ORIENTATION PROGRAM AIMS AT PROVIDING IN-DEPTH OVERVIEW TO MLAS ABOUT LEGISLATIVE FUNCTIONING: KULTAR SINGH SANDHAWAN

Chandigarh, February 14, 2023: Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Tuesday said that the Orientation Program has been chalked out to impart in-depth overview to Legislators about the functioning of Assembly.

Addressing the MLAs on the first day of a two-day special orientation program organized at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration here, the Speaker suggested MLAs to make the Vidhan Sabha manual a part of their daily life to have better understanding of the legislative functioning. He envisioned that this orientation program will boost the morale of all the members, especially those who have been elected for the first time.

In his address during ‘Interaction on Good Governance and Legislative Oversight’, Rajya Sabha Member Sanjay Singh described the disruption practices during debates on important issues in Parliament or Vidhan Sabha Sessions as a part of the parliamentary system. Citing an example, he said that if our suggestions (disruptions) regarding not bringing the farm law had been taken into consideration in time; the ruling party would not have had to face the brunt of the farmers' struggle for a year. Sanjay Singh said that late Arun Jaitley and late Sushma Swaraj also believed that ‘disruptions’ by the opposition during the Session was also a part of healthy democracy.

He said that MLAs should take advantage of Zero Hour and others to raise issues related to their assembly segments. He told the MLAs to equip themselves with deep knowledge about the legislative functioning to ensure better facilities to the people.

In his address, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha and Advisor to Delhi Vidhan Sabha PDT Achary, while speaking on Good Governance, said that Good Governance never means that houses of people are razed through bulldozers. Rather, he said that good governance means efficiently running the government in consonance with the constitution and working of legislative and executive in coordination with each other to ensure the well being of people. He said that the government is duty bound to provide good governance to the people.

Achary highlighted the importance of Legislative/Parliamentary Committees for fixing accountability. Informing about the formation of various committees and functioning of Parliament, he said that the Public Accounts Committee audits every single penny spent by the government so as to ensure the judicious use of public funds.

Earlier, Director General MGSIPA Anirudh Tewari welcomed the MLAs participating in the Orientation Program.  He said that Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha Kultar Singh Sandhwan has taken this initiative which is highly commendable.

Meanwhile, Ajay Kumar Sood from Lok Sabha Secretariat New Delhi and Former Advisor of Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha and Former Additional Secretary, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Ram Narayan Yadav also expressed their views on Parliamentary Devices-Practices and Procedure (Calling Attention Notices, Resolutions, Zero Hour and Question Hour etc.)