Om Birla Urges State Assemblies to Compete on Tech and Transparency

State legislatures across India should actively compete to adopt modern technology and open up floor debates to public scrutiny, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Tuesday. Speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of the Goa Legislative Assembly building in Panaji, Birla argued that parliamentary democracy thrives only when institutions accommodate sharp disagreement and keep lawmaking accessible to ordinary citizens.

Birla proposed a cross-state sharing model where assemblies benchmark digital tools, procedural rules, and committee reforms against one another. He urged the Goa Assembly to craft a forward-looking, 25-year roadmap aligned with national development goals, emphasizing that youth and women must be brought directly into legislative policy formulation rather than remaining passive observers.

Smaller states like Goa carry a distinct operational reality where lawmakers maintain direct, everyday contact with their constituents, Birla pointed out. With Goa balancing rapid industrial and tourism expansion against sensitive coastal ecology, he pressed legislators to use digital platforms to make draft bills and committee findings easily accessible, ensuring that floor debates translate into measurable governance outcomes.

The event, attended by Goa Governor Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, also featured the release of a commemorative postal stamp marking 25 years of the Assembly complex. Birla reiterated that the durability of Indian democracy depends on keeping public institutions accountable, responsive, and oriented toward last-mile citizen needs.