Venkaiah Naidu urges MPs to be 'different and better'

Naidu, he is retiring as Vice President and RS Chairman on August 10, said he tried the best of his ability to draw the best out of all MPs

“It is now time to be different and better,” Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday, urging MPs to ensure a “productive” Monsoon Session of Parliament, as 57 per cent of the sittings in the last five years were partly or fully disrupted.

In what Naidu described as a “last privilege”, as he is retiring as Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman on August 10, he said on the opening day of the Session that dealing with about 245 MPs from over 30 parties with “different minds, inclinations and political ideologies is quite revealing and even a testing experience”.

He said he tried the best of his ability to draw the best out of all as a collective since the underlying unifying force was the interests of the nation and to fulfil the aspirations of the people and also the federal interests of the States that the Rajya Sabha was required to sub-serve.

“The credit for the positives, if any, would go to all of you. And if my best efforts were short of your expectations, I would not hesitate to take responsibility for the same,” he said, delivering his introductory remarks at the start of Rajya Sabha proceedings in the Monsoon Session.

Recalling the last five years of his tenure during which there were 13 Sessions, he said, 141 of the 248 scheduled full sittings or 57 per cent of them were “disrupted partly or fully”. Naidu added, “all of you would agree that this could have been better given our mission for the nation. Better late than never. It is time now to be different and better.”

Reminding that this is the last session in the 75th year of “our hard fought” Independence, he appealed to the MPs to give out their best performance to make the session a “memorable one, particularly, in the context of its significance”.

“I expect this Session to set the right tone for the functioning of this august House over the next 25 years of 'Amrit Kaal' which is a critical period to take India to an entirely new plane by the time our nation rejoices in the centenary year of its independence,” he said.

Referring to the United Nations Population Division’s projection that India will overtake China in population, he said the population will increase by around 20 crores when India turns 100 years in 2047.

“The challenges and opportunities that come with it need to be addressed with a long term vision and imagination. The Parliament of India has to play a pivotal role in shaping a bright future. Members of Parliament need to rise to the occasion,” he said.

On the functioning of Standing Committees under Rajya Sabha, he said seven of the eight panels have held 29 meetings in the past three months after the Budget Session.

"I am happy to share that the average duration of these meetings has been over two hours and the average attendance being over 46 per cent. I am happy to note the improving performance of these Committees," he said.

The Committee on Education has clocked the highest average duration of 3:22 hours for five of its meetings while the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances & Law and Justice has reported substantial improvement having met for 2:15 hours per each of the five meetings. The Committee on Health and Family Welfare has also clocked about two hours per each of its six meetings.

The Committees on Transport, Tourism and Culture, besides Education and Science and Technology, have reported an average attendance of more than 50 per cent per meeting.