{"id":41168,"date":"2024-06-08T04:01:03","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T22:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=41168"},"modified":"2025-10-04T13:06:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T07:36:51","slug":"central-hall-of-indian-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/central-hall-of-indian-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the Central Hall of Indian Parliament: A Historic Venue"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Parliament House Complex<\/li>\n<li>Central Hall in Indian Parliament<\/li>\n<li>Can Central Hall be used by political parties or coalitions for their private events?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<p>In a meeting of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), PM Modi was unanimously elected as the coalition\u2019s Parliamentary Party leader. The event took place at the Central Hall of the old Parliament building.<\/p>\n<h2>Parliament House Complex<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Parliament House Complex in the heart of New Delhi contains several buildings:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indias-new-parliament\/\" target=\"_blank\">new Parliament<\/a> House that was opened last year;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>the old Parliament House,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>the iconic circular building that has now been renamed as Constitution House; Parliament House Annexe; and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>the Parliament Library Building.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Custodian of the Parliament House Complex<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Speaker of Lok Sabha is the custodian of the Parliament House Complex.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Central Hall in Indian Parliament<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Since it was established in 1927, the Central Hall has witnessed several historical events.<\/li>\n<li>It is a pivotal and historically significant part of the Indian Parliament House, serving as a symbol of India&#8217;s democratic legacy and governance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Historical background<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Central Hall was originally used as the library for the members of the legislature.<\/li>\n<li>In 1946, the Constituent Assembly needed a place to meet and discuss the Constitution of independent India.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Central Hall was updated with new benches and renamed the Constituent Assembly Hall. The Assembly met here for about three years, from 1946 to 1949.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>First Independence Day and the Central Hall<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>On August 15, 1947, the Central Hall witnessed the transfer of power from British rule to independent India, with the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, delivering his famous &#8220;Tryst with Destiny&#8221; speech.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Architectural Features<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Design<\/strong>: The Central Hall is an octagonal structure with a distinctive dome, emblematic of classical architectural styles.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Seating<\/strong>: It is designed to accommodate joint sessions of the two houses of Parliament\u2014the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/lok-sabha-and-rajya-sabha\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States)<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Decor:<\/strong> The Hall is adorned with portraits of prominent leaders of the Indian freedom movement and former Presidents and Prime Ministers of India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Functions and Usage<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Joint Sessions:<\/strong> The Central Hall is used for joint sittings of both houses of Parliament, particularly during significant addresses such as the President&#8217;s speech at the commencement of the budget session.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Meetings:<\/strong> It serves as a venue for informal discussions and meetings among members of Parliament.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ceremonial Occasions:<\/strong> The Hall is also used for important ceremonial occasions, including the swearing-in of Presidents and Prime Ministers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Addresses by Heads of State of other countries<\/strong>: Central Hall was used for addresses by Heads of State of other countries.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>The last address was by <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ipu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)<\/a> President Duarte Pacheco in March 2021 and before him, it was then United States President Barack Obama in November 2010.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Current status of the old Parliament House where Central Hall is located<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The chambers of the old Parliament House are currently not being used for holding Sessions.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha meet in the new building. However, the Parliament Secretariat has some offices that continue to operate out of the old building.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Can Central Hall be used by political parties or coalitions for their private events?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Speaker of Lok Sabha is the custodian of the Parliament House Complex.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Political parties and groups are allocated office space inside the complex.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>They can hold meetings with their members on the premises.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In the past, political parties have held their Parliamentary Party meetings at venues within the complex, including at the Balayogi Auditorium in the Parliament Library Building.\n<ul>\n<li>In May 2014, soon after the announcement of that year\u2019s Lok Sabha election results, Modi was elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party at a meeting held in Central Hall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q.1. What is Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)?<\/h3>\n<p>The IPU is the international organization of Parliaments (Article 1 of the Statutes of the Inter-Parliamentary Union). It was established in 1889. The Union is the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy..<\/p>\n<h3>Q.2. Who is the custodian of the Parliament House Complex?<\/h3>\n<p>The Speaker of Lok Sabha is the custodian of the Parliament House Complex.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/central-hall-parliament-9378513\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Central Hall: Where Modi addressed NDA, historic venue in Parliament<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover the rich history and significance of the Central Hall in the Indian Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}