Use social media for betterment of your constituencies: TN governor to MPs

Chennai: Pointing out to the positive aspects of technology in diverse spheres of life and how they influence, Governor Banwarilal Purohit suggests MPs to flex technology and social media for people’s well-being, betterment of their constituencies besides initiate healthy debates in the Parliament.

“I would suggest to the Hon’ble Members to make use of technology for the welfare of the people in the constituency. The role of the social media in today’s life cannot be downplayed. They have greater reach especially among the youth and the urban population of the country,” the Governor said.

He said MPs should make use of social media “wisely for the betterment of their constituencies.” For instance, they could use it for the propaganda of welfare schemes of the government and enable it reach and benefit large number of people, and for broaching sensitive issues for a healthy debate in order to reach an amicable solution.”

Purohit was speaking after presenting the 10th edition of Sansad Ratna Awards 2019, instituted by Prime Point Foundation, at the Durbar Hall in Raj Bhavan, here on Saturday.

The awards, he said were being given to top performing Members of Parliament as a mark of recognition of their services rendered to the people through their invaluable contributions in Parliament.

“I am informed that these awards were instituted on the suggestion of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India. The Parliament is a place where major matters affecting the nation or the State are raised and discussed. A Member of Parliament has thus a major role to play in shaping the destiny of the nation. The MP can use this platform to raise issues concerning his Constituency, his State and the Nation. But it must be always remembered that the functioning of Parliament should serve the national purpose,” Banwarilal remarked.

Averring that MPs’ role has been crucial since the time of our Independence, he said MPs have to be versatile personalities. They have different roles to play, like legislation, national level policy-making and supervision of the Government. Sometimes the local people also approach their representative Members for issues to be tackled by local bodies. And the local people evaluate the performance of a MP on the basis of his responsiveness to their requests.

“Even I, as a Member of Parliament, used to receive many complaints from the public about issues which ought to have been handled by the local bodies or the State Government. I would then contact the district administration or the State government officials in Mantralaya to find redressal for such grievances,” he added.

T.S. Krishna Murthy, former Chief Election Commissioner, K. Srinivasan, chairman, Prime Point Foundation, Susan Koshy, Editor-in -Chief, PreSense, and Bhawanesh K. Deora, president, Sansad Ratna Awards Committee were among those who spoke.