MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION
(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)
(a)& (b):- Yes, Madam. The 18 th All India Whips Conference was held at Udaipur on 8 th -9 th January, 2018. 71 delegates comprising Ministers of Parliamentary Affairs/Legislative Affairs, Chief Whips/Whips of important political parties and Groups in the Houses of Parliament and in the Legislative Assemblies/Legislative Councils of the States attended the conference. Agenda of the Conference and recommendations adopted in the conference are attached at Annex-I and Annex-II respectively
(c) & (d):- The recommendations of the Whips Conference are circulated to all the State/UT Governments, Legislatures in the States/ UTs, both Houses of Parliament and the concerned Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India for taking necessary action. Thereafter, the follow up action is taken up to monitor the implementation of the recommendation of the whips conference. The existing mechanism has been found adequate to monitor the implementation of the recommendation in an effective manner.
(e):- e-Sansad and e-Vidhan are two Mission Mode Projects of the Government of India. Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is the nodal Ministry for implementation of both the projects. These two Mission Mode Projects stand for digitization and to make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures paperless.
(f):- The platform of the Whips Conference is a useful forum wherein the leaders/whips of various political parties – ruling as well as opposition, at the Centre as well as in the States sit together, exchange their views, thoughts and experiences, discuss difficulties confronted by them in the discharge of their parliamentary duties and evolve certain well considered norms for efficient working of the parliamentary system in the country. This helps in achieving the desired result of strengthening the parliamentary democracy including raising the level of debates, minimising interruptions during the debates, simplification of rules and procedures etc.
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ANNEX-I
18th All India Whips’ Conference, 2018, Udaipur
(8-9 January, 2018)
AGENDA ITEMS
1. Acton taken report (ATR) received from the States/UTs on the recommendation of the 16th & 17th All India Whips’ Conferences (AIWC) held at Goa & Visakhapatnam respectively.
2. Efficient Functioning of Legislatures- Interactive Session
3. Rolling out e-Sansad/e-Vidhan in Parliament and State Legislatures to digitize and make their functioning paperless.
ANNEX-II
18th All India Whips’ Conference, 2018, Udaipur
(8-9 January, 2018)
RECOMMENDATIONS
Following are the recommendations of the 18th All India Whips’ Conference:-
S.N. Recommendations
1. The Conference acknowledged overwhelming response from 21 States to the recommendations of the 16th AIWC and 7 States to the recommendations of the 17th AIWC. The Conference took note that some of the States are yet to submit their Action Taken Reports on the recommendations of the previous AIWC. The Conference after taking stock of the situation urged the remaining States to expedite the Action Taken Report on the recommendations.
2. Zero Hour is the designated Hour in Legislatures to raise matters of urgent public importance. Of late this important item of business is not being taken seriously by the Ministries/Departments by giving no reply or giving summary reply thereon. The reform of the Zero Hour is the need of the hour for more prompt reply and ATR from concerned Ministry.
3. The existing committee system of Parliament is an effective oversight for examining Bills and other documents of the Government. The experience of the Conference was that the reports submitted by the committees are not discussed in the Legislature and the Government sometimes only accepts selective recommendations. In order to mitigate the situation, the Conference was overwhelming in its response that a system may be evolved wherein these reports may be discussed and replied to in the Houses. Keeping that in view the Conference suggested that the concept of Committee Hour could be developed whose frequency can be suitably worked out.
4. At present Private Member’s business is discussed in the evening of every Friday in the Houses. It has been noticed that Friday being the last day of the week, the attendance of the Members is thin. In order to give impetus to this important item of business, the Conference took a view that reforms in the structure of Private Members Business needs to be carried out.
5. There is perception that the elected Legislators do not have adequate infrastructure to support their interactions with the citizens of their constituency. The Conference after deliberations suggested that a Committee may be constituted to conceptualize and implement the process of providing institutional and infrastructural support to the Chief Whips and Whips for effective functioning, better coordination of Legislatures and Parliament.
6. There has been a trend of declining sittings of Legislatures across States. The Conference felt that this has led to less time at the disposal of Legislators to highlight the problem faced by citizens. The Conference opined for establishment of a Legislative framework for more working days in both Union and State Legislatures.
7. The Conference opined to evolve a suitable mechanism for enhancing participation of people representatives specially MPs and MLAs in formulating, implementing and monitoring State and Central Government programmes and projects.
8. The Conference felt the need to provide for regular upgrading of skills of Legislators. The Conference mooted developing Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training (BPST) as a national academy for training of Legislators and Parliamentarians.
9. Digitization of the Secretariats of the State Legislatures and Assemblies as a project was welcomed by all the participants. The conference appreciated the initiative taken by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to roll out of e-Vidhan in the States for providing financial assistance and support to meet this end. The conference expressed its desire to embrace e-Vidhan Mission Mode Project to enable State Legislatures to become paperless, more transparent, productive and accountable to the citizens and economize the entire Legislative process.
10. Based on unanimity among delegates, the Conference resolves that all political parties in Legislatures will try to reach a consensus that no Member would go to the well of the Houses during their proceedings.
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