Chidambaram to decode Budget 2013 for commoners at Google Plus Hangout

04 March, 2013

India's Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram will Monday connect to masses through 'Google+ Hangout' and will be facing questions on the general budget 2013. The Hangout is a video chatting feature of Google+, Google's social networking website. It allows up to 10 people to participate at the same time. The Hangout can be later shared on YouTube or streamed live using Hangouts on air.

To ask Chidambaram a question, users need to head to the In Conversation YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/inconversation), where they can submit their question in the form of a video or as a comment in advance. Users can also ask a question through the Google India +Page at google.com/+GoogleIndia by submitting a video or text question using the hashtag #askthefm, a Google representative wrote on a blog.

“During the conversation, selected participants will ask the minister questions — but we’d also like to hear from you before the Hangout,” says the blogpost.

Along with answering the questions of the public, P. Chidambaram will also discuss the budget and the state of the economy with a panel that includes Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra; JP Morgan's Senior Asia Economist and India Chief Economist Jahangir Aziz and Google Inc Senior Vice President Amit Singhal.

This is for the first time that any Union Cabinet Minister is using this medium to interact with the citizens and to respond to their questions about the Union Budget. “This is a powerful communications platform and is accessible across the world for Internet users,” says a press release, issued by the ministry of finance.

The chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi had also interacted with the masses through Google’s Hangout. Not only Modi but leaders from around the world like the US President Barack Obama; Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib, among others, had interacted with netizens on Google’s Hangout.