Typical as this may be of a classroom, the scene was enacted in Arivalayam, the DMK heaquarters. And the karai-veshti-clad (red-and-black bordered dhoti) men were none members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). And the two-page sheets they were clutching nervously were `report cards' indicating their performance in their respective constituencies over the last three years.

At the DMK MLAs' meeting today at the the newly-constructed `Kalaignar Arangam', their `thalaivar' and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi handed them their `glorious' performance reports.

For the first time in the party's 50-year history and perhaps the first for any political party in the country, the DMK appointed independent, professional appraisers to assess the performance of 171 DMK MLAs in theState.

The evaluators, all `retired Government servants' fanned out across the State, visited each of the 172 constituencies (one MLA died recently) which the party won in the 1996 Assembly elections and came back with a detailed and candid appraisal of each of the legislator's performance.

``With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner and Assembly elections just two years away, we needed to know what the people think of our MLAs. So we decided to take up a professional exercise to assess their performance'', said one.

Minutes after Karunanidhi ambled into the venue, the pile of `report cards' arrived. The two-page assessment reports in sealed covers were distributed to each one of the anxious MLAs. The report sheet, copies of which were obtained by this reporter, lists out the Government's achievements in their respective constituencies, the locals' grievances, demands and schemes that could be implemented in the constituencies, and the MLAs' performance.

The performance sheet of one of the MLAsfrom a western district said he was ``siding with the administration and working against the public interest''.

Another MLA, who walked out of the meeting with a grim expression, had this `pull-no-punches' report on hand. ``You are not taking any effort to solve the problems of the people'', it said.

While such damning remarks might have nearly dashed his hopes of contesting again in the constituency, for the MLAs who have managed a `pass mark', as one put it, it's quite an ``inspiration to perform better''.

MLA Rajkumar Manradiar had this to say: ``It is done in a professional manner and has to be welcomed''.

But there were complaints from MLAs who had received `bad reports'. ``Whoever did the survey visited only three places in each constituency; how can they conduct a fair assessment'', asks an MLA, who says the assessor has not visited most of his constituency.

There is a crumb of comfort, though. The reports have not spared the holier-than-thou Ministers either. ``The Chief Minister gave a fewMinisters ``a real bad shelling, possibly much worse than the Kargil shelling,'' gleams a legislator.