Monsoon session could see online participation by MPS

HYBRID SEATING As per a plan under consideration, members required on a particular day only will attend in person

NEW DELHI: The monsoon session of Parliament could see some members of Parliament in the house and others online -- a sort of hybrid seating -- so as to ensure that legislative business goes on without compromising on social distancing, officials of both houses involved in planning the session said on condition of anonymity.

The last day Parliament sat was on March 24; the national lockdown , aimed at slowing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, was imposed on March 25. The last phase of the lockdown ended on May 31; India is now in what the government calls Unlock 1.0, with more activities and air and rail travel resuming.

The monsoon session typically starts in the first week of July.

The plan being considered involves physical attendance of only those members whose participation in items of business is required on a particular day. Members of Parliament who have given notices to mention issues, have questions scheduled against their names, or have been nominated by the party to participate in debates will get preference to sit in the House.those, who have no scheduled business against their name will participate digitally.

At this stage, this is just a plan under consideration and a final call on the monsoon session and how it should be conducted will be taken by the union government, one of the officials said.

The idea of a hybrid sitting of Parliament came up during a virtual meeting attended by Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu , Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and senior officials of both Houses on Tuesday. While reviewing options for the monsoon session, the officials pointed out that if the Indian Parliament has to maintain the prescribed social distancing norms, even the Central Hall of Parliament or Vigyan Bhavan’s plenary hall can’t accommodate all Lok Sabha members at a time.

Given that, “an option discussed was to enable attendance in the Chambers of both the Houses of only those many members who can be accommodated as per the social distancing norm by drawing up lists of such members whose participation in various items of business is required on a daily basis,” said a second official official. “Officials were asked to examine in detail various issues related to enabling virtual participation of members in the proceedings of both the Houses including the maximum capacity available for enabling such virtual participation and the feasibility,” this person added.

The original plan was to shift the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha and hold the session of the Lower House in the more spacious Central Hall or even in Vigyan Bhavan. But if the members were to adhere strictly to social distancing norms, the Central Hall can accommodate not more than 200 people while the Rajya Sabha can accommodate about 60 MPS. They further said that “even if the Members were to be accommodated in the galleries (the chamber has galleries for public, diplomats and press), the total seating capacity would be much less than the required, if all members were to be accommodated.”

Meanwhile, the plan to take the session entirely online has hit a technical hurdle. The NIC, government’s IT arm, has said that it can only accommodate 600 participants in a virtual conference.

A senior official of the Lok Sabha pointed out that it would be extremely difficult to request some MPS to go online in the hybrid plan, as almost all MPS would prefer to come to the House. “If the government brings any contentious bill, or if there is a discussion on issues such as Covid management of Indian economy, do you think the Opposition MPS would watch the proceeding online? If there is a voting on any bill, how will MPS participate?”

Two former officials of Indian Parliament said that the government should wait for the Covid curve to flatten and only then think of holding a session.

One of them pointed out that the Indian Constitution allows a six-month gap between the last day of the previous session and the first day of the next parliament. “The government has enough time till September to hold the monsoon session,” added this person who asked not to be named.