The Government will hold a special two-day training and sensitization programme for the newly-elected legislators of the State in order to brief them about their primary duties and guide them about effectively serving the people of the State, Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto said on Saturday.
The training programme, which is expected to see participation of all the 81 legislators in the State Assembly, will be held on February 11 and February 12 at Project Building in Ranchi, added Mahto. “It will be a basic training programme for all the legislators. The ministers too will be a part of it,” he said.
The training programme, Mahto added, will be hosted by knowledgeable personalities who have worked in the field of governance and public welfare in the past. “Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivanshji will attend the programme on the second day. We are expecting that all the legislators turn up for the training sessions,” Mahato said. The first Assembly session under the current Government was held on January 6 in the old Vidhan Sabha building this year. The current State Assembly has 29 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislators, 16 Congress party MLAs, one Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA, 25 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, three Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) MLAs and the remaining seven are independent candidates.
At present, there are 11 ministers in the State Cabinet including Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The tripartite alliance of JMM, Congress party and RJD dethroned the former BJP Government here by crossing the magic figure of 41 in the Assembly.
Results for the Assembly elections were declared on December 23 last year.Training and sensitisation of legislators has been a regular practice in Jharkhand. Some former Governments also planned to rope in premiere B schools such as the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for imparting trainings to the legislators here. Some legislators have made it to the State Assembly for the first time in the current Government, while many have decades of experience, sources said.
Mahato on Saturday clarified that the training programme was aimed at making the legislators aware of the various ways to address public issues effectively and the steps that a legislator can take to address issues under his or her jurisdiction.
“Most of our legislators have years of experience in dealing with public issues. However, the training programme will only be helpful for them and make them aware of the powers vested in them,” said Mahato.