India Today (cover story, 23 Feb'09): Weighing the elected representatives on the money scale

Here’s a glance at the people's representatives, who are to work for people’s betterment, through the money glasses. The amount of money the report talks about is unfathomable, the zeroes eye-widening, and a feeling arising within you - ‘How come India is still poor?’
India Today's cover story of the 23th February carried an analysis on the richest MPs and MLAs in India.

“In a country where over 77 per cent of the populace, or an estimated 836 million people, earn an income of Rs 20 per day and over 300 million are living below the poverty line, nearly half the Rajya Sabha members and nearly a third of those from the Lok Sabha are worth a crore and more. Just the top ten Rajya Sabha members and the top ten Lok Sabha members have reported a cumulative net asset worth Rs 1,500 crore. The 10 top losers in the last Lok Sabha polls — including Nyimthungo of Nagaland who reported total assets of Rs 9,005 crore — is Rs 9,329 crore. Members of legislative assemblies seem wealthier than many MPs. The top five MLAs across the 30 states are worth Rs 2,042 crore. Of these 150 crorepati MLAs, 59 don’t even have a PAN card,” says the cover story of India Today.

The story used the data available on the EmpoweringIndia.org to conduct the analyses about the elected representatives.

Read the full story here: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28888&Itemid=1&issueid=93&sectionid=30&limit=1&limitstart=1

Grievance forum: Courtesy Government of India

If you are walking to the passport office for the 'n'th time and the gentleman behind the desk is giving you a hard time, just because he doesn’t like your face or perhaps he expects you to stuff his pockets, and you feel frustrated. You just wish you could tell someone who could do something about it. But, alas you think, when will this happen in India? Well, your prayers are answered. The Government of India has just made a provision for similar complaints/grievances through this online Grievance forum on http://pgportal.gov.in/

Go right ahead and speak about the issues you faced. And someone will be held accountable. The government wants you to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.

Then, you will say, that the complaints remain on paper and hardly ever anything is done about it. Well, here is an example to prove the contrary: Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents. A resident used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. To his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad were served a show-cause notice and the resident received a copy of the notice in one week. The government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.

Use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this facility. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the 'system' in India. This is the first step to changing the system. Do your bit and then leave the rest to the government to act. Invite your friends to contribute for such issues and complaints.

Volunteer Orientation in Mumbai

Dear friends,

We at Empowering India are planning to an orientation programme for our volunteers and supporters who are helping us in collating and entering the data on the EI website. To take the interaction to the next level from entering data, we want to engage with new political parties, electoral intervention groups, grass roots organisations for information dissemination, etc.

Following is the agenda of the programme:

• The various features of EmpoweringIndia.org (different types of data, election results, the analysis), and its uses.
• General discussion on democracy and electoral reforms
• Election affidavits and data entry
• Dissemination of the information,
• Technological aspects about the website
• Brief introduction to the Liberty ideology, IDL and other websites

The volunteers will begin by helping EmpoweringIndia to collate the data of the local electoral representatives for the upcoming Loksabha elections.

The venue (Mumbai) and dates (end of Feb or beginning March) for the programme will be finalised soon.

Looking forward to your enthusiastic participation,

For any queries do write at kirti.kuber@gmail.com

"No vote" is a not a solution

Over the last few years, there has been an effort to introduce an option - "None of the Above" in our ballot. The Election Commission of India too has endorsed this option.
But in a representative democracy, the 'No Vote' is not an answer to the problems that plague our democratic system.
Such an option was introduced in Bangladesh, during the recent parliamentary election there in December 2008. I was privileged to have been invited as one of the international election observers during that election. We found that only a fraction of 1% of voters cast their ballot in favour of the "None of the Above".
The reason is not too difficult to fathom. An astonishing 85% of the people had turned out to vote on December 29, 2008. Most of them were poor. And most of them turned out in hope that the election would throw up better leaders, better solutions to the their problems, better opportunities for themselves and their country. Voting "No" would have undermined the democratic process itself.

Barun
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Following is an editorial in Indian Express (30 Jan 2009), calling for a rethink on the "None of the Above".
Double Negative
Indian Express - Editorial
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/double-negatives/416815/
The question posed in the Supreme Court for the Central Government was straightforward. Does the right to vote, the bench asked the government counsel this week while hearing a petition on the subject, include the right to not vote? The reference was not abstention from voting, but the demand by the petitioner that the election ballot have an option for the voter to register her discontent with the fray by hitting a “none of the above” button. The counsel duly registered the government’s reservations about the reform, and in due course other respondents will make their submissions.

