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The Vice President, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat released
the Book "Second Chambers of Legislature - A Must"
by Dr. A. Chakrapani at a function in Parliament House
here today. Addressing on the occasion, Shri Shekhawat
said that while reflecting his understanding of the
historical underpinnings of the evolution of the Second
Chambers in the world, Dr. Chakrapani has brought into
focus the thoughts of our Constitution makers in choosing
bi-cameral legislature. His strong views on further
devolution of the concept and ethos of Second Chamber
to other state legislatures deserve well-merited attention.
Shri Shekhawat said that today, in the Indian context,
it is not an issue whether Second Chambers are relevant
or not. Our Constituent Assembly had vigorously debated
the need for a Second Chamber in the country's Parliament.
The introduction of a second chamber in our Parliament
was based on some pious aspirations shared by the founding
fathers of our Constitution. From this perspective,
Rajya Sabha, the Second Chamber of Indian Parliament
has contributed towards the evolution of a vibrant and
dynamic parliamentary system of democracy. It has been
conducting serious discussions and constructive debates
rising above party lines to evolve a shared approach
of action on key issues of national importance. But,
there is still an enormous scope for raising the standards
of debate, making it ever relevant to people's welfare.
I believe that debates in the legislature can provide
much needed critical inputs to our public policies and
public governance, reorienting the governance mechanism
to the felt needs of the people, he added.
Shri Shekhawat opined that for strengthening and deepening
the roots of democracy, it is imperative that the confidence
of the common man in the capacity, credibility and effectiveness
of the system of governance is enhanced. This can happen
when our legislatures also contribute towards addressing
the issues confronting common man.
Applauding the role of Rajya Sabha, Shri Shekhawat
said that Rajya Sabha represents the true sprit of India
being a Union of States. Being a federal chamber, Rajya
Sabha has been sensitive to and concerned with the aspirations
of the States. In the present political scenario, Rajya
Sabha has a special role to play to bring about coherence
and congruence of national and state development policies.
We also need to ponder as to how to make its performance
more relevant and effective in meeting the present and
the future challenges. We have the vision of making
India a fully developed nation by the year 2020, he
emphasised.
A number of political leaders, eminent persons and
other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
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