LUCKNOW, Jan. 21 -- Calling for greater use of technology, stronger accountability and capacity building in legislatures, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Tuesday said state assemblies must compete on benchmarks of excellence, innovation and effective governance. He was addressing plenary deliberations on the second day of the three-day 86th All-India Presiding Officers' Conference (AIPOC), which focused on three key themes: leveraging technology for transparent, efficient and citizen-centric legislative processes; capacity building of legislators to enhance efficiency and strengthen democratic governance; and accountability of legislatures towards the people. The session was moderated by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh. Birla commended UP legislative assembly speaker Satish Mahana for integrating best practices from legislatures across the country into the functioning of the state assembly. He appreciated initiatives aimed at recognising and constructively utilising the educational qualifications and professional experience of legislators to improve legislative output. He also lauded special sessions on women's issues, Viksit Uttar Pradesh and the Sustainable Development Goals, along with youth-focused initiatives such as Yuva Samvad and Yuva Charcha, which, he said, were strengthening democratic participation and public confidence in institutions. Recalling deliberations at previous AIPOC meetings, Birla emphasised the need for healthy competition among state legislatures, particularly in areas such as innovation, excellence and the effective use of technology. Referring to the 2019 AIPOC held in Dehradun, he reiterated his long-standing vision for improving the efficiency and functioning of legislatures and said a committee had been constituted to examine the standardisation of procedures and practices across legislative bodies in India. Speaking on the role of technology in legislative processes, the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman stressed the responsible and contextual use of artificial intelligence (AI) to promote transparency, efficiency and citizen-centric governance. He underlined that AI should assist, not replace, legislative decision-making and emphasised the importance of preserving human judgement, constitutional values and ethical accountability through a "human-in-the-loop" approach. Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha speaker Vasudev Devnani said public trust was the bedrock of democracy and could be sustained only through consistent conduct, transparent functioning and continuous dialogue with citizens. He added that accountability was reflected not merely in procedural compliance but in the everyday functioning of legislatures, their openness to scrutiny and their responsiveness to public concerns. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to address the conference on the concluding day on Wednesday....