THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The governor’s policy address in the morning marked the beginning of the ten-day budget session of the state assembly. The policy address read out by the governor was made available to the members in electronic screens in front of them. This is the first time that such a facility has been installed. As per earlier practice, copies of the address were distributed to the members after the governor’s address was over.

The monitor displayed the pages of the address as the governor read it out, with a lag of one page, to protect the secretive nature of the policy announcement. The governor chose to read out the address from a printed copy in front of him even though a 21” monitor was made available to him.

The new system enables members to chat directly with the speaker instead of sending notes with the Watch and Ward. They can also avoid raising their hands for sub-questions. Tabs appearing on the screens will also replace special buttons provided for voting purposes.