New Delhi, July 06: From Monday, new members of the Lok Sabha will be literally in classroom to learn the rules and regulations of the House.
The week-long orientation course being organised for first-term MPs has acquired importance because of their overwhelming numbers. The fact that first-termers constitute 55% of the 15th Lok Sabha has lent an urgency to the need for grooming them.
After Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar inaugurates the programme, some of the seniormost MPs and experts will take turns to speak on different aspects of House procedures. Among those on the panel are finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, former ministers Shivraj Patil and Oscar Fernandes, deputy Speaker Kariya Munda and Lok Sabha secretary general P D T Achary.
The topic that will receive considerable attention during the course is parliamentary questions. The fresh faces -- more than 300 in a House of 543 -- will be acquainted with the procedure of raising questions and seeking responses from ministers using all available rules.
They will be taught how to use procedural devices to raise issues in the House and give notice for short-duration discussions.
Another area under focus is the committee system. The members are going to be introduced to the functioning and scope of the parliamentary committees. The first-termers will also be informed about parliamentary privileges and the finer points of the budgetary process.
