Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri was among the 10 newly elected and re-elected members of the Rajya Sabha from the states of UP, Uttarakhand and Karnataka who were administered oath in the Chamber of the Upper House .
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the administration of oath/affirmation was done in the chamber of the Rajya Sabha for the second time during inter-session.
The 10 members who took oath were Narayana Koragappa from Karnataka, Brijlal, Geeta alias Chandraprabha, Ramji, Hardwar Dubey, Hardeep Singh Puri, Neeraj Shekhar, B L Verma and Ram Gopal Yadav (all from Uttar Pradesh) and Naresh Bansal from Uttarakhand.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu welcomed the newly elected and re-elected members and conveyed his best wishes after the oath-taking ceremony.
He asked them to go through publications titled ”Rajya Sabha at work”, ”Practice and Procedure of Parliament by Kaul and Shakdher”, ”Members Handbook”, ”Rule Book” and other books related to parliamentary practices before the next session commenced so that they become conversant with the practice and procedures of the House.
He added that the people have a lot of expectations from the members and accordingly advised them to maintain high standards of conduct in public life.
Mr Naidu emphasized that as Rajya Sabha is a House of Elders, youngsters and people at large look upto its members for guidance and advice, and accordingly, he said, it is imperative to maintain high standards of conduct which adds to the decency, dignity and decorum of the House.
He also advised the members to focus on three D’s namely ”debate, discuss and decide” and avoid taking recourse to disruption.
Expressing his concern about the prevailing pandemic, Naidu called upon the members to follow the guidelines issued by the central and state governments so as to set an example for the public.
The chairman also stressed upon the necessity of wearing masks and maintaining ”a safe distance”, mentioning that he prefers the word “Surakshit Doori” over “Samajik Doori
