Parliament House (India)


The Sansad Bhavan is the house of the Parliament of India, which contains the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha located in New Delhi.

History

Originally called the House of Parliament, it was designed by the British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker in 1912-1913 as part of their wider mandate to construct a new administrative capital city for British India. It is said that the circular structure of the 11th-century Chausath Yogini Temple may also have inspired the design of the building. Construction of the Parliament House began in 1921 and it was completed in 1927.
The opening ceremony of the Parliament House, which then housed the Imperial Legislative Council, was performed on 18 January 1927 by Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India. The third session of Central Legislative Assembly was held in this house on 19 January 1927.
Two floors were added to the structure in 1956 due to a demand for more space.
The Parliament Museum, opened in 2006, stands next to the Parliament House in the building of the Parliamentary Library.

Building

The shape of the building is circular, which is based on the Chausath Yogini temple. At the centre of the building is the Central Chamber, and surrounding this are the semicircular halls that were constructed for the sessions of the Chamber of Princes, the State Council, and the Central Legislative Assembly.
The building is surrounded by large gardens and the perimeter is fenced off by sandstone railings.

Proposal for a new building

A new Parliament building may replace the existing complex. The new building is being considered on account of the stability concerns regarding the current complex. A committee to suggest several alternatives to the current building has been set up by the ex-Speaker, Meira Kumar. The present building, an 85-year-old structure suffers from inadequacy of space to house members and their staff and is thought to suffer from structural issues. The building also needs to be protected because of its heritage. On August 5, 2019, the Vice president and chairperson of the upper house of Indian parliament Venkaiah Naidu proposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a new building for the Parliament. In January 2020, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla announced that parliament will be holding its sessions in a new building in 2022 when country would celebrating its 75th independence day. Renovation of central vista from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate is also underway.
Lok Sabha chamber is expected to have increased seating capacity to accommodate more members as number of MPs may increase with India's population. Lok Sabha may need to have 848 members by 2026. New complex will be able to house 900 Lok Sabha MPs and 1350 members in total. According to Bimal Patel, the architect in charge of the redesign of Central Vista, the new complex is likely to have a triangular shape. It will be built next to the existing complex and will be much bigger than former one. North and south blocks which house ministries will be converted into museums and relocation PMO and ministries and redesign of Rajpath will take place.

2001 Parliament attack

On 13 December 2001, the building of the Parliament was attacked by five Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. In addition to all the attackers, six military personnel and one civilian were killed.

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