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Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan launched a search engine on Tuesday, enabling public access to 77 years of legislative assembly debates dating back to 1947. The initiative, a first in India, will help citizens, researchers and lawmakers easily access historical debates and proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha. Sandhwan highlighted that the search engine, developed in collaboration with the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, led by Gurpreet Lehal, professor and consultant, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Noida, allows users to search debates by topic, language and date range.
He said that Punjab is now the first state in the country to implement such a project. “A comprehensive solution has been created for MLAs, with plans for regular training sessions for them and other departments to facilitate the use of the new platform,” Sandhwan added. Sandhwan also inaugurated other digital initiatives, including the e-gallery pass and paperless internal working of house committees under the MLAs e-connect programme.
These initiatives aim to streamline legislative processes and enhance governance transparency. The event was attended by cabinet minister Aman Arora, power minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, local bodies minister Dr Ravjot Singh, and MLA Gurinder Singh Garry Birring..
