Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will formally open the North East chapter of Speaker’s Research Initiative on the second day of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference of Indian Region in Guwahati on Monday. The four-day Conference will begin on Sunday which will discuss several issues including connectivity, economic growth, skill development among others.
The eight northeastern States – Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Tripura – are the members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association which is categorised as Zone-3 in the country.
Speaker’s Research Initiative (SRI) is the brainchild of LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan which was inaugurated on July 23, 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The objective of the SRI is to assist MPs in playing a more effective role in law-making, parliamentary debates, oversight of governance and to respond to the ever increasing, ever more complex issues of national and international importance.
The conference, which was scheduled to begin in Guwahati from August 16, was postponed after the executive committee meeting met briefly and passed a resolution condoling the death of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) currently has approximately 180 branches and is divided into nine regions – Africa; Asia; Australia; British Islands and Mediterranean; Canada; Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic; India; Pacific, and South-East Asia. The CPA Headquarters Secretariat is based in London