Book by MP Assembly's Principal Secretary elaborates on House procedures

Bhopal, Dec 28 In an effort to bring more clarity among legislators about the procedures of the House, Principal Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Awadhesh Pratap Singh has recently come up with a book titled 'Vidhanmandal Paddhati Avam Prakriya' (Legislature's Practice and Procedure).

The book has 800 pages divided into 29 chapters which elaborate on the entire parliamentary system, besides the systematic procedure of the House.

It was released by Speaker Girish Gautam in the presence Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and some others legislators during the winter session of House on December 19.

Talking exclusively to , Singh narrates what made him write this book, what efforts were made to complete it and also what is its relevance in the present time.

Singh has served both - the state Assembly as well as the Parliament (Rajya Sabha Secretariat) - and has 36 years of vast experience.

He says that state Assemblies do not have their own procedures to run House proceedings, Assemblies functions according to the procedures of the Parliament. However, a large set of rules creates confusion, and therefore, it was necessary to have a set of guidelines for legislators with simple elaboration.

Singh further says that some senior state Assembly members often use to ask him to write a book that can help legislators to understand the parliamentary procedures. "During the first wave of the Covid pandemic in early 2020, when lockdown was imposed, I decided to make an effort (in this regard) and when I shared my thoughts with former Lok Sabha Secretary Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, he encouraged me. Around 8-10 chapters were completed during the first lockdown. I went to libraries to find better references on each and every matter. But, I could not continue it (the book) due to various reasons. My wife one day asked me why I am not completing the book and the process began again. Finally, it was completed and released," Singh elaborates.

The book will help a lot to understand the present system of parliamentary affairs of the state Assembly. The references on each and every issue pertaining to the House have been mentioned in the book as an exemplary note so that the members or any other person can fully understand it.

"See, the parliamentary system is very vast and one can't understand the entire procedures, therefore, this book will be helpful in understanding the Assembly procedures. Most of the legislators even do not know the basic rules and it creates problems during the session. They must know when they should ask a question and when a supplementary question.

While releasing the book, Speaker Gautam had said, "In the past, the legislators used to visit at Vidhan Sabha's library ahead of the session for their preparations, but this culture has almost ended now, and lack of preparations appears during the session, which creates unduly disturbances of the House. We all need to come to the House prepared on subjects we are raising or discussing during the session. All legislators need to understand the complete procedures and methods of parliamentary affairs."

Former Lok Sabha Secretary and the constitutional expert Subhash C. Kashyap said that the Parliamentary proceedings is vast and rigid, and one can not understand it without having deep study and experience of it. And this is the reason, there are very limited resources available for it. Also, the books which are available are in English language only.

"This book explains about parliamentary affairs and its systematic functioning. I believe that this book will not only help the legislators but also students as well as all other people who work or are interested in parliamentary affairs," Kashyap said in a note about the book.