by Bhupen Goswami 

Guwahati : Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday visited the construction site of the new building of meghalaya assembly in Shillong. The members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly have been addressed in the campus. The next day will inaugurate the outreach and introduction programme for local bodies of Meghalaya and other north-eastern states in Shillong on 26th February. The objective of the programme is to enhance participation in democracy by increasing awareness of the practices and processes of democratic institutions at various levels.

The theme of the programme is ‘Panchayati Raj System, Self Governing Zilla Parishad: Empowerment of Decentralized Democracy’. Om Birla has also come here with the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Dr. Konrad K Sangma, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Rameshwar Taylor. In fact, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has taken a unique initiative to organise outreach programmes for Panchayati Raj institutions in the country.

The outreach and introduction programme being organized by the Institute of Parliamentary Democracy, Research and Training (PRIDE) of the Lok Sabha Secretariat for panchayati raj institutions of the country is the first of its kind to promote participation in democracy by increasing awareness about the practices and procedures being followed by democratic institutions working at various levels from the grassroots level.