Lok Sabha session: With nearly half of its members being elected for the first time, the Lok Sabha will engage outside experts to brief them on different aspects of a bill. It will help them better understand the background and scope of the bills brought by the government, said Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.
Ruling BJP got a massive majority in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections due to an unprecedented wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Most of the new Lok Sabha members belong to the ruling BJP as the second Modi wave helped them to easily win their seats. Of the total 303 BJP members in the Lok Sabha, 133 MPs have been elected for the first time.
However, it created a new kind of challenge to the legislative business handled by the lower house as 265 of the total 543 elected members have been elected for the first time. This is nearly half of its total membership that is new to the rules and procedures of the house.
The house will engage subject experts to brief these members about different aspect of legislative process and the government’s intent for bringing a bill.
In addition to engaging subject experts, Lok Sabha also intends to use cutting edge mobile technology so that its members can easily access the details of historic debates that took place in the Lok Sabha.
“A mobile application will also be developed so that members can easily access the landmark debates that have taken place in the house since 1952,” said the Lok Sabha speaker.
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Lok Sabha will also explore the archives of its proceedings available with the public broadcaster Doordarshan to familiarise the new members with the important debates of the past.
The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha that started on June 17 concluded on Friday. In its 37 sittings, Lok Sabha cleared 35 bills in this session which is the highest in the last two decades.
In this session, Lok Sabha members also created another record by working for 35% more time than the scheduled hours. For the last two decades, the average working hours have been in the range of 81% of the total scheduled hours.
This session also created another record as most of the new members and almost all the women members got the opportunity to speak in the first session itself. However, the new Lok Sabha is yet to elect a deputy speaker after the expiry of over 50 days from its constitution. As per the constitutional provision, a new Lok Sabha is expected to elect both a speaker and deputy speaker as soon as possible.
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