Birla Moots National Legislative Index

The spirit of democracy lies in constructive debate, says guv

- ENS @Bengaluru

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla here on Saturday mooted a National Legislative Index (NLI) to rank state assemblies and councils on the basis of their performance.

"The performance of the state assemblies could be assessed on the basis of parameters such as number of sittings held every year, productivity of the House, quality of debates, adoption of technology and efficacy of various committees," he said after the valedictory of the 11th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)-India Region Conference.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta has been tasked with preparing a proposal on NLI, which will be discussed at the All-India Presiding Officers Conference scheduled to be held in Lucknow in January 2026, he added.

In his speech earlier, he expressed concerns over the "planned deadlock" in the House and stressed the need for comprehensive dialogue among all parties and elected representatives to resolve the issue.

He suggested that rather than disrupt the proceedings of legislatures on ideological or political grounds, lawmakers must resolve to keep the House functioning. Birla emphasised the need to increase the duration of debates and the number of sittings during legislative sessions. "The legislatures should try to ensure maximum participation of youth through political discussions and decisions taken in them. State legislative bodies will try and organise programmes to increase public participation," he suggested.