Half-Democracy

As I look at the polling participation post elections, I wonder if this is what our law-makers had envisioned when they made us a democratic nation.

In spite of many voting appeals by NGO’s and awareness about voting rights, in spite of making the election day as a holiday and in spite of huge election budget for ensuring security (IPL was moved out for the same), we Indians have failed in our national and most fundamental duty. We have made a mockery of ourselves in front of the entire world. How dare we say that we are the largest democracy in the world when more than half of our citizens do not vote?

Now-a-days, people find time to write and discuss lengthy articles about non-functioning and inefficiency of government. They talk of all those things like “how rains expose the quality of roads in metros and cities”, “how cheerleaders are becoming a threat to our culture”, “how media has become paparazzi”, etc. They even go to the extent of protesting against new policies by making human chain or by lighting candles at India Gate. Not only that, the same people who don’t vote, criticize the politicians and mock at the politics of coalition governments, immediately after the election results.  How do they find time and energy for all these protests, when they can’t spare a couple of hours to get themselves to vote?

Democracy has now become synonymous with protest. It won’t be wrong to say “Democracy is a form of government, where people protest against the leader, whom they haven’t voted”. These people won’t vote a new leader and still complain about the current one. As if, they don’t want themselves to be blamed for the government, hence they play safe and keep their hands clean in the election process. As if, people always are on the look out for a scapegoat, not realizing that they themselves should be the one.

Is this the only way where we use our weapon of democracy? As long we continue to exploit the one-sided meaning of Democracy, we will remain “Half-Democracy”

E-Voting

Now a days, everything that we do in our daily life has got an internet solution. Most of these things can now be done at the click of a mouse. Just a few years back, all these things involved manual work that consumed lot of time, patience and problems. Just to enlist some of those things, they included “booking a rail/bus ticket”, “paying electricity and other utility bills”, “doing money transfer”, “shopping”, “booking a movie ticket or that for a sports match”, etc. The list is endless. However, there is one thing that probably has been forgotten that should be made online by now. I am talking of online voting.

Nobody is giving much thought to this election process. The government has probably forgotten that it is this election that still enables India to depict proudly its status of being the largest democracy. It is a genuine concern because the polling rates have fallen rapidly. Now a days, there seems to be just 50-60% polling in the urban cities. The literate population is turning away from using their ballot.

The main cause for this decline is that most of us are always on the move and are hardly present in our native land at the time of election. Most of the eligible students study in schools/colleges outside their native place. Also, many end up in jobs in places away from their home-town. It is but natural for them not to go to their native just for voting.

Not only that, people tend to give more priority to their personal life and hence don’t feel voting as an activity worth enough to go to the voting booth and cast their vote. They would rather spend time with their family or meet some relative or get some urgent household work done. They cannot be blamed for not using that time to vote. Today’s life has become such demanding and competing that one has to spend each and every bit of time for his/her personal activity.

To add to all of these, there are still others who do not have a registered voter’s card, as getting one is a government process that usually gets delayed by a long time.

Hence, by looking at all these, the only viable solution is in making this voting process online. Today we see so many polls on internet like “Best Company “, “Most innovative company”, “Best Actor”, “Best Youth Icon”, etc. We do not have a separate polling booth for these polls. All these surveys are mostly done online that takes up hardly 10-15 minutes of our time. Similarly, if our voting gets online as well, it would enable many migrants to vote. It would make the voting job as a comfortable and time-saving activity. This would certainly increase voting participation in the urban sections of people.

I have come across the NGO “EFG” that is trying to spread the voting awareness among people by organizing seminars, rallies, etc. It is a very noble effort by these people, who are really conscious of the decline in voting interests. They are doing their bit and now it is government‘s turn to do something that is very much needed and along with launching “e-voting”, start promoting voting in cities.

Only when all of India participate in election, can our nation be truly called as a democratic nation.

Let's all turn atheist!!!

In view of the recurring bomb blasts and the recent attack against churches, one is bound to think about the origin of all this. "Why all of a sudden?", one gasps at the very first mention of these agitations. One always has a perception that religion is behind all this.

I have always wondered at the logic and the cause for all these. What do these miscreants get in return? After finding no definite answers, I divert myself to another question. Why in the name of religion? Why not in the name of the poor? Why not in the name of the vulgarity of our films? All the other topics, apart from religion that were once strong protests have subsided. Even the hot reservation issue has become silent now. The water sharing disputes among the southern states also crop up only when there is a shortage of rains. Then why can't the dispute on communal matters mitigate? Why these religion matters always come up every now and then? Why behind every attack, every bomb blast, the religion issue gets dragged into?

