PARLIAMENT LIBRARY INFORMATION SYSTEM (PARLIS)
THE COMPUTER CENTRE
Computerization
in the Parliament
The
Parliament Library made a modest beginning towards automation in December 1985
when a Computer Centre for managing the Parliament Library Information System (PARLIS)
was set up. Later an Expert Committee was set up in 1991 under the Chairmanship
of Secretary- General, Lok Sabha, to identify relevant areas for introduction of
IT and to suggest an integrated scheme for implementing the same. After
considering the report of the Expert Committee, the work of automation was
entrusted to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Computer Maintenance
Corporation Ltd. (CMC). NIC was made responsible for introduction of IT in
Questions, Legislative procedures, Administration, Office automation and LARRDIS.
CMC was assigned the job of automating the Reporters’ and Committee Branches.
CMC was also assigned the work of maintenance of the hardware.
Over
the years, the Computer Centre has played a key role in the modernization and
computerization not only of the Parliament Library but also of the entire Lok
Sabha Secretariat. It has also been providing necessary technological support
for managing different activities of the Secretariat and also to meet the
information requirements of the members of Parliament. Keeping pace with the
continuous growth in the requirements of members of Parliament and the rapid
development in the field of information technology, almost all the activities of
Lok Sabha Secretariat have since been computerized.
It
has been the effort of the Lok Sabha Secretariat to procure the latest hardware
from time to time. A number of
latest server machines and personal computer system has been installed and
necessary software programmes developed.
Parliament
of India Home Page
The
Parliament of India Home Page was inaugurated by Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma, the
then President of India on 15 March 1996. In a very short period, the Home Page
containing the information generated within the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha has
become an important source of information and reference tool about the
Constitution of India, history of Indian Parliament, its practice and procedure,
biographical profiles of members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, socio-economic
background of members and the proceedings of Constituent Assembly, Rajya Sabha
and Lok Sabha. The major components of parliamentary information now available
on the Parliament of India Home Page are:
-
Constitution of India;
-
Constituent Assembly Debates;
-
General Budget from 1997-98 onwards;
-
Indian Parliament - Introduction to Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha;
-
Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha;
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Directions by the Speaker;
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Decisions from the Chair;
-
Parliamentary Committees and their Reports;
-
Who’s who of present (Fourteenth) Lok Sabha;
-
List of 1st to 9th Lok Sabha members;
-
Biographical sketches of members of Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and
Thirteenth Lok Sabhas;
-
List of Business from 1999 onwards;
-
Bulletin Part-I and Part-II from 2000 onwards;
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Lok Sabha Debates (Proceedings) from July 1991 onwards;
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Synopsis of Debates from July 2000 onwards;
-
Parliamentary Questions (Index only) from 1984 to 1999;
-
Parliamentary Questions with Answers from February 2000 onwards;
-
Supplementary Questions and replies from July 2000 onwards;
-
Addresses/E-Mail Addresses of members;
-
Handbook for Members of Lok Sabha; and
-
Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)
The
proceedings of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are telecast live on television. The
live audio and video screening of proceedings of both the Houses of Parliament
are also made available through Parliament of India Home Page to the people
around the globe.
The
links to the Websites of Rajya Sabha (contains the information on various
parameters as released on to the Lok Sabha Home page), Government of India,
States and UTs, Indian Courts, Supreme Court, High Courts, Election Commission
and other Parliaments have also been provided at the Home page. Access to these
site can be had at the Internet address: http://parliamentofindia.nic.in
from anywhere in the world, round the clock through the NIC’s satellite based
network known as NICNET.
Parliament
Library
The activities of Parliament Library have been automated by using an
indigenously developed commercial software package ‘LIBSYS’. The libsys is
an integrated library application web enabled software package covering almost
all functions of the library. The library database can be accessed on Internet
as well as on Intranet by members of Parliament and other users of the library.
The Parliament library uses a locally developed Unix based software for
managing activities related to procurement and receipt of journals and
periodicals received in the library since 1989. The data related to the Serials
Control is being transferred to the Linux based Libsys package.
To
keep pace with the advances in information technology, the Documentation
Section was computerized in the year 1989. The computerized database is
designed to cater to the reference needs of members and officers of Parliament,
Committees, Research and Reference personnel and other staff members. Indexes of
important articles published in newspapers and journals and publications of
national and international organizations are also available through the
Internet. Subject bibliographies and select lists of publications on various
subjects can be compiled and provided to members on request. This has
facilitated the availability of instant and up-to-date information to members of
Parliament.
The
Press Clipping Service is being computerized by using a commercially
developed software ‘Stex’. Important press clippings of editorials,
articles, important news items and other information on different subjects from
various Hindi and English newspapers are scanned and stored in the computer as
image files. Keywords are also assigned keeping in mind the contents of the
clippings. The online subject-wise retrieval of the press clippings is available
on internet.
