The other day I joined a community called Jago re! - One billion votes - It is a nationwide movement launched by Janaagraha a (non-profit) NGO and Tata Tea. To enable and awaken the citizens of India, expecially the youth, to register for voting.
Currently the community has more than 10,000 members and the main site Jago re.com is very prompt with providing with the voter registration forms and other info as, to which constituency you belong, where to submit the form etc. They also track your form for you once you have submitted. The effort is commendable and I wish them luck in completing their mission at the earliest.
However, i am bit sceptical about certain issues, problems etc. that plague our political system.
While we might all be coming together to mobilize 1 billion people to vote, what are our choices. Its still choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. It is the same set of corrupt, old and power hungry politicians who stand for the elections every time. Our country's constitution also supports and in some ways encourages horse trading, which has become the back bone of coalition politics in India.So how do we address this issue? It does not matter how many people we get to the voting counters, what matters is whether we can change the way we think when casting their vote and what are the choices available to them.
Today many people do not cast their vote because they feel they do not have a choice when left to choose between a party, that is communal, or one that is corrupt or another one which is manipulative and power hungry.
A year or two back, there was some hue and cry about educated people and youngsters floating a new political party, there was even news of some IITians coming together and floating a party, but then there has been no news since. In every election we end up seeing the same old candidates from the same old parties campaigning. Some parties might field a young and educated candidate, but that guy is hardly going to be at the helm of affairs. There is still an 80 year old man waiting to become the PM of our country.
The ruling government of this country is decided by states like UP, MP and Bihar, where people till today are exploited in the name of caste, religion etc. We need to think of ways and means, to change their perceptions and voting habits. We need to somehow show them that the very reason they have not progressed as compared to other states is because of caste and religious divides.
I feel unless an until we can create a platform for new and young leaders to voice their concerns, contest election and change these ancient perceptions that continue to decide and seal the fate of a billion people - this would be a lost cause.
I do not want to sound pessimistic but, I also do not want the efforts of Janaagraha to go waste. With millions of young educated thinking minds in our country, I am sure we can together come up with some ways to beat these problems and take our efforts a notch higher.
Today many people do not cast their vote because they feel they do not have a choice when left to choose between a party, that is communal, or one that is corrupt or another one which is manipulative and power hungry.
A year or two back, there was some hue and cry about educated people and youngsters floating a new political party, there was even news of some IITians coming together and floating a party, but then there has been no news since. In every election we end up seeing the same old candidates from the same old parties campaigning. Some parties might field a young and educated candidate, but that guy is hardly going to be at the helm of affairs. There is still an 80 year old man waiting to become the PM of our country.
The ruling government of this country is decided by states like UP, MP and Bihar, where people till today are exploited in the name of caste, religion etc. We need to think of ways and means, to change their perceptions and voting habits. We need to somehow show them that the very reason they have not progressed as compared to other states is because of caste and religious divides.
I feel unless an until we can create a platform for new and young leaders to voice their concerns, contest election and change these ancient perceptions that continue to decide and seal the fate of a billion people - this would be a lost cause.
I do not want to sound pessimistic but, I also do not want the efforts of Janaagraha to go waste. With millions of young educated thinking minds in our country, I am sure we can together come up with some ways to beat these problems and take our efforts a notch higher.
Dear Merl
ReplyDeleteI'm from FTI - and came across your blog as part of your input received at the team. While our internal processes do their work (and I don't interfere in them), I'd like to note that I fully support the views you've expressed here. The work of Jago re should not be wasted.
Indeed, Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan of Janaagraha were invitees to the week-long workshop I had organised in 2004 to kickstart the kind of platform you are looking for. You can see some of the details (including the report we produced) at: http://www.indiapolicy.sabhlokcity.com/workshop/seminar.html
The work then stalled for reasons I won't go into here. Essentially, boiled down to lack of necessary leadership. I resigned from Swatantra Bharat Party in 2005.
I had started a book as part of that effort which finished much later. It is now available in Oxford bookstores ('Breaking Free of Nehru') and outlines a proposal of what needs to be done.
Following on - even though I was totally despondent by then - I thought I can't simply give up and stop. One more go, one last attempt. I therefore started FTI in December 2007 to provide the platform we all know India needs. It has now gained momentum, but a lot needs to be done for it to succeed.
You may want to publicise the existence of FTI through your blogs so we can find the leaders we all desperately need to find. At least 1500 outstanding leaders are needed. Reforming India is not a one-person job, nor should it be.
We propose to meet later this year on the ground for 2-3 days and release a few more documents. Draft documents are in preparation, (and will remain drafts till everyone has agreed to them).
More later.
Regards
Sanjeev Sabhlok
Dear Mr. Sanjeev,
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate your efforts. I hope and wish that we soon find 1500 motivated, dedicated and sincere men and women in a country of one billion, who can turn this thought into a reality.