Welcome to PARFORE

In July 2005, five Parliamentarians cutting across party lines proposed setting up of a Parliamentarians’ Forum on Economic Policy Issues (PARFORE). The five Parliamentarians were NN Krishnadas (CPI-M), Dinesh Trivedi (AITC), Suresh Prabhu (SS), Yashwant Sinha (BJP) and Madhusudan Mistry (INC). The idea behind the Forum is to discuss the divergent opinions on the core economic policy issues reflected in and out of the Parliament and media.

The PARFORE was conceived as non-partisan and informal forum where MPs are able to air their views on a periodic basis on the core economic issues in the field of trade, competition, regulatory reforms, investment and their cross linkages.

CUTS, dedicated to research and advocacy on basic economic issues towards economic development and consumer welfare, hosts this Forum as a neutral organisation by facilitating venue for the meetings and by providing research-based inputs for discussions. Besides, CUTS enables the policy and law makers to think and guide both the establishment and the public about what is in the best interests of the nation. Formation of PARFORE was widely reported in the media.

• So far 35 MPs have joined the Forum and their numbers are increasing steadily. The launch meeting of the PARFORE was held in New Delhi on December 07, 2005.

For more details of such meetings, please visit: http://www.parfore.in/Meetings.htm

PARFORE complements the efforts of CUTS towards good governance as it affords a platform for not only closer interaction with policy and law makers but also airing of divergent viewpoints. The main activities of PARFORE are to:

• facilitate meetings on core economic issues;

• carry out research, writing and distribution of Issues for Parliamentarians; and

• ensure moderation of an electronic discussion forum.

CUTS moderates a discussion forum on yahoo for PARFORE.