Social media has definitely given a voice and reach to the common man. The results can be seen in the move made by the Government to reach out to the common man of India and take him into confidence about the latest budget proposed. According to Trak.in, Finance Minster of India, P Chidambaram is going to make use of social media and try to answer most of the pertinent queries that people of India have regarding the latest budget 2013-14.
Google Hangout – that allows a maximum of 10 people to do a live video chat – is the chosen medium for the communication and he will be joined by Jahangir Aziz, senior Asia economist and India chief economist at JP Morgan, Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, and Manish Chokhani, MD and CEO of Axis Capital. The hangout will take place today at 8PM (IST); click here if you would like to watch the discussion. And if you have a question in mind for the event then you can post your question in the comment section along with the hashtag #askthefm.
Politicians hanging out through Google Hangout is not a new trend. We have seen both International and Indian ones joining the bandwagon and reaching out to people at different occasions. One of the most popular hangouts last year was the one that pitched Narendra Modi as one of the most active and social politicians of India, when he interacted with Indians from across nations.
So today will decide whether Chidambaram has the right intent to address the common man’s budget queries or just dodge the questions. The common man’s verdict was already out on the budget day itself; it was severely thrashed on Twitter as well as the market pundits.