India will be electing her 15th Lok Sabha shortly and the Election Commission has already initiated the election process. India is the world's largest democracy and this election will be the biggest election on the earth with the participation of 714 eligible voters.
"a great opportunity provided to us to elect the members who will be guiding the destiny of the nation for the next five years. The right to vote is a sacred right and an onerous responsibility that we owe to the motherland. The dawn of beautiful India is in our mind and then in our deeds. The deed for the day of the election for us is to cast our vote and be a proud contributor to the success of the spirit of democracy of the largest and dynamic democracy of all democracies. Dear friends, let us all go ahead and exercise our fundamental right to vote and elect the righteous candidate."
He has also set 5 Point Mission to the MPs who will be elected to the 15th Lok Sabha. Dr Kalam feels that we should give the MPs the task and then we need to evaluate their performance. He also wants a 'movement' should start for this.
Visual Podcast
Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button. (The streaming of audio and visuals will be smooth in broad band connections. If the streaming is not smooth, please download the file in wmv format and play through your windows media player) - 7 m 50 s
Audio Podcast
You may listen to the audio of Dr Abdul Kalam by clicking the 'play' button of the flash player. (If the streaming is not smooth, you may download the file in mp3 format and play in your mp3 player)
Normally, we have heard of teachers sending the progress reports of their students to the parents and also employees in Corporates submitting their performance appraisal to their employers. In politics, never we have heard that any politician submitting his performance report to his electors for appraisal. Prof. M Ramadass, (PMK party), Member of Parliament representing Pondicherry constituency in the 14th Lok Sabha has been submitting his performance report to his voters for the past five years annually.
Prof. Ramadass, an Economic Professor turned Member of Parliament for the first time has raised and asked 504 issues/questions in the 14th Lok Sabha. He has attended 96% of the Parliament sittings. He has used more than 100 percent of the MPLAD funds, drawing the excess from the unutilised funds left by his predecessor. He is rated as 5th for utilising MPLAD funds in the Lok Sabha. He is an ardent user of Parliament library, even during holidays.
In an exclusive interview for PodUniversal, he has shared his success story. and his views on how the members can utilise the opportunity to serve the people. Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button in the flash player below. (12 m 30 s)
(The streaming will be smooth in broadband connections. If the streaming of audio is not smooth, please download the audio in mp3 format and play in your mp3 player)
We have already written in these columns that there are four categories, under which the members are rated in the Lok Sabha for their performance. They are (1) asking questions during question hours, (2) raising issues of public importance under rule 377, (3) participation in debates, legislative business and budget discussions, and (4) regular attendance. PodUniversal is now featuring the top performers of 14th Lok Sabha under these four categories. We have already published few interviews earlier.
we are now featuring Mr Shailendra Kumar, a Samajwadi Party MP from Uttar Pradesh. Mr Shailendra Kumar has been rated as No 1 for participating more number of times in debates and legislative business. He has participated in 340 times. (The average for the Lok Sabha is 24 times per member and 57 members did not participate) He has served Uttar Pradesh Legislative assembly for two terms Lok Sabha for two terms, including the 14th Lok Sabha. He hails from a popular and well known political family of UP. I congratulated and interviewed him over mobile, while he was touring in his constituency. Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button. (8 m 35s)
The streaming of the audio will be smooth in broadband connections. If you the streaming is not smooth, you may download the audio in mp3 format and play in your player.
Mr Anandrao Vithoba Adsul (Shiv Sena) Member of 14th Lok Sabha from Buldhana (Maharashtra ) constituency has been rated as No 1 in asking questions in the Lok Sabha. He has asked 1260 questions during the entire Lok Sabha, while the average per member is only 167 questions. (78 Members never asked any question).
He was earlier the member of 11th and 13th Lok Sabha. He was elected to 14th Lok Sabha in 2004 for third term. He was also the Minister of State for Finance and Company affairs during the NDA Government, when Mr Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
In an exclusive interview with PodUniversal, (recorded over mobile around mid-night, while he was touring in his constituency), he shares his achievements and also explains as to how the Members of Parliament can make use of the opportunity available for helping the society.
Please listen to his interview by clicking 'play' button. 13 minutes (The streaming of audio will be smooth in broadband connections. If the audio is not smooth, you may download the audio in mp3 format, and play in your mp3 player)
After the announcement of Geneal Elections 2009, we have started featuring the top perfomers in the Lok Sabha. In this edition, we are featuring Mr V K Thummar, another Member of Parliament from Gujarat.
Mr Virjibhai Thummar, Congress Member of Parliament from Amreli Constituency has stood second in the 14th Lok Sabha, for raising issues under Rule 377. He has also raised more than 500 questions in the Lok Sabha using the Question hours.
He was the member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly for two terms before entering into Lok Sabha. He was elected to Lok Sabha during 2004 for the first time. During his first term itself, he proved his performance.
Hailing from a farmer's family, he had always took up the farmers' issue in the Lok Sabha. On behalf of PodUniversal, we interviewed him over phone. If he is re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha, he would like to achieve Number 1 position in the Lok Sabha under various categories of performance. PodUniversal congratulates him on his achievement and wishes him all the best in future.
Please listen to his podcast by clicking 'play' button (12 m 50 s) (The streaming will be smooth in broadband connections. If you find the streaming is not smooth, please download the audio in mp3 format and play through your mp3 player)
In the closing session of 14th Lok Sabha, Hon'ble Speaker Mr Somnath Chatterjee expressed his serious concern over the poor performance of the members. He also shared that nearly 24% of Lok Sabha time was wasted in shouting. We also published a poodcast from Mr Era Chezhian last week in this issue, expressing our serious concern.
Now, the media has started analysing the performance of the Members of Parliament in 14th Lok Sabha. While, we blame the members for non performance, we thought, we should also appreciate good performers, who took their job seriously. We have decided to feature some of the top performers, who are the motivators for other Members.
14th Lok Sabha had 14 sessions during the tenure.
Mr S K Kharventhan, Member of Parliament (Congress) from Palani (Tamilnadu) Constituency has emerged as one of the top 5 performers in the 14th Lok Sabha (all 14 sessions combined) in the following areas:
1. Issues raised under Rule 377 : Members can raise important public issues under Rule 377 to draw the attention of the Government and the Public. Mr Kharventhan stood as No 1 in raising such issues. He has raised 377 issues. (Average is 6 issues per member - 176 members did not raise any issue)
2. Question hour is an important time for raising questions on public interest. The average questions raised by the members in the 14th Lok Sabha is 167 per member and 78 Members did not raise any questions. Mr Kharventhan has rasied 1200 questions and remains in the top 5 performers under this category.
3. Participation in debates: There is a general feeling that Members did not participate in the debates in connection with legislative business, bills, budgets, etc. The average for 14th Lok Sabha was 24 times per Member. 57 Members did not participate. Mr Kharventhan has participated in 187 times and remains 6th or 7th amongst the top performers.
4. Usage of library: He was using the Parliament Library extensively to prepare his notes on various debates.
5. MP funds: He has utilised 100% of the MP funds for welfare projects in his constituency and 99% of the projects have already been implemented.
He will be contesting the elections this time also, if his party permits. If he is re-elected, he wants to score No 1 position in all the above areas in the 15th Lok Sabha.
PodUniversal congratulates him for his top performance and wishes him all the best. Please listen to his interview recorded over phone on 6th March 2009. Please click to play. ( 9 Minutes) The streaming of the audio will be smooth in broad band connections. If your streaming is not smooth, you may download the mp3 format and play through your mp3 player.
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PodUniversal Edition 68
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