I have been away from Chennai now for about 5 months. One of the things i miss most about home is the great Indian Political Tamasha as it is known according to NDTV... What can be more interesting than watching Indian elections live. Whether it is the Lalus and Amar Singhs of the world stepping over each other for the catchy sound byte that would Rock Indian News Channels for a while, or the Arun Jaitleys and Abhishek Manu Singhvi who perenially sit in TV studios justifying their parties actions, Or the Pranoy Roys and Rajdeeps of the world who do the predictions and Opinion Polls and the ultimate tamasha of the Election day when the dhols and Melas surrounding the winners and haunted offices about the losers.
The great indian democracy, many people say is the most dynamic and lauded as one of the best, but what intrigues me is that i believe the exact opposite. Yes there is freedom, But is there too much freedom? Yes there are rights, But aren't there too many that is missing? Are they enough Duties? I am not sure.
As a 62 year old Democracy, why are elections held more on caste than ever before. Why aren't the most important issues concerning the voter today; education, development and livelihood but caste, religion and violence. It certainly is the bane of our democracy that we still fight over trivial issues and neglect the big ones. One such parameter that has been continually neglected is Education. We as Indians outside the country are lauded for our being an intellectual - knowledge based system. The system as such isnt bad, but where is the implementation? why arent we asking these questions?
The problem is that It is not the political class that is to blame? who are these politicians, they are promoted by us. It is the educated class that needs to set an example to the rest of country. Consider this. This is one thought that has always come to my mind which i plan to help do.
What if One contituency in the country, decides to set things right, say the most urban, educated constituency. What if all the voters choose their candidate? ( Read the words - All voters in the constituency-vote). That would be the start. More importantly people choose based on not caste but on the merit of the candidate. The politicians in the area realise that they are under scrutiny and their performance definitely goes up. Also a constant tab on their performance is kept by the really watchful media and self help groups. This is how a democracy needs to function. Is it possible?
Is it possible that this model can be replicated acorss the other constituencies?? What can we do to increase particupation of youth in the political system? These are questions we need to find answer and move out country towards better development... any pointers?
Friday, May 1, 2009
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9 comments:
Well written
Kewl blog dude!!! keep writing!! and enlighten us with such wonderful tots!!!
nice work!!!
cleared som of my doubts :)
Hey,
Cool blog.You know personally, i think the coalition-culture has become the bane of politics. Today there are so mannny parties, vying for votes, striking fair-weather partnerships and backing out almost immediately that the votes get so poorly divided that a 'strong majority' has become utopian.
I might vote for a coalition government based on some decisions the then existing party members might have broached and the party as a whole might have implemented. Then suddenly in a couple of months there is a rift and eventually the so called coalition is in tatters. BETRAYAL shouts my voter voice!
You know i think there should be a two-opposing party systems at the centre and the other parties should side with either of the two. With that, decision making would become much clearer as no voter would be awestruck at finding a zillion parties with minisicule minorities and to add to it umpteen number of independent candidate who everyone knows have got zilch chances of winning.
Votes can be easily counted and we would get a clearer winner. 'Majority' would then actually be a fact rather than a state of mind.
Wotsay?! :-)
Well, if you point out that voting is done based on the caste of the politician you are totally wrong my dear. It must be in one small Zilla that such things happen. Lets go to the top like the party. It is based on the presence of their parties in respective states that have won the state votes. Sonia Gandhi being an Italian yet her party was accepted.
I think by now the public has been pretty aware with burgeoning media who is doing what. People like Govinda had been wrongly chosen to serve based on popularity and not his credibility at work.
We should hope the Indian public sees the right media where the correct picture is portrayed not over publicized ones. The other day one of the prominent news channels were publicizing a death of cat like a loss of national treasure. I could sees employees from my office wide staring at the television as if it was really a big thing.
TV has reached everywhere today. Even the remotest of villages where there is no water might have a TV. A strong urge to display the right thing! After all it all belongs to the society and not a king in India!anga
Seriously, The 2 party system is such a good thing.. But problem is it is very very difficult to come up in india isnt it..
My point it, we as citizens should take blame for why things are wrong. Even if people dont have the right choices for this elections, just go out and VOTE once, and see the entire democracy in action. One there is a 90 plus turnout for elections in one constituency, the next time when parties are choosing a candidate, they are aware that the voter cant be taken for a ride.
At the same time, as voters, with a better media, should keep a track of what the elected candidate and probably his challengers are doing.
I m again stressing, Local Media.. If u are in chennai something like a Mylapore times, or Adyar times, or in Mumbai, a Mulund times or something to keep track of the candidate would work such wonders!!!!..... lets work towards something
Abt national issues and sonia gandhi etc as voter decision. Very minor factor yar. If u understand it, its usually on constituency issues and emotional issues that elections are won these days.
Thats the whole problem yaar. The right issues arent coming up.. Thats my problem as well. bijli sadak paani has hardly won an election in india!!!!
Hey varun, good post..
Elections are won constituency by constituency and not as a whole. So for the voters of a constituency, it's the local issues that matters. And when u come down south, (and in most part of our country as per my understanding), it's only caste n populist issues. Tel ppl that u ll give them good education, economy, and they ll not even understand them. Tel them u ll give them rice for 2 rs, free tv, electricity - and u ll win. It's populist measures and caste nowadays. There are a few ppl coming into the system trying to start this change that u are talkin abt [Sarath Babu (http://sarathbabu.co.in/in/about/) - a person from a slum in chennai to BITS Pilani, IIM-A, and now CEO, Foodking Catering Services contesting from chennai, captain Gopinath - CEO, Air Deccan from blore, etc]. Hope something good comes up in another decade or so..
Think like a common man.. I put all you guys in this scenario. You are nearly done with MBA and you get a job in MNC like Reliance which is ready to pay you 10 Lacs/annum and another company say Bharat Petroleum ready to pay 7 Lacs/annum. Everybody knows people at Reliance make you slog like a pig for the 10 Lacs they are paying but you will still take up that 10 Lacs job inspite the growth after 10 years is better in BP (ASSUMING THIS FOR A SCENARIO!) just to clear off your loan as soon as possible.
Hence the common man needs immediate problems solved not the major ones like health and education.
We are still a developing nation whose basic needs are Roti, Kapda and Makkan. Yes, education is the key to all this!
good one indeed!!
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