President advises MPs to fulfil their responsibilities

President Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday advised young parliamentarians to fulfil their responsibilities in terms of the people's expectations of them, saying pointedly that "it takes years to build institutions but they can be destroyed easily".

The young parliamentarians, from various parties, met him to present a copy of "India: The Future is Now" (Wisdom Tree). The book, edited by Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor has contributions by these Lok Sabha members about their vision and road-map for the country.

The president, a veteran parliamentarian himself, lauded the young MPs for coming together to produce this unique book. He said, "It will be good even for the MPs themselves to look back at their contributions after a few years to see how their own perception and vision has changed."

Tharoor presented the book and contributors to the president. They included Jay Panda (BJD), Anurag Singh Thakur, Poonamben Jat, Sanjay Jaiswal, Nishikant Dubey (all BJP), M.B. Rajesh (CPI-M) as also well-known cartoonist Sudhir Tailang and publisher Shobit Arya.

Congress MPs Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Hamdullah Sayeed amd Priya Dutt Roncon have also contributed to the book but were not present at the meeting with the president.

Tharoor, in his introductory essay, articulates the sense of duty that connects these young parliamentarians and inspires them to think beyond the boundaries of political affiliations and ideologies.

"Whether we grow by 9 per cent, as we once did, or by just about 6 per cent, as we did in 2012, our fundamental commitment must be to the bottom 25 per cent of our society," Tharoor wrote.

"This book seeks to establish a connection between the parliamentarians and the citizens of this country," said Arya.

"It provides a platform where our future leaders speak about their hopes and challenges. It becomes a forum where thoughts and ideas are exchanged with the sole intent of making India's future better and brighter."