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This story is from May 15, 2021

Public pressure should be exerted on Rajya Sabha chair, Lok Sabha speaker to allow virtual meetings of Parl Panels: P Chidambaram

Public pressure should be exerted on Rajya Sabha chair, Lok Sabha speaker to allow virtual meetings of Parl Panels: P Chidambaram
NEW DELHI: Former Union minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday he is “very, very disappointed” with Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for rejecting opposition pleas to allow virtual meetings of parliamentary standing committees during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chidambaram said Parliaments across the world had met virtually and added that while confidentiality clauses may apply to matters of defence and internal security, discussions on health, especially at the time of a pandemic, must remain open.
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He also said public pressure should be exerted on the presiding officers of both houses of Parliament to help allowing of meetings of standing committees during the pandemic.
Congress MP Shakti Sinh Gohil added that Modi government was avoiding convening Parliament or the House Panels in order to cover up their failures in handling the spread of coronavirus. It is the “Modi Model”, Gohil said, first implemented in Gujarat, which was being replicated in the rest of the country. He also said if the government wanted to meetings of parliamentary panels could be held in large places like the Talkatora stadium, with all Covid protocols in place.
On Friday, Rajya Sabha secretariat conveyed to LoP Mallikarjun Kharge and TMC MP Derek O’Brien that virtual meetings of parliamentary standing committees cannot be held but that physical meetings of the committees “can be considered shortly once the situation improves for better.”
Citing confidentiality, the secretariat, in a letter to Kharge and O’Brien, said the issue of confidentiality can only be resolved during the Session “as any amendment to the Rules can be approved by the respective Houses only after the matter is considered by the Rules Committee.”
TMC, which said it had sent three letters to the chairman since the start of the pandemic last year, said such refusal was a clear sign that the Modi government was living in the ‘Land of The Ostrich’, burying its head in sand and refusing to acknowledge reality.

Rajya Sabha sources, however, told TOI that when Naidu and Birla discussed the issue, it was decided that virtual meetings will be deferred for now on grounds that making technical arrangements for all participating MPs wherever they are will be difficult since it will need involving NIC.
They said last year, when faced with similar demands, concerns regarding confidentiality of House panel meetings were referred to the Rules Committees of both Houses of Parliament. But since physical meetings of committees were convened, the matter was not considered by the Rules Committees in both Houses.
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