Venkaiah Naidu describes tenure 'learning, testing experience'

New Delhi, July 18: Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday described his stewardship of the last 13 sessions as a "learning, revealing and even a testing experience".

Naidu, who is presiding over the last session of his tenure, stated 57 per cent of the sittings of the House were either fully or partly disrupted during this period and urged the Members to rise to address the demands of the next 25 years of 'Amrit Kaal' by the end of which the country's population is set to increase by another 20 crore.

In his opening remarks in the House on the first day of the Monsoon Session that got underway on Monday, Naidu said that he did his best for effective functioning of the House and was willing to take responsibility if his best was found short of the expectations.

"Dealing with about 245 Members of the House from over 30 parties with different minds, inclinations and ideologies is quite revealing and even a testing experience. I tried to the best of my abilities to draw the best out of all of you as a collective. The credit for the positives would entirely go to all of you. If my best was found to be short of your expectations, I would not hesitate to take responsibility for the same,'' he said.

Stating that he would give a detailed perspective account of the functioning of the House during the last 13 sessions of his tenure on his last day in office next month, Naidu told the House that the members that 141 of the 248 scheduled full sittings of the House during this period were either fully or partly disrupted and it could have been much better given the mission for the nation.

Noting that this monsoon session would be the last in the 75th year of Independence of the country, Naidu said that the 25 year 'Amrit Kaal' beginning thereafter is critical to take the country to an entirely new plane and urged the Members to rise to the occasion.

He expected this Monsoon Session to set the right tone in this regard.

"I would expect all of you to be propelled by the spirit of 'New India at 100' so that our nation makes up for missed time and opportunities. Our population will increase by about 20 crore when Independent India turns 100 years. The challenges and opportunities that come with it need to be addressed with a long term vision and imagination. Members of Parliament need to rise to the occasion," Naidu said.

He further told the Members that during the inter-session period, seven Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees of the House have held a total of 29 meetings at an average duration of two hours and attendance of over 46 per cent per meeting.

He complimented the chairmen and members of five of these committees for their good work.

Naidu referred to the milestone of 200 crore Covid-19 vaccination jabs in the country achieved on Sunday and placed on record the appreciation of the House to vaccine makers and producers, the Central and state governments, the frontline workers and the people in particular.

The Chairman urged the Members to enable a safe and productive monsoon session of the House.