News Analysis India

Tag: Om Birla

  • Winter Session of Parliament: Speaker Birla to meet floor leaders of parties on November 29

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With the aim to ensure a smooth Winter Session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will chair a meeting with the floor leaders of parties on November 29, sources said on Saturday.

    The meeting is likely to be held along with that of the business advisory committee of Lok Sabha, they said.

    On November 26, almost all the opposition parties had boycotted the Constitution Day event organised by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in the Central Hall of Parliament.

    Birla expressed “pain” over the opposition parties boycotting the event.

    Interacting with the media after the event, Birla had said that he would sit with the opposition and the ruling side to build a consensus for smooth functioning of the House.

    Sources in the Lok Sabha Secretariat said the Speaker will meet the floor leaders of parties on Monday when the Winter Session of Parliament begins.

  • One nation, one legislative platform within stipulated time: Lok Sabha Speaker 

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of “One Nation, One Legislative Platform” will be implemented within a stipulated time frame. 

    He also said that a clear action plan will be prepared to increase the number of sittings of the legislatures. 

    Stressing that rules and procedures of the legislatures should be uniform, Birla said that uniform rules will help the presiding officers in smooth conduct of the House and to deal with indiscipline. Addressing the 82nd meeting of the presiding officers of the legislative Assemblies, Birla stressed the need for establishing good traditions and practices in the House meetings to ensure quality debates. Birla called for maintaining decorum and discipline in the House.

    “Public representatives should not compete for creating disturbance and disorder in the House, rather they should compete for bringing positive changes in the lives of the people through development and innovation,” added Birla.

    The meeting was inaugurated by Prime Minister on Wednesday while calling for a single platform for all the legislatures in the country. Birla said that the legislatures will be equipped with modern technology for greater efficacy.

    “A clear action plan will be prepared to increase the number of sittings of the legislatures,” said Birla, while urging public representatives to ensure comprehensive discussions and dialogues by devoting maximum time to discussions on the major issues affecting the people so that the socio-economic condition of the people improves for the better. He also emphasized on the need for changes in the working of Parliamentary committees in accordance with the challenges of the present times, saying that this will strengthen the oversight role of theParliament.

    Birla also said that the increasing trend of indiscipline, disruption, and uproar in the has become a matter of grave concern, and must stop.

  • National-level discussion needed to check rising tendency of indiscipline in legislature: Om Birla

    Birla said legislatures should be centres of solving common man's problems and fulfilling their needs through a comprehensive discussion and dialogue without disruptions.

  • Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expresses concern over declining decorum in legislatures

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday expressed concern over gradual decay in the discipline and decorum in the legislatures.

    Addressing a press conference on the eve of 100th anniversary of the All India Presiding Officers’ Conference (AIPOC), he said it will ponder upon the continuing decline in decorum of the legislatures across the country.

    AIPOC, the apex body of the legislatures in India, is celebrating its hundred years in 2021.

    “The Shimla Conference will ponder over gradual decay in the discipline and decorum in the legislatures which is a matter of concern,” he said.

    The speaker also emphasised on the roles and responsibilities of members in the House for the smooth conduct of proceedings.

    Talking about the anti-defection law, Birla said a committee was constituted on the subject matter during the Presiding Officers’ Conference in 2019 and it is likely that a detailed discussion on the report will be held in Shimla.

  • Om Birla, Naidu invited to last ‘chintan shivir’ of Council of Ministers

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A meeting of the Union Council of Ministers will be held on Wednesday on the next Parliament session, and special invites have been sent to the Lok Sabha speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman, official sources said.

    This will be the last ‘chintan shivir’, a series of deliberation sessions being held to help ministers better understand issues of governance, they said.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been holding these sessions to make governance and its delivery system more effective and efficient.

    These meetings also act as an orientation programme for newly inducted ministers in the Union Cabinet.

    The last ‘chintan shivir’ will be on parliamentary practices and the upcoming session.

    Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is expected to give a presentation, and special invites have been sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to attend this meeting, the sources said.

    In the first meeting, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Mansukh Mandaviya had given a presentation on personal efficiency.

    It was followed by a presentation on focused implementation of projects by Piyush Goyal and Gajendra Shekhawat.

    In the third ‘chintan shivir’, a presentation was given by Hardeep Puri and Mansukh Mandaviya on ministry and stakeholders engagement.

    The fourth presentation was on communication, and it was given by Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Smriti Irani.

    A senior official involved in conceptualising these deliberation sessions suggested that the prime minister’s broader aim behind this exercise was to take governance to the next level by expediting decision-making and further penetrating the delivery on the ground.

