CV Madhukar

2005

CV Madhukar

Parliamentary Research Service

http://www.prsindia.org/

New Delhi, India

Legal Advocacy

The Bold Idea:

Providing legislative briefs of bills passed in Indian Parliament to members of Parliament, NGOs, companies, and the media.

Over 60 Bills are passed every year in India's Parliamentary system, most with significant implications on long term national policy. Despite this, a non-partisan service to provide easy-to-understand analysis on these bills to almost 800 Members of Parliament does not exist. PRS seeks to promote good governance in India through supporting a well informed, transparent, and participatory legislative process by meeting the great need for analysis and training of legislators. PRS produces easy to understand 4-6 page long legislative briefs on a range of bills. These briefs are sent to all MPs in both houses of Parliament, about 1200 NGOs across the country, and the top 500 companies.

Biography:

CV's idea for PRS developed from watching a televised Indian state election debate, which was devoid of meaningful references to policy and performance. CV, who has garnered both an MBA from the University of Houston and an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, is currently a consultant to the World Bank.

Moment of Obligation: When and why did you decide to start your organization?
I was in the US in October 2002 and noticed that election debates raise a number of critical issues. On the flight back to India, I watched a short clip of a debate for an upcoming state election in India. The debate was devoid of any meaningful references to either performance or policy. The contrast was striking. That was a disturbing flight, and potentially life changing for me. I wanted to find a way of "framing the debate" in elections. From that initial thought, the idea gradually evolved into PRS.

A snapshot in ten years: What is your dream of what's happening? What impact has your organization had?
Over the next three decades, India is poised for a fundamental transformation for the better – not just economically, but on a number of other fronts. How much movement we will see on each of these counts is a function of a number of factors – including the willingness and capability of entrepreneurs of many different types to seize the initiative. Change is certain. The question is: Can we, both individually and collectively, shape it? I expect that PRS will play an important role in fundamentally reshaping the nature of policy debate in India in the years to come.

What's in your CD player right now?
I am not much of a music buff… I occasionally listen to Carnatic Classical Music and Hindi film music.

Quick piece of advice for people starting social change organizations:
Take a lot of advice. Weigh it carefully. Do what you think is right.