Rajya Sabha to Discuss Home Ministry Working, Lok Sabha to Deploy AI for Live Interpretation and Transcription

The Rajya Sabha will discuss the working of the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday, March 19. The Parliament approved supplementary demands for grants totaling ₹51,463 crore for the current fiscal and the Manipur Budget for 2025-26. The Lok Sabha will soon deploy AI tools for live interpretation and transcription of parliamentary debates in different languages and develop a chatbot for MPs to access Parliament records.

The ongoing session of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, has seen opposition parties requesting a discussion on the working of the Union Home Ministry. Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien initiated this demand, backed by 15 opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, AAP, Shiv Sena (UBT), CPI (M), CPI, Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) [1].

The Rajya Sabha, which primarily focuses on discussing the working of select ministries after the Budget presentation, has been scheduled to discuss the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry, and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy [1]. However, opposition parties argue that the Home Ministry, responsible for managing internal security and state-related matters, is of equal importance and deserves a thorough discussion in the upper house [1].

The demand for a discussion on the Home Ministry's operations is not new. In August 2024, during the previous session, opposition parties raised the issue in a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha [1]. The Biju Janata Dal, which is not part of the INDIA bloc, has also backed the demand [1].

The Rajya Sabha's discussion on the Home Ministry's operations is expected to provide an opportunity for opposition parties to raise concerns and seek accountability on various issues related to internal security, law and order, and state-related matters. The debate may also lead to the formulation of recommendations to improve the functioning of the ministry [2].

In recent years, the Rajya Sabha has been increasingly active in discussing the working of various ministries, reflecting its role as a forum for constructive debate and deliberation on issues of national importance [2]. The ongoing session's focus on the Home Ministry's operations underscores the significance of this role and the importance of ensuring that the upper house provides a platform for effective scrutiny and oversight.

References:
[1] ETV Bharat. (2024, August 1). Opposition Parties Want Rajya Sabha To Discuss Working Of Home Ministry. https://www.etvbharat.com/en/!bharat/opposition-parties-want-rajya-sabha-to-discuss-working-of-home-ministry-enn24080108698
[2] Rajya Sabha. (n.d.). Role of Rajya Sabha. https://www.rajysabha.nic.in/rsnew/aboutrs/role.asp