'Parliament must run smoothly with high debate standards'

Parliament and assemblies in states must run smoothly with high standard of discussions and debates to fulfill aspirations of people, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said here Wednesday.

"Enforcement of force in running parliament and assemblies is not desirable," she said referring to recent eviction by force of some Lok Sabha members from the house after they continuously obstructed house transactions.

Addressing a seminar here, Meira Kumar said: "More number of women must be elected to both parliament and state assemblies as they constitute half of the country's population."

The seminar was organised on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Tripura assembly to highlight the transition of Tripura from a princely rule to democratic governance.

In all, 140 former and incumbent legislators were felicitated on the occasion.

The speaker said currently there are 61 women Lok Sabha members, which was only 11 percent of the total number of members in the lower house of parliament.

"In Tripura, there are five women legislators in the assembly and this is only eight percent of the total strength of the 60-member house," she added.

Meira Kumar appreciated the Tripura government for reserving 50 percent seats for women in local self-government bodies, including gram panchayats (local self-governments).

"Our democracy would be strengthening when there are no divisions on the basis of caste or creed. Socio-economic development of all must be the motto of people's representatives," she said.

She said it is an exemplary instance for the entire country that over 90 percent people cast their votes during elections in Tripura and the state's literacy has increased to 87.75 percent (in 2011 census), preceded only by Kerala and Mizoram.