Shillong, November 10: Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma was invited and felicitated by Lord Uday Nagaraju, a member of the House of Lords, at the United Kingdom Parliament in London on November 9, 2026, as part of the ongoing State Legislators’ Leadership Excellence Programme.
The felicitation ceremony and interaction provided an opportunity for the Meghalaya delegation to engage with Lord Nagaraju and gain insights into the functioning of the UK Parliament, its parliamentary traditions and the role of the House of Lords in the country’s legislative and policy-making processes.
The programme was attended by Additional Chief Secretary and Vice-Chair of the Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellowship Project (MLRF), Dr. Sampath Kumar; Commissioner and Secretary of Parliamentary Affairs, Cyril Diengdoh; Secretary of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Malthus S. Sangma; and Adviser (Legislation), Dr. Andrew Simons.
Also present were MLRF Director and Project Lead Aiban Swer, NISG Project Officer and MLRF Co-Lead Stephen Anurag, and Dr. Julian Huppert, former Member of the UK Parliament and Director of the Intellectual Forum at Jesus College, Cambridge.
Lord Uday Nagaraju, also known as Lord Nagaraju of Bloomsbury, is a British Labour Party politician, technology consultant and public policy expert who serves as a Life Peer in the House of Lords.
His interaction with the Meghalaya delegation formed part of a broader international exchange aimed at strengthening parliamentary understanding, institutional cooperation and knowledge-sharing between policymakers and legislative institutions.
During the engagement, the delegation had the opportunity to learn about the parliamentary system in the United Kingdom, including the legislative responsibilities of the House of Lords and its contribution to public policy discussions.
The interaction was organised under the State Legislators’ Leadership Excellence Programme, which is being held in London and Cambridge from November 7 to 14, 2026.
The programme is jointly organised by the Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellowship Project (MLRF), Government of Meghalaya, and the Intellectual Forum at Jesus College, Cambridge, in collaboration with King’s India Institute at King’s College London and LSE Consulting of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
The eight-day programme aims to strengthen the leadership capabilities of Meghalaya’s legislators and senior government officials by providing international exposure to parliamentary practices, governance systems, public policy and institutional development.
As part of the initiative, participants are engaging with distinguished parliamentarians, academics, public policy experts and institutional leaders to exchange knowledge and explore innovative approaches to governance and decision-making.
The programme also seeks to broaden the understanding of legislative processes, public administration and policy formulation through interactions with leading institutions in the United Kingdom.
The meeting and felicitation at the House of Lords marked one of the engagements during the Meghalaya delegation’s UK visit, providing an opportunity to exchange perspectives on parliamentary democracy, governance and institutional development.
