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What's the article about?
- It talks about a new Parliament building and its significance in the modern legislature.
Relevance:
- GS2: Parliament and State Legislatures—Structure, Functioning, Conduct of Business, Powers & Privileges and Issues Arising out of these;
- Prelims
Context:
- Recently, the PM inaugurated the new Parliament building. It replaced nearly a century old and symbolised a colonial era old parliament building.
- This new building reflects the vision and aspirations of a country that has evolved significantly since 1947.
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Analysis:
- Challenges of old Parliament House:
- The main Parliament House, inaugurated in 1927, consists of the circular-shaped structure which is visible from the outside.
- Two more floors were added to this building in 1956 to accommodate more staff and other offices. The need for yet more office space led to the construction of the Parliament Annexe in 1975.
- Despite these new constructions in the Parliament complex to suit administrative needs, the need for modern facilities in the main Parliament House remained unfulfilled.
- Apart from the shortage of space inside the Parliament House, there were several other challenges.
- The existing Parliament House is a majestic structure with a unique architectural style, but it presents a different view from the inside.
- Building of the modern era: new Parliament house
- The new building is more spacious, energy-efficient, and accessible. It has the most updated technology, which makes it well-equipped for future needs as well.
- In the new building, we will be able to accommodate various languages with state-of-the-art facilities for simultaneous interpretations as well as better features for audio-visual communication as compared to the existing Parliament.
- Better gadgets, access to an e-library, and important reports will be easily accessible for members from their seats. This will enhance the capacity of legislators and improve the efficiency of the Secretariats of Parliament.
- The building has publicly accessible museum-grade galleries and a Constitution Hall that showcases India’s age-old history of democracy.
- Revisiting the Parliamentary conduct and practices:
- The inauguration of a new Parliament building presents an opportunity for us to seriously introspect on our parliamentary conduct to make Parliament more efficient and productive.
- The trend of increasing disruptions and long periods of deadlock is antithetical to the demand for politics to respond to the complex governance challenges of our time.
- One hopes that adequate functional space and modern facilities for the members will contribute to reducing friction and enabling serious discussions.
- In the coming years, as this complex expands, each member will have their own dedicated space for interacting with people from their constituencies.
Way Forward:
- A modern legislature is required to work in tune with the challenges of time. The country has already paid huge costs — social and economic — due to the absence of laws when needed the most.
- The world is changing fast and is on the verge of a tectonic shift due to the emergence of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The new Parliament building should remind us to prepare and equip ourselves to face up the new challenges.
- As a fountainhead of the people’s hopes and aspirations, particularly those of the younger generations, it would work as a lighthouse to guide us in our ambitious journey to build ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat.’
