Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to address Meghalaya Assembly today

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SHILLONG: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will address the Members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly in Shillong on Thursday. Later, he will visit the construction site of the new building of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. The Lok Sabha Speaker will be in Meghalaya on a two-day visit.

The address of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to the members of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on Thursday is expected to add more to the orientation of the legislators.

Speaking to The Sentinel on Wednesday, the Speaker of Meghalya Legislative Assembly, Metbah Lyngdoh said that there are lots of expectations from the speech of the Om Birla in terms of topics pertaining to Parliamentary Democracy. "We will definitely learn and understand more from his valuable speech; and my role is to invite all the MLAs and to ensure that we learn further from a senior parliamentarian on issues related to grassroots democracy," stated Lyngdoh, adding that all the MLAs have vouched to participate in the special session to be addressed by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

While the one hour scheduled for the address on Thursday is expected to touch on a number of issues related to grassroots democracy, the Department of District Council Affairs is expected to have its own sitting with the Speaker on the devolution of powers, informed Lyngdoh.

On February 26, Birla will inaugurate the 'Outreach and Familiarisation Programme' for the local bodies of Meghalaya and the other north-eastern States. The focus will be on research and training to further innovate the existing democratic setups.

Besides Speaker Om Birla, the outreach programme will be attended by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Rameshwar Teli, Speaker of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Metbah Lyngdoh, and Meghalaya Minister for District Council Affairs Lakhmen Rymbui. Several MPs among other dignitaries will also grace the function.

Speaker Birla has initiated the outreach initiative for the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). This first-of-its-kind programme in the country is being organized by the 'Parliamentary Research & Training Institute for Democracies' (PRIDE), the Lok Sabha Secretariat with a focus on enhancing participatory democracy through greater awareness of the procedures and processes followed by the democratic institutions functioning at various levels from the grassroots to the apex level.

The 'Outreach Programme' for the North East States will be organized on February 26 in Shillong. The theme of the programme is 'Panchayati Raj System/Autonomous District Councils: Strengthening the Decentralised Democracy'. Around 90 Members of the Autonomous District Councils of Meghalaya will be physically attending the programme.

In addition, 80 representative heads from the other NE States including 25 Zila Parishad Chairmen from Arunachal Pradesh, 26 Zila Parishad Chairmen from Assam, six Zila Parishad Chairmen from Manipur, six MDCs from Mizoram, nominated heads of five Village Councils from Nagaland, four Zila Parishad Chairmen from Sikkim and eight Zila Parishad Chairmen from Tripura will also attend the programme. The remaining panchayat representatives from all of the NE States will be connected to the programme 'online via weblink'.

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