India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday called on members of the august legislative body to unanimously pass a Constitutional Amendment to ensure that Parliament had 100 mandatory sittings a year. Speaking on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first session of Parliament here, Yechury said: "We seriously should consider, through a Constitutional Amendment, if necessary, making it mandatory for 100 sittings a year." "I think, that is necessary as a corrective step for the future," Yechury added while participating in a debate on 60 years of the Indian Parliament. He said the closest that Parliament had sat for 100 days was in 1992 with 98 sittings. The 14th Lok Sabha, Yechury observed, was marked by the least in the Parliament history with 332 sittings with an average of 66 a year. "Worst, 24 per cent of this time was lost due to disruptions and adjournments," he said. He held that unless Parliament sits for a longer duration, its vigilance over the government will not be effective. "Thus, the executive's accountability to the legislature becomes the casualty. This seriously undermines our Constitutional scheme of things and endanger authoritarian tendency," he underscored. President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil will address members of both Houses in the Central Hall of Parliament at 5.30 p.m. She will also release five-rupee and 10-rupee coins and publications of the secretariats of both the Houses on the auspicious occasion. A cultural programme featuring Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Sitarist Debu Chaudhuri, Carnatic vocalist Maharajapuram Ramachandran, versatile singer Shubha Mudgal and Iqbal Khan will light up the evening. India became a Republic on November 26, 1949, but the first general elections were only held in 1951-52. Constituted on April 17, 1952, the Lok Sabha held its first session from May 13, 1952.

Ensure 100 sittings of Parliament per year through Constitutional Amendment: Yechury