Patna, Oct. 10: Legislative Council chairman Tarakant Jha today said the Upper House would organise Centenary Lecture Series this year on the occasion of its completion of 100 years.

“In our Centenary Lecture Series, we will organise three lectures. Eminent journalists and a constitutional expert will deliver the lectures. All the subjects chosen for the lectures assume significance as these are very pertinent issues in today’s context,” Council chairman Tarakant Jha told reporters here.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam and Akhtarul Wase, the head of department, Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, delivered the first Centenary Lecture Series, Jha said. He added in this series, noted journalist M.J. Akbar will deliver a lecture on the subject “Hindu-Muslim problem in India: nature and solution”.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, Legislative Assembly Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary, parliamentary affairs minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav among others would be present on the occasion, while the Council chairman would preside over the function.

The next lecture would be organised on the topic of “Contributions of revolutionaries in the Independence war of India” on November 18 on the birth centenary celebrations of noted revolutionary Batukeshwar Dutt who was a close associate of revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Bhagat Singh, the chairman said. Dutt, who hailed from Bengal, later settled in Bihar before being nominated to the Upper House.

Jha said this lecture would be delivered by another noted journalist and MP Tarun Vijay. The Council would also release a book on Dutt’s life.

Noted constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap would deliver the year’s last centenary lecture on electoral reforms in December, Jha said.

“We want the Upper House to become a forum for healthy and vibrant debates so that views can be exchanged. There must be a debate on each and every thing in a democratic set-up,” said Jha.

“It is the need of the hour to know about electoral reforms from other countries like US, UK, Russia, Germany, France and Japan. What changes we can bring in the Representation of People’s Act, whether we can adopt the English system in vogue in Germany and France where candidates are declared elected on the basis of parties’ performance at the hustings,” he said.

When pointed out that people have started talking about the relevance of Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad (Upper House in the state), Jha said: “Yes, there must be a debate whether or not these institutions are relevant. What is wrong in having a full-fledged debate?”