New Delhi: Department-related standing committees will soon be formed and announced, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said at the sidelines of a three-day conference held for the officials and stakeholders of various legislatives as well as the Parliament.
Birla said that while there has been a delay in the formation, the committees will be announced.
While there have been complaints of delays by Opposition parties, officials from the Lok Sabha had earlier said that delay has been caused by Opposition parties. The Trinamool Congress is likely to get chairmanship of two Committees – commerce as well as fertilisers.
Congress, after several back and forths with the government, will be given the chairmanship of External Affairs, Agriculture, and Rural Development in the Lok Sabha in addition to Education in the Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha officials also said that they had written to the Opposition reminding them to respond with their responses.
The three-day meet, Indian Region Conference, at the sidelines of which Birla spoke, is a precursor to the 10th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), a five-day meeting of Parliament Speakers from across the globe which will be held in Sydney from October 5 to 8.
The meet saw the attendance of 42 Presiding Officers, including four Chairpersons and 25 Speakers along with their accompanying officers.
“We discussed various issues – the better implementation of reports of committees, how to digitalise all Vidhan Sabhas so that we can bring up the ‘One Nation One Platform’, as well as work out ways of how Panchayat and Nagar Nigams can benefit from Central schemes,” Birla said.
“All the pillars of the democratic systems , till the panchayat and Nagar Palika level will benefit only when all stakeholders benefit from what Parliament has to offer,” Birla added.
He said that under the aegis of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, India has been divided regionally into nine parts. “Each part has been entrusted with 1-2 assemblies, and they have been given the mandate of meeting regularly,” he said.
In the upcoming conference in Sydney, workshops across 8 main themes will be held, including acase study of violence against Parliamentarians, how to bring LGBTQ within the realm of Parliamentary traditions, how to extend benefits to divyang people etc.