Naidu, Birla hold meet over House panels’ functioning
nNEWDELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla met on Thursday to look at options to allow online meetings for Parliament committees, amid growing demand from Congress leaders for resumption of such meetings.
The two Houses will closely follow the government’s decisions on resumption of flights for general people before a roadmap for such meetings is decided. Naidu and Birla felt that “if the situation does not allow regular conventional meetings of the Committees in the near future, alternative means of enabling such meetings may be explored,” said an official release.
At least three Congress leaders, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma have sought permission from Naidu or Birla for holding their meetings online.
At the meeting between Birla and Naidu, held at the latter’s residence, the feasibility of holding such meetings was discussed and accordingly, they directed “the Secretaries General of both the Houses to examine in detail the pros and cons of Parliamentary Committees holding meetings by video conferencing”, a release said.
nPATNA: Vimla Kumari, a 46-yearold anganwadi worker (AWW) found herself at the centre of much Twitter love on Monday when the district magistrate of Patna in Bihar, Kumar Ravi, tweeted a photograph of her at work. Clad in a sari and wearing a hair net, face mask and gloves, Kumari stood with a survey questionnaire in hand. She also sported a cast on her left leg.
“This one deserves special mention. ICDS team reports that even after having broken leg AWW Vimla Kumari of Patna Town is working and doing survey in her assigned neighbourhood area on her own. Great level of dedication and commitment towards her work,” Ravi tweeted.
Kumari, whose husband died 15 years ago, slipped on a puddle near her home in a slum near Lalit Bhawan towards the end of March. However, this did not dissuade her from conducting a door-to-door survey initiated by the Bihar government in April to check for respiratory distress and influenza-like illness which are associated with symptoms of coronavirus.
Using a stick to help her walk, Kumari visited at least 380 houses in the slums near the office of the Bihar Public Service Commission and later, the slum adjacent to Patna Electricity Supply Undertaking — where she resides — from April 16 to May 3.
“I realised if I take leave and stay home, people in my area will suffer,” she said.
Kumari, accompanied by an auxiliary nursing midwife, would set out each morning at 8 am and visit at least 25 households everyday till noon.
A resident of a one-room shanty, Kumari has three children who are pursuing their studies. She receives a monthly stipend of ~5,650 and her job is to ensure that the government’s social welfare programme reaches every beneficiary.
“People in my area trust me. They will not allow any AWW other than me to administer polio drop or any other vaccination to their young children. It is a question of trust,” she added.
“Vimla was adamant to work, despite our willingness to grant her leave,” said Patna district programme officer Bharti Priyamvada, who is with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), an arm of the social welfare department.
“She is a very active, dedicated and responsible worker who has never shied away from any responsibility entrusted upon her. She is not scared of any adversity too. In fact, I had granted her leave, but she did not avail of it,” said Renu Kumari, a child development project officer.