Look for your MP, he must be abroad

The roadshow has already travelled to France, Jordan and Rio. Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi led 17 women MPs to the Beijing +5 conference on women’s development in the United States.

If Union ministers take off on foreign jaunts to attend all kinds of conferences, MPs also get to do a bit of foreign travel every year as part of goodwill parliamentary delegations which go on the invitation of the host country which takes care of their local travel, food and accommodation. But then the air fare running into several lakhs of rupees is borne by Parliament.

It is difficult to judge how useful these visits are but at least the Ministry of External Affairs seems to take them quite seriously. Writing to the Speaker’s office about the visit to the Czech Republic, it said: “We consider parliamentary contacts as an additional important dimension to our political ties with the Czech Republic. Such contacts offer a wider perspective to appreciate each other’s concerns, objectives and priorities.”

“The parliamentary delegation making its first visit to the Czech Republic after the dissolution of former Czechoslovakia shall break new ground in further consolidating bilateral relations,” it said.

Interestingly, the host countries also share the view if the disappointment of the Mauritius Speaker over the small strength of the Indian delegation is any indication. He not only wanted more MPs to go but also requested Balayogi to take with him his wife.

In fact, the delegation was moved by the warmth with which it was received by the Mauritian dignitaries and the island’s people. The RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and his Bhojpuri was a great hit with the people of Bihari origin settled there and so also the three MPs from Tamil Nadu.