Ensure smooth running of Parliament: President

Anguished over frequent disruption of Parliament and state assemblies, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday advocated collective thinking by political leadership to ensure their smooth functioning.

"There is a need for collective thinking by political parties and leaders of our country on how to ensure smooth running of our Parliament and legislative assemblies and whether some of the existing rules need to be amended for the purpose," he said in his address to Kerala Assembly as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations of the state legislature.

Mukherjee, who has served as the country's Finance Minister for long, said the volume of debates on budgets in Parliament and assemblies was not in tandem with the huge
increase in transactions over the decades.

"The volume of the first budget in 1948, presented by Shanmukham Chetty was only Rs 293 crore, while the proposals in the last budget presented by me early this year was around
Rs 12 lakh crore," he said. The first plan outlay was less than Rs 2,000 crore, while
the total outlay of the injected investment in the 11th plan was more than Rs 11 lakh crore, he noted, adding that adequate time was not being spent by elected members for intensive
discussions on finances.
  
"I am afraid that elected representatives are not discharging their duties and responsibilities and doing justice to their elected office," he said.