LS training for members on multimedia devices after row over women's bill

Amid members' complaints of non-receipt of the copies of the women's reservation Bill, the Lok Sabha secretariat on Tuesday said a walkthrough session MPs will be organised to make them acquainted with the multimedia devices available in the new Parliament building.

A Lok Sabha Secretariat bulletin said the walkthrough session has been scheduled for Wednesday morning in the new chamber of the lower house for better understanding of the features and functionalities of the multimedia devices.

When the Lok Sabha convened in the new parliament building Tuesday afternoon, several members including AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, said they had not received the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill which was being introduced by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla pointed out to members that the Bill was available on the member's portal as well as the digital consoles available on their individual desk.

Lok Sabha officials said the Speaker had taken several steps to reduce the use of paper in the conduct of business and promote the use of latest information technology tools for making available parliamentary papers, including bills to members.

"The parliamentary papers are uploaded on members' portal and are being easily accessed and used by Members in the last three years," said one of the officials.

They said the portal is user-friendly and members and their personal staff have been trained from time-to-time to enable its effective use.

This has been the practice since September 2020 and is in tune with the commitment of Parliament for promoting environment-friendly and paperless workplaces, the officials said.

However, physical copies of parliamentary papers and bills are also made available to those members whenever a demand is placed with the Secretariat, the officials said.