Back home, they rarely visit their constituencies, shout and squabble like fisherwomen, skip Parliament and waste valuable time, take money for asking questions, smuggle housewives to foreign countries for a fee, find holes in everything and agree on nothing, and generally travel in a time machine which after sailing in the 12th century AD, has just entered 4th century BC.
But, boy, have our parliamentarians learnt their lessons from Lalu Prasad Yadav or what. A group of eight MPs have attended a workshop at Yale University. These are the reactions they have drawn from their hosts and teachers:
# “Indian politicians are extraordinarily intelligent, extraordinarily passionate about India’s advancement and extraordinarily committed to helping the nation and its people. The students were exceptional,” said Yale vice-president Linda Koch Lorimer.
# “This is an exceptional group of individuals. They are alert, engaged, smart, and passionate. I was amazed by their quick grasping power,” said Jefferey Sonnenfield, who has also taught politicians from China. ”We wish, we had them for one more week.
# “They are alert, engaged, smart and passionate,” said Prof Barry Nalebuff who gave practical lessons on negotiations.
Sonnenfeld said the most striking part of these MPs were their tolerance level, intellectual tenacity and their commitment. “US lawmakers would constantly come and go. Nobody here left. Not a single person, during the four days even for a minute picked up a BlackBerry or a cell phone. This is never the case with US legislators and politicians that are always doing some hit and run engagement they really do not see,” Sonnenfeld said.
The programme was organized by the Yale Parliamentary Leadership Program in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the India-US Forum of Parliamentarians.
The parliamentarians’ team was led by B.J. Panda, Janata Dal MP from Rajya Sabha. Other members of the group were Deepender Singh Hooda, Dharmendra Pradhan and Dushyant Singh (Lok Sabha), Robert Kharshiing, R.C.S. Reddy, Chandan Mitra, Shahid Siddiqui (Rajya Sabha).
The topics covered program include economic and social development in India, democracy and the secular state, India-China economic relations, affirmative action, climate change and sustainable development, foreign direct investment in India, strategy, negotiation and game theory for the politician, strategic thinking for the politician, and energy security.
Read the full story here: Indian politicians extraordinary: Yale
I think they got Robot replacements for our politicos…. or they brainwashed the Yale Profs. There has to be some other explanation for this!!!
Seeing the list of MPs, it looks like a well educated lot including two former newspaper editors,and one MBA graduate among them quite unlike the average politician. Not necessarily a representative sample. I bet they taught the instructors as much as they learnt. Anyways, it is good that the image of the country is enhanced. If only those teachings are put to good use…
Recently some MLAs of the Karnataka legislature visited China to see the development and progress there. Well, they came back, and what they did and are doing is quite evident. Now they are out of power they just forget what they had learnt.
Who paid for their trip? It is the honest taxpayer’s money. India can never shine on somebodies certificate. Till they read, practice Gandhian ideals their trainings in such universities are of no use. Seminars, workshops, symposia, conferences, summits…..how many….and the outcome, you can check it from the people who have attended it
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Typically people over here (US) are generous in their compliments. It doesn’t mean we need to take it literally. Moreover, these bunch of politicians were far better than the likes of Deve Gowda / Lalu Prasad Yadav.
So….
What if KP was made an MP like Tejaswini Gowda ? Would he have posted this in churmuri with an unparliamentary SHi…….
Indians MPs did what they do best – brainwash people !!!
what prompted you to write this articles and why such nasty comments like Nastika, alok?! if you feel that Indian MPs are SHIT, then you need to quit this SHIT country. and if you feel you can make a difference they go ahead and do it. Churumuri has been very sarcastic about Politics of late and need to relook at its positioning. It is democracy and will have its pitfalls. and MPs represent what we are: Public. Dont dream India will turn into an Utopia overnight.
Hey Sudharshan, love for Politicians? Don’t take Yale folks comments on face value. They might have hidden reasons.
Politicians are good in posing themselves, they would have nicely muskfied the yale dudes saying sir sir sir
All that I see in churumuri is Politicians Bashing .
People should realize that atleast one CHURUMURI reader cannot garner
enough support to win a local body election .
Fieldge yiLeeri beda andhovaryaaru…go clean up the SH** .
***
Go Clean up the SH*** andhre ‘Hogi Kakkas Baachi’ ??
Hegeruthe keLoku asahya allva..aadhre styleaagi english nalli baryovaaga chennagirutha ?
satire and criticism is okay. But if everything you see appears to be yellow, need to consult a doc!
Well, well, will wonders ever cease? !!
I dont fully agree with this kinda politician bashing. There are pretty smart and intelligent politicians in India. And more than anything, some of them are really good rulers and have turned rocks into gold. Modi is the best example. One may criticise him for being so called communal. But nobody can deny his work in Gujarat!
Modi’s recent speech in Hindustan Times summit ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYD3fgqcmIQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg18zSr2PF8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YauyALWBWnI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V36f7w0EwHw
Well said Pragmatic
Recently I was on tour up north to Yamunotri,
Gangothri, Kedarnth and Badrinath. During this trip I
met plenty of people from different parts of India.
There was one group from Gujarat, all retired
Government officials and as I was from south I put
across a question about Mr Narender Modi, as to how
they feel about him and his type of administration.
They all felt that he was the best for Gujarat, and
some Muslims and Congress men do not like him for his
popularity, some of his own party men do not like him
as they are not able to make any money. They said that
there was no corruption, no red tapeism in Gujarat.
The Government was clean. This was their complaint.
One of them was an ex congress and as per him they
would have loved to have him in their party!!
While Prasad is surely entitled to appreciation of Modi based on the opinions he heard- there is a methodological flaw in the exercise. His sample is essentially a pilgrim group- likely to be middle aged and elederly Hindus from upper middle socio- economic strata and therefore people who would have either benefitted from his style of governance. Those who didnt like him were simply add-ons of Mr Prasad I would imagine to highlight the ‘non-corrupt’ executive headed by Modi!
@ Gaby
let’s wait for the output of the largest sample, perhaps, the state assembly elections!
an example for how smart and passionate [atleast] Modi is –
Thanks Pragmatic for suggesting this bit. Before commenting and condemning the Man one should look at the facts. Not that, everything is good in other states. But his grit and determination, if it has taken Gujarath to a higher place in growth and advancement let us give credit to him. Genocide, massacre, goondaism, etc. yu can interpret in different ways. What happened to Hindus in J&k and where were these people then…