Parliament Agrees to Scrap Printed Pages to be Eco-friendly

Parliament Agrees to Scrap Printed Pages to be Eco-friendly

According to the Hindustan Times, India’s Lok Sabha, the lower parliamentary house of the people, continues to take significant steps in its attempt to turn greener with the consumption of paper down to a third of its 2015 levels.

An official in the Lok Sabha secretariat said that the drive to reduce paper consumption gained momentum after Om Birla took charge as Speaker. Parliament took a significant step last year in its attempt to turn greener and to better utilise digital tools, with the consumption of paper down to a third of its 2015 levels, according to officials aware of the matter.

The Lok Sabha used 21,723 reams of paper in 2015, one of the officials cited above said, seeking anonymity. In 2021, the Lower House used just 8,374 reams of paper all year, a 61% reduction.

After taking charge as Speaker, Om Birla pushed for new online platforms that lawmakers could use to conduct House-related business and started taking regular stock of the digitisation of various administrative and operational processes.

In January, Birla introduced the Digital Sansad app, which offers a 360-degree view of legislative activities and services for Parliamentarians, and helps them send questions and notices digitally.

Gone are the days, when an MP had to give written notices to the Table Office for putting up questions or motions. Now, he or she can do it from anywhere through the app or the portal,” said the official quoted above.

The second official said that the Lok Sabha secretariat got rid of 79,236 kg of waste paper in a 12-month period starting from October 2020, as it removed tons of weeded-out files, old publications, and other documents. “The increase in the accumulation of waste paper was due to conduct of special drive for weeding out of the old and obsolete records and files,” the official added.

The supply of bulletins, lists of questions for the Question Hour, and copies of budget documents or bills have also been stopped, with lawmakers prompted to look them up online.

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