Opening new doors for Parliament’s library service

The Hindu Editorial Analysis
4 July 2025

Opening new doors for Parliament’s library service

(Source – The Hindu, International Edition – Page No. – 10)

Topic: GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education

Context

Upgrading LARRDIS into a research hub will enhance legislative quality and promote informed, evidence-based policymaking.

Introduction

In recent years, disruptions have become the defining feature of India’s parliamentary proceedings. This often overshadows the fact that Parliament is not merely a political arena—it is the space where policies are crafted and scrutinized, and where the government is held accountable by the elected representatives of the people.

Legislative Capacity and Research Support in Parliament

• Complex Legislative Agenda: Legislating on diverse and intricate issues like economic reforms, climate change, national security, and emerging technologies demands extensive expertise.
  •  MPs require access to world-class research and referral services for informed lawmaking.
• Underutilisation of Parliamentary Resources: The Parliament Library is among the finest institutional libraries in India.
  • Despite its capabilities, very few MPs use it regularly — a concern echoed by both current and former MPs.
• Role of LARRDIS: The Library and Reference, Research, Documentation and Information Service (LARRDIS) provides prompt and efficient responses to MP queries.
  • Example: A request for a 15-year compilation of another MP’s speeches was fulfilled in three days.
    • However, its scope is limited to digitised parliamentary records; it is not a research body or academic institution.
• External Research Support – PRS and LAMP: PRS Legislative Research and its LAMP Fellowship (Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament)bridge the research gap.
  • Yet, only 40–50 MPs at a time have access to LAMP fellows due to resource constraints and short fellowship durations.
• Dependence on Partisan or Informal Sources
  • In absence of formal support, many MPs rely on political aides, external consultants, or party-supplied talking points.
  • Such inputs may be partisan, non-expert, or factually inadequate, often leading to superficial and polarised debates in the House.

The good, the bad and the ugly of LARRDIS

Aspect	Details
Digitisation Initiatives	LARRDIS has digitised Lok Sabha proceedings, committee reports, and rare books. In 2023, it also launched a service to share MPs’ articles with others.
Nature of Service	Services remain largely reactive—MPs must place requisitions either physically or online to receive inputs.
Rising Demand	Information requests have surged from 150 in 1950 to over 8,000 in 2019, reflecting the increasing information needs of MPs.
Operational Limitation	LARRDIS functions in a silo, with minimal collaboration with universities, think tanks, or consulting firms.
Impact of Isolation	This isolation restricts LARRDIS from offering proactive policy analysis, trend forecasting, and building in-house research capacity.
Need for Reform	LARRDIS must transform into a more agile, forward-looking, and inclusive research hub that partners with top academic institutions.
Broader Significance	A reformed LARRDIS can enrich India’s legislative process, enabling MPs to make more informed, evidence-based decisions.

Other parliamentary research services

• Dedicated Research Units: Established democracies maintain units to provide objective, timely, and expert inputfor legislative functions.
• IFLA-IPU Guidelines: Parliamentary research must ensure confidentiality, neutrality, and institutional memoryto serve lawmakers effectively.
• European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS): Works with think tanks and academic partners to build a knowledge repository; provides impact assessments, trend analyses, and “Cost of Non-Europe” reports.
• OCAL – Argentina: Offers Parliament scientific and technological advice; collaborates with external institutions, conducts social studies, and links MPs with experts and citizens.
• OPECST – France: Evaluates scientific and technological options for Parliament through structured assessments and expert networks.
• INCyTU – Mexico: Acts as the science and tech information office for Congress; mirrors OPECST’s knowledge-bridging function.
• LARRDIS Reform Potential: Can evolve into a 360-degree knowledge hub through institutional partnershipswith top universities for policy-relevant research on AI, climate change, etc.
• Benin and Colombia (IPU): Embedded scholars in Parliament co-author technical policy papers to improve research quality.
• Egypt’s Model: Attaches specialists and research fellows directly to parliamentary committees for expert guidance.
• Sweden’s RIFO: Hosts the Association of MPs and Researchers, enabling ongoing dialogue and policy-science integration.

Building an institutional asset

• Approach: Phased and Consultative: A gradual and inclusive strategy, aligned with global best practices, is ideal for restructuring LARRDIS to ensure effectiveness and stakeholder buy-in.
• Mandate Clarity: LARRDIS needs a clearly defined scope of work, including research responsibilities, advisory functions, and analytical support to MPs.
• Eligible Users: The framework should identify who can access its services — primarily Members of Parliament, but potentially also citizens, journalists, and researchers under defined protocols.
• Turnaround Timelines: Establish clear service delivery standards, specifying response times for various types of requests, ensuring timely support to legislative work.
• Confidentiality Protocols: Robust confidentiality mechanisms must be laid out to protect the privacy of MP queries and the integrity of sensitive research data.
• Expertise Infusion: Involve talent from think tanks, universities, consulting firms, and multilateral bodies like the World Bank, OECD, and UNDP to bring global insights and domain-specific expertise into legislative research.

Conclusion

This is more than just an administrative reform—it represents a strategic investment in effective lawmaking, accountability, and good governance. In a diverse and complex nation like India, the consequences of poorly informed policies can be immense. Establishing a cutting-edge legislative research service would help bridge the information gap between the legislature and executive, improve the depth and quality of parliamentary debates, and boost public trust in the parliamentary system.