Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday proposed five reforms to improve the functioning of legislative bodies alongside disciplining elected representatives. These included drafting and implementing a code of conduct for legislators both within and outside the Houses, forcing them to resign before changing parties, to decide on their defection cases within three months and quick disposal of election petitions and criminal cases against political leaders. He also asked for setting up of special benches of higher courts to decide these cases, besides evolving a national policy to ensure consistency in having upper houses in States and cleansing of polity.
Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday proposed five reforms to improve the functioning of legislative bodies alongside disciplining elected representatives. These included drafting and implementing a code of conduct for legislators both within and outside the Houses, forcing them to resign before changing parties, to decide on their defection cases within three months and quick disposal of election petitions and criminal cases against political leaders. He also asked for setting up of special benches of higher courts to decide these cases, besides evolving a national policy to ensure consistency in having upper houses in States and cleansing of polity.
Naidu, when speaking in New Delhi at the launch of his book 'Moving On...Moving Forward: A Year In Office', urged all the political parties to evolve a code of conduct for MPs and MLAs for effective functioning of legislatures to restore the confidence of the people in parliamentary institutions. He also urged the parties to come together, transcending political considerations, on issues of national importance.
He described the book as a report to the people on his mission since he was sworn in as Vice President on August 11 last year. "While there is cause for a great deal of celebration in the way Indian economy is shaping up and how India's standing in the comity of nations has been steadily going up, I am a little unhappy that our Parliament is not functioning as it should," he said in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other dignitaries like former PMs Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda.
He also urged political parties to consider issues concerning women dispassionately to ensure their safety and dignity and by ending discrimination against women on the basis of religion and other factors. To that end, he called for reservation for women in all spheres including in legislatures.
Stressing that agriculture is the basic culture of the country, the Vice President called for a clear bias towards farmers in resource allocation to ensure remunerative farming and a robust food security.
Also speaking at the event, PM Modi recalled that when former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was keen to offer to Naidu an important portfolio, Naidu had soughtthe Ministry of Rural Development. Modi noted that the Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which was launched by Naidu, became hugely popular among the MPs, given the importance of rural roads. Meanwhile, former PM Deve Gowda said that running the legislatures these days has become a lot more complicated and Naidu was doing his best in running the Rajya Sabha by protecting the interests of all sections of the House. Singh, on the other hand, said that the four themes that Naidu has explored during his extensive travels during the last one year — untapped demographic dividend, an effective eco-system to ensure sustainable and remunerative agriculture, orienting scientific and research gains to improve quality of life of people and enhancing public awareness about the country's rich cultural heritage and harmonious world view — could become the national agenda to be pursued.
MODI, MANMOHAN SHARE STAGE, IDEAS
- PM Modi recalled that when former PM Vajpayee offered Naidu a portfolio, Naidu sought the Ministry of Rural Development.
- PM Deve Gowda said that running the legislatures has become complicated and Naidu was doing his best.
- Singh said the 4 themes Naidu explored during his travels could become national agenda to be pursued.
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 "PM Narendra Modi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh release a book on M Venkaiah Naidu during his first year as VP of Indi")
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