 "Join the Planning Commission on Hangouts tomorrow")
If you have questions pertaining to the 12th Five Year Plan, you now have the opportunity to put them to the members of the Planning Commission themselves.
Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the PM on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation and other members of the Planning Commission will be available for a discussion on Google+ Hangouts tomorrow at 5 PM IST. While there, the members will also discuss key ideas of the 12th Five Year Plan.
Those interested can participate in the Hangout and put their questions pertaining to the 12th Five Year Commission to the members. Those who wish to participate can send their queries to the members via http://goo.gl/Va6Au using the hashtag #12thPlan. Selected participants from around the country will be able to join the Hangout. Others can tune in tomorrow (5 PM to 6 PM IST) on the Planning Commission’s YouTube channel at http://bit.ly/12Siois.
Ask the members
Google+ Hangouts is turning to be an interesting meeting ground for governments and citizens, wherein the two exchange ideas and discuss. And several examples till day are only strengthening this thought. As Naman Pugalia, Public Policy & Government Affairs Analyst at Google, puts it, “The Internet continues to play a vital role in enabling communication between citizens and government officials, helping make governance more transparent and accessible. Internet technologies today are becoming as important to citizen engagement as radio and television were in the twentieth century.”
Last month, just days after he announced the Union Budget, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram made himself available to citizens and answered budget-related questions from those participating in a scheduled Google+ Hangout session.
He also discussed the state of the Indian economy with a panel of industry leaders and citizens. Chidambaram is not the first Indian politician to have initiated a Google+ Hangout to interact with the masses. In August last year, Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s Chief Minister, appeared on Google+ Hangouts. He interacted with select individuals and groups of the popular video chat service on August 31. Interested users were required to go through a sifting process. To begin with, users had to start following him on Google+. Then they had to post a question in video or in text format. Once the questions were shortlisted, the selected questioners were invited to join Modi on Google+ Hangouts.
The topic of Modi’s session was “Strong and Glorious India long cherished by Swami Vivekananda”. The initiative was organised by Vivekananda Cell, Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department, Gujarat.
The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Dr. CP Joshi will be taking suggestions for highway safety from netizens through a Google+ Hangout on March 29, 2013. Those interested in participating in the Hangout should note that the ministry’s tweet handle is @MORTHIndia. In order to participate, users can submit their suggestions on the Ministry’s website or post on its Facebook, Twitter or Google+ page.
Interestingly, Dr. Joshi told the media that the move is a part of the ministry’s initiatives to connect with the people of the country. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is organising this initiative on an experimental basis.
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