of knowledge and competence, democracy will certainly be strong. Here, elected representatives have a lot of work to do as compared to the developed nations.”