Negative voting is an idea that catches the imagination every few years. But there is ample reason to ask whether it is a proposal that is not only problematic in itself, but also whether it is cited as a solution to a misidentified problem. The case presumably is that by being given an imperfect choice the voter is constrained to cast a positive vote for the best of bad options. The “none of the above” button would put the fray on notice that they are not up to standard. Put simply, the reform would capture the public mood. How can that be wrong?

It can. The point of electoral democracy is to get the best possible outcome for viable governance, that is a government that derives its legitimacy from the expressed will of the people. Certainly norms are necessary for candidature. Of late there has been reform like compulsory declaration of assets and criminal records. There needs to be more — importantly, on intra-party democracy, so that lists of candidates are not the reflection of purely backroom dealings. But even in the best case scenario, human nature being what it is, is there any guarantee that the voter will be satisfied with the fray? And if a substantial chunk of the votes cast are for “none of the above”, then what? Is that an inducement for that mythical perfect candidate to make an appearance? May it not instead deny the winning candidate the legitimacy needed to be an effective legislator? In any case, in a democracy, the people should never be fully satisfied with the legislatures they get. They must always be impatient to get the best out of their elected representatives.

The relationship between markets and democracy

I just had two very distinct experiences in Bangladesh and Malaysia. Both the countries are poised for democratic transitions. Bangladesh had perhaps for the first time in three decades a free and fair election last December that elected 300 new Members of Parliament, after two years of military backed caretaker government. Free and fair election is something that most of us in India take for granted.

In Malaysia, an opposition coalition is beginning to make in roads, and erode the dominance of the ruling coalition that has been in office continuously since Independence from Britain in 1957. It seems a very interesting parallel to our experience in 1977, when the first non-Congress government was elected to power in Delhi, following the general election at the end of the 20 month emergency.

In the last few years, I have been trying to grapple with the relationship between democracy and market. It seems that democracy and markets are two sides of the same coin, both empowers the citizens and consumers, by enhancing their scope of choice in politics and economics. In these turbulent economic times, I think this could be a critical issue to understand.
Another interesting corollary seems to be that historically, property rights had a very significant role in democratisation of societies. Only property owners could be full citizens in ancient Greece.

Democratisation of property ownership played a key role in gradually dissolving the absolute rights of kings, beginning with Magna Carta in UK. Only property owners could vote at the founding of US. In case of India, 60 years of political democracy seems to have started with socialisation of economics and nationalisation of property rights, but now there seems to be a better political recognition of the need to respect for property rights (land rights).

Would like to exchange views with anyone interested...

Barun Mitra

'No Vote' or 'None of the Above'?

Hi, There is not too much of a difference between "No vote" and "None of the above". The former is usually a short form for the latter. The no vote does not mean not going to vote, or boycotting the vote. I am opposed to this idea, unless proven otherwise.

1. This is an elitist idea. People who can't get elected in the democratic way, are seeking a legal response to a political issue.
2. This is also a futile attempt to depoliticise democratic politics and delegitimise political parties. Democracy cannot survive without electoral politics.
3. If we dont like the candidates in our constituency, then we should either put ourselves as candidates, or join a party and persuade the party to put up better candidates, or form a political party and try and persuade the voter by putting up better candidates. Just because we may not be in a positition to undertake any of these options, does not mean the existing democratic process should be scrapped.
4. This is not a practical idea. In the best case situation, if the No Vote, wins, what political alternative will it create, except prolong the political uncertainty. In the worst case, very few voters will exercise this choice.
5. In Bangladesh, in the parliamentary election held on Dec 29, "None of the Above", was an option on each ballot. While the election saw a national turn out of nearly 85%, far less than 1% votes were cast for the "No" option.
6. A vast Majority of people who vote, need an elected representative for various functional reasons, related to their daily struggle for survival. So when poor voters out number the rest, the 'no' option is not a practical option for the voters. This is exactly what happened in Bangladesh, where poor voters chose to ignore the "No vote".
7. All of us would like to contribute to reforming and strengthening our democratic institutions. But for this initiative to have any chance of garnering popular support, a positive and practical alternative needs to be proposed. The "No vote" is an empty and meaningless gesture, and so will not find favour among voters.
8. Democracy is not primarily about majority rule. That would be a snapshot. And a snapshot can easily be discarded, or get faded and forgotten. Democracy is a process which allows every one to renew and remake that picture of their dream. This means, much more than majority rule, democracy is about protecting the minority opinion of today, so that it may have an opportunity to peacefully persuade others and aspire to become the majority view tomorrow.
9. Lastly, the option "none of the above" already exists, since we thankfully haven't made voting compulsory. Those who legitimately choose not to vote, are in effect not voicing support for any of those on the ballot. Having that option on the ballot would not only add nothing to the democratic process, it would also imply that someone else, the political parties or the candidates, need to clean up their act, while we can sit on the sidelines. That would not be a good omen for democracy. Democracy can only thrive when the demos participates actively as citizens. Inner party democracy, financial transparency, etc., will come when we the people not only demand it from others, but participate in the political process, and make these happen.

