INFORMATION NEEDS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT IN INDIA FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN SOCIETY: A STUDY

Abstract

The paper aims to determine the information needs of Members of Parliament (MPs) in India for effective leadership in society. It also includes the study of frequency of public meetings and the communication channels for MPs with public to identify societal needs of their constituency. The study was conducted with structured questionnaire including closed ended and open ended questions. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed with descriptive statistics methods (using MS Excel software and SPSS). The findings reveal that majority (92.4 %) of MPs in Indiacollect and are already aware of the information in their area. They interact with people through social gatherings to know the societal needs of their constituency/region. Majority of MPs are found interested in social information related to Religion (85.9 %), followed by interest in information on Gender (79.5%) in their constituency. The majority of MPs believe that the Party’s Organizational Status (84.8%) is the major pillar of foundation of Indian politics followed by individual’s political background (70.9%). Lastly, the study concludes that majority of Indian MPs are dependent on non-documentary sources of information for collecting societal information for leadership in their Constituency.

Keywords: Information, Information Needs, Social Information, Sources of Information, Channels of Communication, Member of Parliament, India, Political Leadership.