by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
When Om Birla's own question remained Unanswered
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, June 27
A strange situation arose in the Lok Sabha when the Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar saw a parliamentary question from none other than the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla on his table. The Parliament session of the 17thLok Sabha began on June 17 and regular question & answer hour was to begin on June 21. Om Birla, as BJP MP from Rajasthan sent his first parliamentary question to the Ministry on June 17 itself after taking oath as member. His question was
(a) whether India fs domestic climate policy is outdated and relies on a disjointed institutional architecture, without having clarity on foundational values;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to overcome this;
(c) whether India strongly needs a comprehensive policy document with a new vision to guide it forward in responding to the rapidly closing window against climate change;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether the Government intend to re-examine the existing policy framework through the lens of climate change, and revise the framework, as necessary and if so, the details thereof?. But by the time the reply was to be given, Om Birla had become Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Javadekar was puzzled as to what he should do. He called Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi whether he should put his reply in writing on the floor of the parliament or simply send it to the Hon Speaker. But Parliamentary practice & procedure required that if the Question of the Member is listed, the answer has to be tabled too. Finally, it was decided that answer need not be tabled though Unstarred Question was listed.
Interestingly, Om Birla has been an active member of the Lok Sabha in his first term when he participated in 163 debates including Budget, Motion of thanks on the President's Address & special mentions. He asked as many as 631 unstarred questions during 2014-19 and his attendance very high.
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