New Delhi: Expressing concern over the declining number of meetings of Legislative Assemblies and legislators spending less time on the floor of Houses, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday appealed to the Assembly speakers to hold more sittings of legislative assemblies and urged legislators to spend more time in Houses.
"There are several state assemblies where even 30 sittings (a year) are not organised. This is not good for democracy," Birla said in Bhopal while addressing a programme organised in the MP
Assembly to distribute the Parliamentary Excellence Award.
Expressing concern over the reducing number of sittings during sessions, Birla said that the number of legislators sitting in the House during
proceedings is also coming down. Earlier, even senior leaders used to sit in the House throughout the day-long proceedings of state Assemblies, he said.
The Lok Sabha speaker called for a discussion in the Assembly from a "comprehensive perspective". "We work for the development and welfare of the nation and state in the House. So, there should be more sittings of the legislative assembly and members should also sit for a long time," he said, adding that during the past 75 years, India strengthened democracy and made it accountable.
"During this 75-year journey, the trust and confidence of the country's people in a democracy have increased. We need to make democratic institutions more accountable to maintain this faith because this is the best system in the world to govern," he said.
Birla also said that it is a matter of pride that India had framed the Constitution by keeping the people at the centre. "While remembering the makers of the Constitution, we can say that India is the strongest democracy in the world," he said.