Chaksu Roy from PRS Legislative Research spoke about the need for journalists and members of the civil society organisations to familiarise themselves with legislative processes and the points of engagement for citizens therein.

The working of the Indian Parliament was discussed at length and also the profile of the MP – his roles, responsibilities vis-à-vis expectations of the voters. Participants were made aware how to contribute to the law-making process. The workshop also focused on the work of legislators and legislative bodies and how PRS Legislative Research can be a valuable resource.  The participants share their experiences and ideas of engagement that they would like to pursue with legislators.

PRS Legislative Research is a Delhi-based research organisation that seeks to make the legislative process more informed, participatory and transparent. Voice of Himachal (VOH) is a not-for-profit organisation set up with a purpose of catalysing sustainable development in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

PRS has organised similar workshop in 13 cities across the country, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Itanagar and Cochin. The workshop design

As journalists or social workers, there are various questions that crop up regarding the political process. How can one track the performance of MPs/MLAs? How can one hold them accountable to the promises they make? Most importantly, how can one engage with the legislative process and legislators? These are some of the questions that the PRS workshop, exclusively for journalists and NGOs, seeks to answer.

PRS aims to increase public engagement on issues of national importance through collaborative activities. PRS has been reaching out to the citizen sector and the media to enable greater interaction with the legislative system.

PRS closely tracks the legislative business of Parliament and the Parliamentary activities of individual MPs. The PRS team frequently provides journalists with analysis related to Parliament and legislation.

Date: 17th September 2009

Place: Bachat Bhawan, Shimla

Limited seats: 25 – 30 available

Objectives of the workshop

• The objective of the workshop is to inform participants about the various avenues of engagement with legislators and legislative process.
• It also focuses on the work of legislators and legislative bodies and how PRS Legislative Research can be a valuable resource.
• It provides a forum for participants to share their experiences and share their ideas of engagement that they would like to pursue after the workshop

If you are interested in participating in this workshop then please send a mail to info@himvani.com or speak to Varun at 9805510111.

You can also Tweet about this workshop by sending a message to @himvani

About PRS ( www.prsindia.org )

PRS Legislative Research is an independent research initiative that aims to strengthen the legislative debate by making it better informed, more transparent and participatory. PRS regularly produces easy-to-understand Legislative Briefs on Bills pending in Parliament, which is sent to all 790 Members of Parliament, 700 journalists and over 1000 NGOs. PRS staff has interacted with over 100 MPs and briefed them on both legislative and non-legislative issues being debated in Parliament.

About VOH

Voice of Himachal (VOH) is a non – for – profit organisation setup with a purpose of catalysing sustainable development in the state of Himachal Pradesh. HimVani.com, a VOH publication, is one the most widely read website on Himachal highlighting social and developmental issues in the state. In addition to this VOH through its network partners works extensively with Youth, Women and Farmers in Himachal Pradesh.

Prof Ahluwalia making his point during the BarCamp

The event was initiated by Voice Of Himachal and sponsored by Srijan, Padmavati Balaji Institute, Instablogs and HPIE. Around 80 participants from all across the state and also places as far off as Bangalore, Delhi and Chandigarh participated in the tech meet during which entrepreneurship in context to social media was the burning topic for discussion.

RangeDe.org presentation

Secretary, information technology, Himachal, BK Aggrawal, was the chief guest on the occasion and he made a detailed presentation about opportunities that abound in the state following the government’s e-governance drive.

Pooja Kashyap from Instablogs made a presentation about advantages of social media networks in business environment, while Anit Maheshwari, CEO Instablogs, anchored an interactive session about the future of media.

Sukhmani Singh, a new media expert, spoke about the advantages of online media while Dhananjay Ahluwalia of Himalayan Mountain Biking expressed views about new media and its advantages for a start-up. Senior journalist Prakash Lohumi expressed views about convergence of media.

Participants at the end of the workshop

Shimla: Hospitals in Shimla have been facing severe shortage of blood, but a collective effort made by voluntary organizations like Voice of Himachal (VOH), Umang Foundation for Thalassemic Children and Youth Enlightening the Society (YES) and also the State AIDS Control Society in holding a blood donation camp at the Ridge has once again reiterated that mass movement is the only way out to tackle the problem.

Ninety units of blood were donation at the camp, with many tourists, including students from Chandigarh and Punjab. too pitching in for the cause. Participants included nine women and 41 first-time donors.

“We are happy that the tourists utilized their holidays well enough to contribute towards common good,” said VOH general secretary Varun Rattan Singh, Umang president Ajai Srivastava and YES president Akarshaan Chauhan, in a joint statement issued here. Project Director, HP State AIDS Control Society, Dr Sulaxna Puri said people should be made aware of the seriousness of blood shortage in hospitals to make them volunteer for the good cause.

To initiate quick response to blood shortage in the future, VOH also launched an online registration facility for voluntary blood donors on their website www.himvani.com to create an online database that would be available online and can be used by anyone at anytime.

In another camp held in Kasumpti area of Shimla, religious organizations responded to the call of blood shortage at IGMCH and collected 26 units of blood, said Balram Sharma organizer of the camp.
“Blood Bank at the IGMC hospital is reeling under severe shortage of blood and such initiatives by the society are very helpful in meeting the shortage”, said Dr. M.L. Kaushal, in-charge of blood bank at IGMCH. A total of 116 unit was replenished to IGMCH Blood Bank.