Lok Sabha Speaker urges all lawmakers to act on cyberbullying

With the two-day conference focusing on ways to tackle drug abuse and cyberbullying, the Lok Sabha speaker said cyberbullying, with the advent of social media, has a direct impact on the lives of the young. “Lot of people, especially teenagers and youth are getting affected by it. It is our endeavour to enact laws which aim to provide security and safety to all citizens. Information technology should be used to improve efficiency in governance and improve the lives of people but at the same time safeguards should be taken to protect institutions and people from its demerits,” he said.

“We should be fighting it with both awareness and legislation,” he added.

Harivansh, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha also said the studies have pointed out that India is leading in cyberbullying particularly among students. He said that our mission of adopting new digital technologies to become a digitally empowered nation also has a negative aspect like cyberbullying.

Pointing out that a detailed members of Parliament, after a detailed discussion in Parliament during the winter session,  have agreed to launch comprehensive public awareness campaign across the country to educate the youth against drug menace, Birla said all legislative bodies and members should work with a  “collective spirit to end the growing problem of drug abuse in the nation and work towards a drug free India.” . He expressed hope that public representatives would create awareness among the people in this direction and will work to provide the right direction to the youth.

Speaker Birla also emphasised on the need to get people’s participation — right from the Panchayat level to Parliament — in every level of law making, from the drafting to rule formation. “The law making process should get more input from people. The better participation, the more effective laws.. The more participation of people, the stronger the democracy is,” he said. According to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Legislature, as a forum to solve people’s problems, must be a centre of unhindered debate sans disruption which will increase peoples’ faith in democratic institutions, thereby strengthening our democracy. Referring to Digital Parliament, Birla said that the work of the legislature is being taken to the public with the help of technology; social media has also emerged as an important tool for interaction.

Delivering keynote address, Speaker of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the CPA Zone III, Pasang D. Sona said that the CPA has been at the forefront of bringing together legislators from around the nation and the world in order to discuss pertinent matters affecting the people.

Chief Minister of Sikkim, Prem Singh Tamang said that the entire North East region has witnessed remarkable and far-reaching changes under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to him, the North East region has changed from being a political platform to a developmental platform. Listing the developmental activities at the infrastructure and social sectors Tamang said that the state and the region can see unprecedented progress due to infrastructure development like Multimodal Connectivity.