Biocon's Shaw to join Montek on Google Hangout tomorrow

Following the footsteps of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram after the Budget on March 4, where he spoke to panelists ranging from economists to a housewife on an hour-long Google Hangout session, the Planning Commission of India will do the same tomorrow.

On March 15, between 5 pm and 6 pm, India’s net savvy citizens will have an opportunity to interact with India’s senior policymakers online.

[caption id=“attachment_661349” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Commission’s first hour-long session at 5 PM tomorrow on Google Hangout will be attended its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and NIC Chairman Sam Pitroda.[/caption]

Participants on the Hangout will be able to ask questions Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and Mr. Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the PM on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation, among others, questions about the 12th Five Year Plan.

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Chairman & Managing Director Biocon Limited Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Member of Parliament (BJD) Jay Panda, Executive Director, National Foundation for India Amitabh Behar and Sarpach of Kanpura in Ajmer district of Rajasthan Jagdish Bairwa are among those who would interact with the Commission tomorrow.

To participate, one can send queries to them via http://goo.gl/Va6Au using the hashtag #12thPlan and selected participants from across the country will be invited to join the Hangout in real time.

The Google Hangout will be aired on the Planning Commission’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/PlanComIndia.

According to Ahluwalia, this new platform will help the Commission reach the young people in the country.

“Given that large number of younger people follow this (social media), it is important for Planning Commission to use the media and open to commentary and some other responses,” he said.

Elaborating further Ahluwalia said: “It is not that we are propagating. We are really opening window for people. This will allow us to respond. Some of the responses will be classificatory and some will be defencive.

“Around 250 million people in the country are below the age of 25 years. I think that this (hangout) will be interesting.”

With PTI inputs