Parliament is getting ready to cruise the information superhighway. Whether it’s surfing the internet or staying online with their constituencies, MPs can now do all that with their brand new laptops.
Some Members of Parliament have no problems admitting that they may need a lot more training before becoming citizens of the electronic age.
“What is a palmtop? Is it used to keep paans?” said baffled RJD President Laloo Prasad Yadav.
Still unhappy
Lok Sabha MPs have had to fork out Rs 8,000 each for their palmtops – that’s still a good 22,000 less than their market price of Rs 30, 000. But they’re still not happy.
But the MPs are cribbing that their colleagues in the Rajya Sabha have got their palmtops free and have even begun a signature campaign demanding equal freebies.
Each MP in the Lok Sabha already owns a laptop, which was distributed free of cost and is worth nearly Rs 2 lakh.
At the end of the day, the taxpayer will foot the bill. But the question is whether these palmtops will actually be used by our parliamentarians to connect with their constituencies or will they end up just as one more hi-tech status symbol our VIPs love to carry around.