The problem I feel is too much loyalty to one's own religion. The group of persons, who get very possessive about their beliefs and religion, somehow get the wrong perception that their religion is the best and the other religions are a threat to their principles. The common people, however, do not bother about these things. They have lot of other things on priority like, making money, growing their career, taking care of their family, etc. If an outsider takes a look into the Indian society, he/she will be really amazed to find the harmony with which all the different religions' people live together, talk together, and have fun together. Looking at these, one can hardly imagine the same group of people to be at daggers with each other. So the conclusion is that the average society people have no problem with the people of different religions. Hence, the blame lies with those small group of narrow minded fanatics that claim to be extra loyal to their religion. If we take a closer look, we can easily identify such societies and associations that are lurking and operating in every small town and cities. They form themselves in groups and try to create fear, suspicion and mistrust in people towards those of other faith. Sadly, these are backed and funded by our own politicians who want attention and can even go to the extreme of blaming the minority religions for every thing that goes wrong. To make matters worse, these khadi-clad figures try to mix social and economic conditions to the religion issue. These people keep reminding the general public about it and they dig up the past to support their statements.

There is a very thin line between loyalty to oneself and disloyalty to others. That thin division has to maintained strictly by all faiths. One should not get so much carried away by the religions, that they start vandalizing holy places or start blaming other sects for one's condition. We don't want another Crusade or the Swastika fight again. The only solution is to forget what has happened. Let us defeat the purpose of our enemies. Let us not fall prey to our politicians' shrewd communal tactics.

In other words, let us not believe in anything attached to religion. Let us be bold and become atheists. Let us all sacrifice the root cause of all these evil. If we want to live in true peace and harmony, let us abandon our individual faiths and believe solely in our karma and destiny. Sometimes some things have to be changed by drastic measures. Let's all face it.

Government work is God’s work

In India, the government is always stereotyped as “slow, traditional and corrupt”. Their policies are always considered an excuse for politicians prior to elections to gather votes. People feel that these policies remain only on paper. That is the general idea of any government policy or project. People often resort to private companies for quicker solutions.

Let me try to give a different picture of Indian government policies.
The first word that comes to my mind when I think of government is “Trust”. One can safely trust the government policies and schemes. Private companies always look for profit. They will never do anything that is non profitable. Sometimes they become so much business oriented that they are ready to cheat their customers through indirect means. On the contrary, the goal of any government policy is welfare of public, even though it might give a return. The aim is to benefit the masses, improve their style of living, give them better life security, etc. Government plans will never cheat or betray customers. For instance, investing in a government backed mutual fund is always considered safer. One can safely put their money and forget about the risk of losing the amount.

Another thing about government initiatives is that they not very expensive. This is because the majority of people are still middle class people and government. The policies are always designed, keeping the common man in mind, so that they can make use of them. Doordarshan channel comes free of cost and it has loads for good quality programs for all age groups. Indian railways are very much cheaper than any other private mode of transport. All the low cost airlines that had tried to make a revolution few years back is now back to their rocketing prices and hidden costs and taxes. All the government hospitals/clinics provide free treatment and medicines at minimal costs. Many government schools or colleges have fees that can be easily afforded by anyone. BSNL is a lot cheaper than any other service provider.

Consider the case of government jobs. They have better insurance policies and retirement plans. The employees feel more secure working in a government organization. In view of the recent slowdown of the US economy, many US based companies have started laying off people. These private companies, mostly in IT and ITes (IT enabled services), have started firing employees based on some excuses. In these companies, the employees always work under pressure, which can be a health concern. In government jobs, the employees can enjoy their work and life, without worrying about their future. The recent Sixth Pay commission (a government policy for the government employees) is a brilliant example of the above statements. It proves that the government does care for it employees and will keep coming with new policies, as and when needed.

ISRO, DRDO, AIIMS, IIT, IIM, NTPC, BARC--- All these institutions are Indian government initiatives and they all are renowned for their expertise all over the world. They all have brilliant students and faculties and they all are the best in their domain.
One should be proud of Indian army and military, which are examples of perfect management and discipline. They do their duty at all times. They do not even think about the so called “profit” factor. Imagine if they were to do their jobs only if that work yielded profit.

All said, the implementation of any govt. policy takes longer time because it needs to be reviewed many times by different departments. It needs to be accepted by majority. Only when the government is certain that it caters to majority, it goes ahead to implement the policy. The reason, government policy gets delayed is because lot of people start misusing the power of democracy. These narrow minded people use democracy as their weapon and oppose every project of govt. for a few days of fame. To ensure that government’s work becomes God’s work needs the cooperation of the public to implement its policies perfectly. If all the government employees vow to work honestly and diligently and if the common man starts to take initiative at their own level, instead of blaming and complaining, only then the lines inscribed on Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore, will truly prove its meaning.