Speaker advocates Children's corner in Parliament library

New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today directed the officials to explore the possibility of creating a corner exclusively for the children who are interested in consulting Parliament library.

Inaugurating an exhibition of books and photographs on ''Issues Relating to Children'' in the members' reading room of Parliament library building here, Mr Chatterjee said, ''Why not have a children's corner in the parliament library?'' ''Let those interested children also benefit from this vast reservoir of knowledge,'' he said.

Earlier, at the initiative of the Speaker, bonafide researchers and journalists were allowed entry to the library, which was earlier restricted primarily to the present and former members of parliament.

Earlier in the day, Mr Chatterjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid floral tributes at the portrait of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the Central Hall of Parliament on his 117th birth anniversary.

Other dignitaries who paid tributes to Pandit Nehru included UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi, Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah, Law and Justice Minister H R Bhardwaj, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions and Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri, Minister of State for Mines Dr T Subbarami Reddy, Minister of State for Health Smt Panabaka Lakshmi, all Union Ministers.

Members of Parliament Motilal Vohra, Dr Chinta Mohan, V Narayanswamy, Ahmed Patel, V Arun Kumar, K S Rao and Ms Nirmala Deshpande also paid tributes to Pandit Nehru.

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