The circular House of Parliament in New Delhi, home of the Central Legislative Assembly
Originally called the House of Parliament, it was designed by the British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1912-1913 as part of their wider mandate to construct a new administrative capital city for India. Construction of the Parliament House began in 1921 and it was completed in 1927.
The foundation stone was laid by HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, in February 1921. It took five years to complete the building. On 18 January 1927, Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra, Member of the Governor-General's Executive Council, in charge of the Department of Industries and Labour, invited Lord Irwin Viceroy of India to open the building. The third session of Central Legislative Assembly was held in this house on 19 January 1927.[2][3]
Two floors were added to the structure in 1956 due to a demand for more space.[4]
The Parliament Museum, opened in 2006, stands next to the Parliament House in the building of the Parliamentary Library.
Description
The perimeter of the building is circular, with 144 columns on the outside. At the centre of the building is the circular Central Chamber, and surrounding this Chamber are three semicircular halls that were constructed for the sessions of the Chamber of Princes (now used as the Library Hall), the State Council (now used for the Rajya Sabha),The upper and the second house of parliament is the Rajya Sabha. The members of Rajya Sabha are indirectly elected. The Rajya Sabha gives representation to 28 states and 9 union territories in India. Thus, members of Rajya Sabha work as representatives of the constituent states.and the Central Legislative Assembly (now used for the Lok Sabha)The lok sabha is the lower and the first house of parliament of India. Lok Sabha is the house of representatives directly elected by the people. Hence, the Lok Sabha is called the first house. The member of Lok Sabha are elected directly by the people from the territorial constituencies the tenure of Lok Sabha is of five years. The election take place after every five years. These elections are known as General election.
The parliament is surrounded by large gardens and the perimeter is fenced off by sandstone railings (jali).[5]
Proposals for a new parliament building to replace Parliament House emerged in the early 2010s as a result of questions being asked about the stability of the original structure.[8] In 2012, a committee was assembled by the then-Speaker, Mira Kumar, to suggest and assess several alternatives to the usage of the building.[9]
Commencement
In 2019, the Indian government launched the Central Vista Redevelopment Project, a multi-billion dollar project to redevelop the Central Vista, India's central administrative area near Raisina Hill, New Delhi. The construction of a new parliament building, as well as redeveloping the Rajpath will create a new office and residence for the Indian prime minister, as well as combining all ministerial buildings in a single central secretariat.[10]
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building was held in October 2020 and the foundation stone was laid on 10 December 2020.[11][12]
The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a terrorist attack on the Parliament of India in New Delhi, India on 13 December 2001. The perpetrators belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) - two Pakistan-raised terrorist organisations.[1][3] The attack led to the deaths of six Delhi Police personnel, two Parliament Security Service personnel, and a gardener – in total 9 – and led to increased tensions between India and Pakistan, resulting in the 2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff. The 5 terrorists were killed outside the parliament.[13]
India
