Yogi Adityanath inaugurates digital gallery at Vidhan Bhavan, says it will strengthen democratic values
The digital gallery will also give visitors a virtual helicopter ride to all the important places linked to the freedom struggle and the religious towns of Uttar Pradesh
The digital gallery that chief minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated at Vidhan Bhavan here on Sunday will enable any visitor to the state legislative assembly to take a virtual tour of its history.
The digital gallery will also give visitors a virtual helicopter ride to all the important places linked to the freedom struggle and the religious towns of Uttar Pradesh.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the digital gallery depicting the history of the state legislature was a matter of pride and it would help in strengthening democratic values.
Yogi, along with speaker Satish Mahana, visited the gallery and took a virtual tour of important places.
“Yes, we have set up a digital gallery depicting the state legislature’s history from the days of it being set up as the Legislative Council of North Western Provinces and Oudh on January 5, 1887, with nine nominated members. It gives details about the laws enacted up to now, has a collection of speeches of all the speakers, chief ministers and important dignitaries. We have made arrangements for a virtual helicopter ride of all the important places to the visitors,” Mahana said.
According to the state legislature’s history narrated to visitors through a short film during the virtual tour, the first meeting of the legislative council presided over by the governor was held in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) on January 8, 1887. The legislative council was given more powers in 1892 and the members got the right to ask questions there. Raja Rampal was the first member to ask a question in the state legislature and the number of members was increased from 9 to 15. In 1902, the state was named United Provinces of Agra and Awadh. In 1909, the Indian Council Act was amended to increase the number of members to 50 and their tenure was fixed at three years. A provision for indirect election of members was also made and they were given the right to put up supplementary questions.
The Legislative Council functioned as a unicameral legislature in the state until March 1937.
After the provincial part of the Government of India Act of 1935 came into operation from April 1, 1937, the unicameral provincial legislature became bicameral along with five other provinces of British India. Then, it came to consist of two chambers -- the legislative assembly and the legislative council.
The legislative assembly, the lower house, was a wholly elected body. The legislative council, the upper house, was partly elected and partly nominated.
The galleries of the house have been renovated with new pictures of important dignitaries at the instance of the speaker. It also has pictures of the groups of members of the house coming from different professions like medicine, engineering and those having MBA and law degrees etc. Both the lobbies of the house, along with the press gallery, have also been renovated.
