Rajya Sabha to drop ‘no, sir’ usage and give gender neutral responses

The Rajya Sabha secretariat on Wednesday said it addressed the “anomaly” in responses to questions raised by women parliamentarians using ‘no, sir’.

Referring to a letter written by Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, the secretariat informed that ministries will be informed to provide gender-neutral responses from the next Rajya Sabha session.

“The ministries will be informed to furnish gender neutral replies to the parliamentary questions from the next session of Rajya Sabha onwards,” said the director of the secretariat’s committee section Swarabji B in his response.

The secretariat added that all proceedings in Rajya Sabha are addressed to the Chair as per conventions and rules of procedure and conduct of business.