A
Digital Library of electronic publications on DVDs, CDs, tapes and
floppies was set up in 1997 to cater to the information needs of members of
Parliament and officers of Lok Sabha Secretariat. The collection of the Digital
Library is being developed keeping in view the core areas of interest of members
of Parliament and latest technological advances. A network DVD/CD Mirror Hybrid
Server which is capable of supporting 600 GB data has been installed in the
Computer Server room. The digital collections such as reference books,
yearbooks, reports, atlases, e-journals, directories etc. can be accessed either
through Local Area Network (LAN) or through www.browser at the address:
http://164.100.24.230. A member is entitled to borrow two DVDs/CDs at a time for
his own reference and use.
The
Speaker’s Home Page titled “The Office of the Speaker Lok Sabha” was
released by Shri G.M.C. Balayogi, the then Speaker, Lok Sabha on 25 January
2002. The Home Page at present inter alia contains the profile of the
present Speaker, Lok Sabha (Shri Somnath Chatterjee), his political and personal
achievements, role of the Speaker, events attended by him along with
photographs, Press Releases and Speeches delivered. Besides, the profiles along
with their respective terms of office of all the former Speakers are available
in this section. A link to the Speaker’s Home Page has also been provided in
the Parliament of India Home Page.
MPs’
Home pages
Each
member of Parliament has his own web page which contains his bio-data,
information about his participation in the parliamentary proceedings, Questions,
Bills, Motions and information pertaining to the development of his
constituency. Links to members’ Home pages are available on the Parliament of
India Home page.
Development
of websites
The
Computer Section of the Lok Sabha Secretariat has developed a website on ‘Legislative
Bodies in India’ with technical support from the NIC. The site was
inaugurated by the Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha, Shri Somnath Chatterjee, on 8
October, 2004 on the occasion of Presiding Officers’ Conference held at
Kolkata, from 8 - 11 October 2004. Besides,
the photographs of the buildings housing the two chambers of our Parliament and
State Legislatures alongwith those of the President of India and Governors of
the States, the site contains information on evolution, role and functions of
the Legislative bodies and brief profiles of the presiding officers viz.
Speakers/Deputy Speakers, Chairmen/Deputy Chairmen of Legislative Bodies in
India together with their pictures.
Websites
of the State Legislative Assemblies can be accessed either in the main Page of
the State Legislative Assembly site under ‘State
Legislative Assembly’ icon or under the icon ‘More
Information’. Among other
things, the website also contains information about the dates, venues and aims
and objectives of various Presiding Officers’ Conferences held so far. In
addition, a list of Chairmen of various Presiding Officers’ Conferences held
since 1921, information on the Conferences of Secretaries of Legislative Bodies
in India and the Conferences of Chairmen of various committees of Parliament and
State Legislatures (viz. Committee on Public Accounts, Estimates
Committee, Committee on Public Undertakings, etc.) has also been placed on to
the site.
Other
websites developed by Computer Centre includes, International Parliamentary
Conference to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Parliament of India; Association of
Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific (APLAP); and Second India
and Asia Regions CPA Conference.
Intranet
Parliament
House Precinct has three main buildings viz. Parliament House, Parliament
Library Building and Parliament House Annexe. The Computers used in offices
located in these buildings have data, which needs to be shared with other
Branches located in any of the three buildings. To facilitate sharing of data
and access Internet, a high speed Local Area Network (LAN) has been laid. The
LAN has been laid in star configuration having CISCO 6513 Central Switch and
CISCO Catalyst 3524 edge switches. The switches have layer 3 routing
capabilities. The central switch 6513 is ideally suited for high performance,
high port density, fast ethernet and gigabit ethernet aggregation in all parts
of the network including the access, distribution and backbone layers as well as
the server farm and data centre environments.
The independent Local Area Network (LAN) of the three buildings and
reception offices is connected with each other through Optical Fibre Cables for
providing high speed connectivity. The computer connectivity to outside world
including Internet is being provided through National Informatics Centre Network
known as NICNET. The NICNET is connected to state capitals, important
institutions and all the District Headquarters of the country. The LAN of all
the three buildings of Parliament House Precinct are independently connected
with NICNET through 2 mbps ISDN lines.
Training
Orientation
programmes are organized regularly at the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and
Training for the benefit of the MPs/Officials in acquiring knowledge and
developing/sharpening their skills in various uses of information technology for
parliamentary work. These are conducted by specialized agencies like CMC, NIC
and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. A Computer
Training Room has been set up in the Parliament Library Building to conduct
regular training programmes for members of Parliament, their staff and officers
of Parliament.
Members’
Query Booth
A
Members’ Query Booth is set up in Room No. G-127 of the Parliament Library
Building where computer hardware, software and internet or Parliament of India
Home page related assistance is being provided to members of Parliament.
Touch
Screen Computer Kiosks
Touch
Screen Computer Kiosks have been set up at vantage points in the Parliament
House complex. These kiosks provide information relating to Parliamentary
Debates, Questions, Committees, Who’s Who of Members, List of Business,
Parliamentary Bulletins, etc.