Student 'MLAs' emulate elders

The  scenes so reminiscent of the legislature were enacted at the State-level youth Parliament competition, held in Bangalore. Lack of training to the students on the procedures of the session was evident. They did not know the procedure followed during the Question Hour in the House. Whenever the Speaker allowed a member to raise his question, a dozen “members” would be on their feet.

 Members in both the sides were eager to register their opinion on every issue. A member in the Opposition alleged that bicycles distributed to high school students were of poor quality. Education Minister Meghana maintained that the bicycles were of the best quality.

According to information provided by the students’ government, spent a whopping Rs 14,000 crore to provide bicycles to high school students. And, every member was keen to have his or her say on every issue taken up for debate.

 At one point, annoyed by the indiscipline in the House, the Speaker Sudarshan threatened that he would suspend all of them.

In one respect, that of gender equality, the student assembly was far superior to the real mccoy that sits in the Vidhana Soudha. Girls outnumbered boys. Prime portfolios - Home, Energy, Education, were handled by girls.

Legislators V R Sudarshan, T B Jayachandra and Prof S R Leela were in the jury.