Barun Mitra

Election Observation in Bangladesh

During the last week of December 2008, Barun Mitra was invited to join an International team of election observers proir to the Bangladesh elections. Below is an article on the same that was published in The Daily Star.

Dec 29 Election Fair, flawless

A 10-member foreign delegation that carried out a short-term observation of the December 29 parliamentary elections in a preliminary statement said it did not find any irregularities that might impact the legitimacy of the process or the results.

The delegation comprised of individuals from government and civil society organisations, from Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea, noted that the voting process appeared to be organised and calm, and election officials seemed to be generally familiar with the election laws and procedures, a press release said.

They urged the new government and all political stakeholders to work together to effectively meet the nation's challenges.

Under the auspices of Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership (APDP) and at the invitation of Bangladesh Election Commission (EC), the delegation observed various stages of the voting process at 88 polling centres in all six divisions of the country.

Prior to Election Day, the APDP observers were briefed by representatives of the EC, major political parties and domestic monitoring groups.

Based upon their observations, the observers felt that all stakeholders would work together to bring about the next phase of democratic governance, in which all political parties have constructive roles to play.

The APDP observers, however, recommended better dissemination of information on the electoral process to voters and improvement of the process within the polling centre to reduce the length of queues by adopting a simple and standardised procedure.

The Bangladeshi people have been without an elected government for almost two years and the high voter turnout and enthusiasm of voters is an indication of a great desire by the people to participate in the selection of their representatives to the parliament and the formation of a new government, read the press release.

The observers thanked the EC and all election workers and the staff at the International Republican Institute for facilitating this election observation mission.


(Asia Pacific Democratic Partnership, International Election Observation Mission for the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections in December 2008.)

Read the original article here http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=70103

Speak now or be quiet forever

Thank you so much for all the positive feedback as well as the criticisms. How else would we better ourselves if people don’t tell us when we falter? We really appreciate it, and hope that you keep visiting the blog and writing in views. We have been busy with launches and attending meetings. And various questions have been asked. Sometimes when you are involved with something, it is good to get a third perspective on things. So, it is with us. Many viewers questioned us on how to take this forward and get as many Indians as possible involved in this initiative. As you might have guessed, we are not looking to stop only with the elections. The citizen’s role doesn’t stop with voting alone. The democracy works successfully only when the people are actively in the running of it. So, speak up and let us know what change you are looking for in your constituency. Write in the complaints – the promised road, the promised neighbourhood park, the lesser power-cuts – all still in the manifesto. Take the power of democracy in your hands and hold your representatives accountable.
Talking over dinner with friends and family is not working. We have seen for the last 50 years. Criticising is done, now is the time to do something. For starters, give a voice to your frustration and dissatisfaction. Who will speak for you if not you, anyway?

Launch of EI in Delhi

Empowering India was unveiled to an audience of about 40 people by Mr TN Chaturvedi, the former governor of Karnataka. It was quite apt that an event focussing on democracy was held while the terrorists struck Mumbai the night before. The programme began by observing a minutes’ silence in solidarity with the victims of terrorism. Ballot, after all, is a more potent weapon than the bullets of terrorists.

Empowering India was born out the desire to better understand the Indian electoral system, and to empower the voters with information to enable them to make more informed choice at the ballot box.

Mr Chaturvedi, a former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, launched the web site. The various features of the website were demonstrated to the audience present. At one level, the web site is seeking to reach out to voters in every constituency with information about their own candidates. At another level, an increasing array of analytical tools is available for more serious students and political analysts. Mr Chaturvedi felt that by making the information widely available, it may be possible to bring about a degree of transparency and accountability.

Mr TS Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, was the key note speaker, recounted the need for electoral reforms, and said the next steps should be to disseminate the information widely, and to make the information available in major regional languages. He also called for building an active network of citizens and civil society organisations to help discuss and disseminate the information to citizens at the local level. Dr Ashok Desai, economist and columnist, said that the web site has the potential to emerge as a very significant tool for political awareness. He noted that other indicators, such as developmental profiles of constituencies, could further add value to this initiative.

Around 50 people spread over a dozen locations from Orissa in the East to Rajasthan in the West, have been helping to compile the candidate affidavit information using the online data entry system. The aim is to continuously strive to decentralise data gathering and dissemination efforts and to involve local citizens and to make the site available in one or two regional languages as soon as possible.

Launch of EI in Hyderabad

It was a full house at the launch of the Empowering India website at the conference hall of CESS. Over 100 people participated including about 25 persons from the print and electronic media, students, academics, senior government officials, former civil servants, young persons interested in joining politics, and members of various non-government organizations (NGOs).

