Amend rules to curb parliament disruptions if needed: President

President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday called for collective thinking by political parties to ensure smooth running of parliament, and amending existing rules to curb disruptions, if necessary.

Disruption of parliamentary proceedings cannot be tolerated under any circumstances, Mukherjee said while delivering the 10th Nehru Memorial Lecture on "Nehru and Parliamentary Democracy" at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here.

"There should be collective thinking by political parties and leaders of our country on how to ensure smooth running of our parliament and legislative assemblies and whether some of the existing rules need to be amended for the purpose," he said.

"Dissent should be expressed with decency and within the contours and parameters of parliamentary devices," he added.

The president said 9.95 percent of the total time in the 10th Lok Sabha was lost due to interruptions and the figure rose dramatically, reaching 37.77 percent in the 15th Lok Sabha.

He said the first Lok Sabha (1952-57) passed 319 bills compared to 247 passed in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009).

"Parliamentarians must see legislation as their first and foremost responsibility. There is need for utmost caution in matters of legislation, money and finance."

Mukherjee called on the faculty and students of JNU to play a major role in bringing back into debate Nehru's ideals as well as practice with regard to parliamentary democracy.