Based on the Parliament Standing Committee on IT's recommendation the Parliament Secretariat decided to sanction a maximum of Rs 50,000 for the Members of Parliament to buy an Apple iPad 2 or a Samsung Galaxy Tab. The idea behind the move is to make the Parliamentary work speedier and paper free. For MPs who aren't very comfortable with the new-age gadgets, special orientation classes are also being organised.
Now when our tablet-wielding MPs walk into the Parliament House, they should have the stuff in their 10-inch gadgets that help them be better at their job. Here are our pick of 10 apps that our MPs should install on to the tablet devices to make the best of it.
1. Google Earth: The general perception is that politicians only visit their constituency only when an election is round the corner. At least, with a Googe Earth app they can get a bird's eye view of the region from which they have been elected. Also to be a better leader, they not only need to know the people but also the land. What better than Google Earth to achieve this. (http://www.google.com/mobile/earth/)
2. TweetDeck: In an era of social networking, our MPs can no longer afford to remain outside the network. Even though a majority of the population still do not have access to the Internet, there is a sizeable chunk who do and that includes many who go on to shape public opinion. TweetDeck is an application that brings the power of a number of influential social media services inside one single app and makes the online social experience an easier and seamless experience. Since our MPs (going by the speeches they make) are not known for their brevity the Deck.ly feature is something that the men and women in khadi will appreciate. (http://www.tweetdeck.com/)
3. Evernote: With a third of the Lok Sabha and over half of the Rajya Sabha being in the 60+ age bracket, memory might not be their best asset. But now with their sleek and powerful tablet devices they can "Remember everything" with Evernote and easily access whatever they asked the app to remember.
(http://www.evernote.com/)
4. Qik: With Qik, our MPs will no longer have to be dependent on the television channels for a live broadcast. They can do with it ease from their iPad or Galaxy Tabs. No more interjecting TV anchors or noisy peers, they can get what they want to say in video (a medium they seem to be in love with) without interruptions and share it with the world via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and more. (http://qik.com/)
5. dv Prompter: When US President Barack Obama came visiting in November 2010 with his old and trusted pal, Mr Teleprompter, he made our politicians leafing through sheets of paper look obsolete. Now with the power of a teleprompter in their the tablets they can pretend to make eye contact with the camera. dv Prompter is a feature rich teleprompter that is available for both iPad and Android tablets. (http://t.in.com/dviPad | http://t.in.com/dvAndroid)
6. Google Translate: Our Parliament is a melting pot of different cultures and languages and not everything that is being said by a Member of the Parliament is decipherable by another and a translation app will build many bridges across the benches of the House. Google Translate app may not currently have many Indian languages in its basket but Google is fast adding support for more. (http://t.in.com/df9F | http://t.in.com/5gdv)
7. Google Reader: While it is the Parliamentarians who make news, they also need to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments from around the country and the world. It can be quite a pain to follow the news from different sources and a feed reader such as Google Reader can bring them all together in one place. Moreover they can also track all the news about themselves by adding a simple Google News search feed for their name to Google Reader. While a native Google Reader app for iPhone is awaited, MPs who opt for an iPad over Samsung Galaxy Tab can use NewsRack (http://t.in.com/ef8U) and those who prefer Android can head to http://t.in.com/7gbg
8. Angry Birds: Debating on legislations and creating a din in Parliament can be a stressful job and there should be a vent. What better than Angry Birds to vent it out. (http://t.in.com/1gc9 | http://t.in.com/0f7o). Maybe the MPs will also like to have a go at playing Angry Anna (http://gamesalad.com/g/37437), the game may not play on their iPads though.
9. PowerNap: Our Parliamentarians are often caught napping, be it during a discussion on an important bill or in a public rally. Since they love their forty winks, why not control it in a more tech-savvy manner with the PowerNap app, that allows users to "take a short nap without fear of oversleeping." (http://www.eleganttechnologies.com/aboutpowernap)
10. FourSquare: Just because we are curious to know who replaced whom as Parliament Canteen's Foursquare Mayor. (https://foursquare.com/)
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