Only 7 out of 31 MPs in Parliamentary panel attend meeting on Covid-19

Only seven out of 31 MPs could participate in a meeting of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Friday that looked into Covid-19 situation in the country for the first time, with several lawmakers expressing their inability to attend the deliberations owing to quarantine and other restrictions in their states.

The meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology headed by senior Congress MP Jairam Ramesh saw presentations from K Vijayraghavan, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister, and top officials from the Departments of Bio-Technology and Science and Technology as well Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research.

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Besides Ramesh, six other MPs who attended the nearly three-hour long meeting included Sakshi Maharaj, Anurag Sharma, Sudarshan Bhagat, Ashwani Vaishnav and Ram Shiromani (all BJP) and Samajwadi Party's Ravi Prakash Verma.

"Our Parliamentary Standing Committee is having a most informative and useful meeting...on the issue of science and technology and Covid-19. Too bad we are not allowed to have virtual meetings so that more MPs could have participated," Ramesh tweeted.

Sources said the officials briefed the panel about the steps taken by the government in tackling Covid-19 and the future challenges before the country when it comes to tackling pandemics.

The panel has taken up "preparedness to deal with Covid-19 and other pandemics in future" for discussion.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said he was glad that the Standing Committees have resumed functioning after a three-and-half month gap. "Covid-19 pandemic did cast a shadow on the working of these committees, which function on behalf of the Parliament. All concerned were keen about the resumption of work by these committees. But the delay was forced by circumstances beyond our control. I am hopeful these committees would now go about examining important issues concerning respective domains," he tweeted.

Ramesh renewed his demand before Naidu for virtual meeting, saying "I would still request you Sir to allow virtual meetings given that Parliament is unlikely to meet for the next month at least."

Earlier, CPI Parliamentary Party leader Binoy Vishwam, who is also a member of the Ramesh-led panel, told DH, "it is unscientific, unethical and morally incorrect to hold a meeting and insist on physical presence now in Delhi where the Covid-19 situation remains serious. We are told there is no convention for holding online meetings of Parliamentary committees. This situation is now different. The pandemic has introduced several new practices, which were not used to earlier. So there is no point in holding on to conventions." Vishwam, who is in Kerala, could not attend the meeting.

The meeting had run into rough weather with a number of MPs demanding that the meeting be held online but it was turned down citing procedures like getting the nod of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for holding meetings through video conference. Questions about confidentiality have also been raised.

Ramesh had written to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu seeking a digital meeting, citing there could be a problem of quorum. However, Rajya Sabha officials said that there was no need for quorum for general discussions in the panel.

The senior Congress leader had countered that saying several MPs have expressed their eagerness to attend the meeting. "It’s about facilitating those MPs who want to attend and are unable to because of the containment zone and quarantine restrictions in their home states. Very different from not attending due to other commitments in normal times. On those occasions we did not have advance information always on who will attend and who will not. This time around MPs have informed before the meeting. Some have even requested for virtual meetings," he had said.