New Delhi: There is little in common between 86-year-old Alam Badi and 42-year-old Harshvardhan Bajpai. Members of rival parties in the Uttar Pradesh assembly – a senior leader of the larger Samajwadi Party and Bajpai, a second-time MLA – often clash with each other. aisle. Recently, however, the two legislators, who were part of a group of engineer-turned-MLAs in the House, sat down to discuss how they can use their professional degrees to help their constituencies.
Alam holds a diploma in engineering which is almost five decades old, Bajpai earned his BTech degree from the University of Sheffield, UK in 2007.
In a first for the polarized and partisan world of Uttar Pradesh politics, an exercise by the Speaker of the Assembly to group legislators according to their professional degree, gender and legislative tenure, allowing them to exchange views and experiences without the compulsion of a party whip. is helping. thinking.
So far, Speaker Satish Mahana has held meetings with at least six such groups – doctors, engineers, management degrees, women, legislators who are below 40 years of age, and those who have five or more legislative terms.
Launched about a month and a half ago by the Speaker to “develop better rapport” with MLAs and “better functioning” of the 403-member strong House, it is now a platform for legislators cutting across party lines. To bond over shared concerns and come up with solutions.
According to the latest data from the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), the UP Assembly, which has long fought a grim notion – more than 50 per cent of its MLAs have criminal backgrounds – has come to the fore with the practice. Some flattering stats on its MLAs: The 18th Assembly has 18 doctors, 16 engineers, 15 management degrees, over 70 law degrees, 47 women, 126 first-timers and about 50 legislators who are less than 40.
“People think of MLAs as illiterate and rowdy. As a member of the UP Legislative Assembly for more than three decades, I know this is not true. I hope to change that perception by motivating the members to use their professional skills along with their leadership qualities,” said Chairman Mahana.
“I have asked various groups to use their professional skills for the betterment of their constituencies. For example, legislators with medical degrees can serve as a link between the chief medical officers in their constituencies and the government and forward proposals.
As the Speaker’s office grouped legislators, he realized that someone like Dr Surabhi, the Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA from Kaimganj in Farrukhabad, would have to be grouped into several baskets – and attended to many meetings. Surbhi is a dentist by training and has also completed her degree from IIM Calcutta. Also, as a woman legislator, she has to be in the group of women legislators as well.
In one such session with the Speaker, women legislators across party lines talked about how their male colleagues usually set the agenda when they did not have enough opportunity to raise their issues.
After this session, the Speaker promised to take the issue to the Business Advisory Committee of the House and said that a full day could be set aside for the women legislators in the upcoming session of the state assembly to be held later this month.
