New Parliament to have automated mics that switch off after allocated time

The new parliament that is being constructed as part of the Central Vista Redevelopment Program has many architectural and technical changes that are aimed to improve the overall functionality and productivity of parliament sessions. As per a report in NDTV, the new mics in the parliament have been programmed to be automatically turned-off once the allocated time of the speaker comes to an end. 

The controversy around selective enabling and disabling of mics has been a routine feature in the parliamentary sessions that take place in India. As recently as September 17th, Member of Parliament from the Trinamool Congress, Derek O’Brien had flagged concerns pertaining to this issue. 

“What happened in the old Parliament building today was sad. I was the last speaker today from the Opposition. My party Trinamool Congress was given 18 minutes to speak. Then I was told I would only get a chance to speak for 10 minutes. Suddenly at 10 minutes to six, in the middle of my speech, I was stopped and the House was adjourned,” Derek O’ Brien said in an interaction with the news agency PTI. 

"They have mocked and undermined Parliament and they did it again today," he added.