House moves towards paperless proceedings
NEW DELHI: Parliament took a significant step last year in its attempt to turn greener and to better utilise digital tools, with the consumption of paper down to a third of its 2015 levels, according to officials aware of the matter.
The Lok Sabha used 21,723 reams of paper in 2015, one of the officials cited above said, seeking anonymity. That was the year the authorities decided to move towards being more environment friendly, and concrete efforts began to cut down on paper.
In 2021, the Lower House used just 8,374 reams of paper all year, a 61% reduction.
An official in the Lok Sabha secretariat said that the drive to reduce paper consumption gained momentum after Om Birla took charge as Speaker. He pushed for new online platforms that lawmakers could use to conduct House-related businesses, and started taking regular stock of digitisation of various administrative and operational processes.
In January, Birla introduced the Digital Sansad app, which offers a 360-degree view of legislative activities and services for Parliamentarians, and helps them send questions and notices digitally.
“Gone are the days, when an MP had to give written notices to the Table Office for putting up questions or motions. Now, he or she can do it from anywhere through the app or the portal,” said the official quoted above.
A second official said that the Lok Sabha secretariat got rid of 79,236kg of waste paper in a 12-month period starting from October 2020, as it removed tons of weeded-out files, old publications, and other documents. “The increase in the accumulation of waste paper was due to conduct of special drive for weeding out of the old and obsolete records and files,” the official added.
The Lok Sabha in 2019 also introduced online tracking system for notices and bills, and in the same year, started a 24X7 helpline for members. The supply of bulletins, list of questions for the Question Hour, and copies of budget documents or bills has also been stopped, with lawmakers prompted to look them up online.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman used a tablet to read out her entire budget in the last two years.