  • Sought appointment with Speaker to submit resignation but no response from him: Supriyo

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former BJP MP Babul Supriyo on Friday claimed that he has sought an appointment with the Lok Sabha Speaker to submit his resignation but has not heard anything from the office of Om Birla.

    In a series of tweets, the Asansol MP claimed he has confirmed about his parting ways with the BJP and was waiting for the Speaker to give him time.

    “Have parted ways with @BJP4India & had confirmed long before that, unlike many others who hold on to their MP seat inspite of changing Parties, I am not going to do so & shall resign as soon as Hon’ble Speaker Sir grants me his time. Attaching proof of vacating my Bunglow,” he said.

    The MP, who joined the TMC recently, also said his fellow Lok Sabha colleague and senior politician Saugata Roy has also requested the speaker to respond in the matter.

    Supriyo, reacting to reports that claimed he had never called the Office of the Speaker for an appointment after announcing his decision to resign, tweeted a letter he wrote to Birla on September 20 seeking time.

    “With due respect to the High Office of Hon’ble Speaker Shri @ombirlakota I very humble present the official letter I sent on the 20th of Sept which also bears a ‘Received’ acknowledgment from Hon’ble Sir’s office. A separate request for the same was made by Shri @SaugataRoyMP too,” Supriyo tweeted.

    He also said that both he and TMC’s Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien were in touch with the Speaker’s office on the issue on a daily basis.

    “I also personally spoke to his OSD since I had to leave for Kolkata. It’s disappointing that a completely unnecessary controversy has cropped up about this,” he said.

    O’Brien confirmed his party colleague’s version and even clarified that the letter did not have a stamp of receipt because that is not Parliament protocol.

    “The protocol is that these letters are NOT stamped by the receiver. Even in Parliament. Letters are NOT stamped. Countless calls were made to the Hon. LS Speaker’s office by @SaugataRoyMP and my office. And the sitting LS MP concerned also called. How long can they stall you?” O’Brien tweeted.

    Sources said that the Lok Sabha Secretariat maintained that the letter sent by Suprito did not mention that he sought time to resign.

    In fact, the letter tweeted by Supriyo also did not say that he wished to meet with the Speaker about his resignation.

    Sources in Lok Sabha Secretariat said Lok Sabha Speaker regularly meets MPs even without prior appointments.

    The Speaker’s office doors are always open for MPs, they said.

    The singer-turned-politician began his political career by joining the BJP in 2014 where he won the Lok Sabha elections from Asansol and repeated his performance in 2019.

    Supriyo held many portfolios as the minister of state in multiple ministries till he was dropped in the first reshuffle of the Modi government in July.

    Supriyo surprised many by going to Kolkata and joining the Trinamool Congress on September 18, weeks after he publicly claimed that he was quitting politics.

  • 200 MPs visited Ladakh in last 2 months, shows importance that govt, people attach to region: Om Birla

    The speaker appreciated the valour of the people of Ladakh and their contribution in India #39;s defence, asserting that they have quot;set an important example for others. quot;

  • Ladakh’s emergence as self-reliant entity amid adverse challenges is exemplary: Om Birla

    Lok Sabha Speaker was speaking at Parliamentary Outreach Programme for the empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions of the Union Territory of Ladakh at the Sindhu Sanskritik Kendra, Leh.

  • India propagates peace, always opposed expansionist policies, terrorism: Om Birla

    Birla arrived in Leh to inaugurate the Parliamentary Outreach Programme for the empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions in the Union Territory on August 27.

  • Pegasus row: Lok Sabha Speaker meets officials on not appearing before Tharoor-led Parliment panel

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Taking note of a complaint filed by Congress leader and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT Shashi Tharoor, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is learnt to have met the secretaries of the home, information technology and telecom ministries, sources said on Wednesday.

    The three secretaries wrote to Tharoor conveying their unavailability to depose before the panel at its meeting on July 28, in which the committee was expected to take up the Pegasus snooping issue.

    A day after the meeting, Tharoor wrote to Birla informing him that the three secretaries were called to depose on “citizens’ data security and privacy”.

    The meeting was cancelled after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members boycotted it, resulting in a lack of quorum.

    The BJP MPs had accused Tharoor of using the committee for “forwarding the Congress agenda”.

    Tharoor met the speaker on several occasions on the issue of non-appearance of government officials before the standing committee meeting on July 28.

    Birla was expected to hold an informal meeting of all the panel members but so far, no such meeting has taken place.

    The committee is again expected to meet on August 17 to adopt the reports on “Internet Shutdowns in India” and “Media Ethics”.

    BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has been demanding Tharoor’s removal from the committee for allegedly forwarding his party’s political agenda.