Mr Barun Mitra briefly explained why Liberty Institute had launched www.EmpoweringIndia.org and invited Mr. Lyngdoh to formally release the website in Andhra Pradesh. Thereafter, Mr Mitra gave a detailed demonstration of the site and emphasized on its main features namely,

• Comprehensive compilation of candidate and election results information;
• Comparability of information across time;
• Latest features including a set of election analysis tools;
• A powerful new feature called “Build Query” where the user can design a query as per his/her own requirements;
• Future plans of compiling constituency information and performance indicators for MPs and MLAs and expansion of the website to include information from the municipal council and panchayat elections;
• Need for local partnerships to compile and disseminate the information.

Mr. Lyngdoh commented that he was very impressed with the flexibility of website and suggested that over a period of time, we could also compile information about each candidate’s election expenditure coupled with remarks from the Election Commission’s expenditure monitoring teams. Later in the afternoon, Mr. Lyngdoh interacted personally with the audience members and explained the political dynamics involved in the state assembly and national level elections. He also responded to many queries concerning a uniform voter identity card and deletion of obsolete names from voter lists. Mr. Lyngdoh promised to stay in touch after the event was over.

Dr IV Subba Rao, the Chief Electoral Officer for the state of Andhra Pradesh also lauded the initiative and explained some of the features he had recently introduced for voters in Andhra Pradesh. This includes an online facility for verifying whether the individual’s name is on the voter list, easy availability of voter registration forms, and the facility of drop boxes in shopping malls and at petrol filling stations to submit the completed voter identification card application forms. Dr Rao also mentioned that they are working towards making post offices the nodal agencies for voter registration. The need for simplifying voter registration system was underscored by Mr Lyngdoh, who confessed that after his retirement from the post of CEC, it took him over three years to get himself registered as a voter in Andhra Pradesh. With regards to www.EmpoweringIndia.org, Dr Rao said that it is important to make information accessible for the public if true transparency is to be achieved. In this light, www.EmpoweringIndia.org had achieved something remarkable. He promised to cooperate in providing any information that we may need in future.

Dr N Jayprakash Narayan, a former civil servant, and now head of the Loksatta Party spoke subsequently on the issue of analyzing the disclosed information within a larger context instead of sensationalizing the revealed information. He was a key player in the public campaign ten years ago that had led the Election Commission to introduce a system of disclosure of personal information by candidates to political office, which was subsequently endorsed by the Supreme Court. Dr Narayan also called on the people to be more active in bringing that information into the public domain which elected representatives try to conceal.

Dr N Tulasi Reddy, former MP and spokesperson for the Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh, spoke about how the disclosure policies instituted by the Supreme Court of India had in fact made a difference to the quality of the candidates who are now contesting the elections. He noted that the in the past five years, there has been a slight decline in the percentage of legislators with criminal background in Karnataka, for instance. He expressed optimism about the manner in which the Indian democracy has been maturing in recent times. His comments revealed that political parties are aware of and adapting to the new mechanisms which are being introduced to make parties and candidates more transparent and accountable to the public.

Prof CV Raghavulu, former Vice Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University, summarized the main points that were raised by the panelists, and he urged the people to be vigilant and to participate in holding their elected representatives accountable.

Later the group discussed how the participants present would like to be involved with www.EmpoweringIndia.org and to explore the possibilities of disseminating the information uploaded on the site. One of the main suggestions that came up during this session was to host the site in regional languages so that more people could access this information. It was also suggested that some of the audience members could establish personal rapport with the district returning officers in order to obtain affidavit information as soon as it is filed. Some of the audience members also spoke of holding the politicians accountable for the promises they have made. Two-three organizations immediately committed to assisting with information compilation and dissemination. Their commitment implies that we may be able to digitise about half of the 42 parliamentary constituencies in Andhra Pradesh in the coming general elections.

In the last session, Mr C Arjun Rao, a retired civil servant and special Chief Secretary to the government of Andhra Pradesh, spoke about the need to elect good candidates. He impressed on the people to be part of the efforts that www.EmpoweringIndia.org was undertaking, and particularly to disseminate the information on the site to the poorer voters.

Empowering India will plan a follow-up strategy to continue communication with the persons who had attended this launch. We also hope to organize meetings in a few of the districts in Andhra Pradesh in order to involve more people to be part of the information compilation and dissemination during the national and the state assembly elections in 2009.

We were greatly encouraged by the response of the participants and the local media. Reports of the event have been published in a wide range of publications, including national newspapers like The Hindu and the Indian Express, news agency like the Press Trust of India (PTI) and in local Telugu newspapers. The event was also relayed on national and regional television channels.