2 days ago
Digitisation, encouraging first-term MPs to raise issues hallmark of Birla's 6 years as LS Speaker
New Delhi, Digitisation of parliamentary records, special legislative briefings and giving opportunities to first-term lawmakers to raise issues have been the hallmark of Om Birla's tenure as the Lok Sabha Speaker for the sixth straight year. Digitisation, encouraging first-term MPs to raise issues hallmark of Birla's 6 years as LS Speaker
Birla, a three-term Lok Sabha member, was re-elected as the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 26 last year and completed six years as the presiding officer of the lower house earlier this week.
"The first year of the 18th Lok Sabha has marked 104 per cent productivity. The House sitting lasted well past midnight to approve key legislations," the Speaker told reporters in a recent interaction.
He said the 18th Lok Sabha passed 24 bills, including the Waqf Bill, the Disaster Management Bill, and the Immigration and Foreigners Bill during the 372 hours of sittings of the lower House through the past one year.
Birla was elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker for the first time on June 19, 2019. His second term as the Lok Sabha Speaker began on June 26 last year.
Birla said it has been his priority to allow members to raise issues of urgent public importance in the House and a record of sorts was created on April 3 this year when 204 issues were raised in the Lok Sabha the maximum ever in a single day.
He said digitisation of Parliamentary records has been another area of priority and the Lok Sabha secretariat was in the process of digitising video recordings of historic parliamentary debates of yesteryears running into more than 8,000 hours.
"We have sourced these videos from Doordarshan archives as these date before Sansad TV came into existence," a senior official said.
He said an AI-powered search system now allows users to find specific words or topics in videos instantly, even across multiple languages.
The official said new technologies have simplified newly elected MPs' daily tasks, replacing the cumbersome process of filling 19 different forms with a unified onboarding app that saves time and reduces errors.
The Parliament Digital Library has emerged as a crucial resource, offering the public digital access to vast parliamentary research and information, furthering transparency and democratic engagement.
"This initiative not only puts the rich parliamentary knowledge hub in digital space for wider use but also strengthens our democratic legacy," Birla said.
He also said AI-driven translation and localisation tools now automatically convert parliamentary documents into the country's constitutional languages.
The indigenous AI tool "Sansad Bhashini" provides multilingual support for parliamentary work, breaking language barriers and promoting inclusivity as part of the Digital India mission, the Lok Sabha Speaker said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
