India is a democracy. Every adult whether rich or poor, educated or not, has equal right to vote. This was a revolutionary departure from the earlier system of voting rights that was prevalent in many democracies; system in which right to vote was only for the privileged class ie; the educated or taxpaying or whites or men. In fact India’s adoption of universal adult suffrage soon after independence with a illiteracy level of 85% was, as Ramachandra Guha noted, an act of faith which many people around the world believed was an act of madness.
Even today almost 30% of our population live below poverty line and are illiterate. The economic backwardness and lack of education and exposure to the world around often make this segment easily swayable with jingoism, case loyalties and fake promises. (I don’t suggest that the wealth always leads to education and this to matured thinking. But there is definitely decent correlation between education and matured thinking)
This has become a vicious cycle. It gives perverse incentives to the political leaders to keep the poor where they are and to continue with divisive strategies fanning internal insecurities, religious fanaticism and limiting parochialism.
The Samajawady Party’s election manifesto promising to discourage use of computers and English is a typical example. I really don’t think those leaders are against either computers or English. They are just trying to be smart in appealing to a mass of people whom they think will be swayed by this.
When politics became a numbers game that can be manipulated by caste, money, muscle and populism a large segment of middle class started moving away from active participation.
Many were disgusted with the lopsided priorities. Many were upset with the choice of leaders who are there for the wrong reasons. Some floating population was too lazy or too pained to get their name included in the voters list. Many were just selfish and happy to keep their agenda family focused with limited social focus.
They felt alienated with very limited opportunities for their voices to be heard. They were too busy with their private life. They gradually moved away. A large part of this segment stopped even casting their vote. This added to the cycle of social degeneration.
But in this election I see a welcome shift. We see quite a lot of involvement from the crowd that often kept away. Some like Meera Sanayal and Shashi Tharoor are standing for election. Many more are being active participants. People like Nandan Nilekany today keep apart a significant time for the betterment of society.
The technology is playing a big role. The SMS, Blogs, face book and a wide variety of easy tools for communication for sharing of ideas and quick dissemination of differing views are helping to bring, to the ring, those who normally keep away. Their voices are being heard. In their busy schedule they are able to play a more active role with limited commitment of time.
I certainly believe that this is a trend and a welcome trend. These new tools and this better visibility will make a difference and play a larger role in political process.
There is still much that can be achieved to improve the quality of governance using technology and better processes. And these are strengths we as a country have in decent quantity. We have seen what better technology and processes can do in cleansing the system and enhancing participation.
What NSE and NSDL achieved in capital market, to make Indian capital market infrastructure from being the worst in the world to one of the best in the world, is this.
What CBDT managed with TIN and other initiatives in technology upgrade and business process re-engineering, which helped direct tax collection to overtake indirect tax, is this.
What railways manage in rail reservation is this. There are many more examples of such success stories.
There are still scope for many more such areas. Starting from strengthening the voter registration process (it is a lot better than what it used to be) to bringing transparency in government spending and corresponding outcome can and will bring about efficiency and reduce corruption.
We can hope the new government that come will see this as a priority area.
The only objection that I have to this otherwise excellent post is the hint of condescencion that seems to always creep in whenever educated Indians talk about politics. I think that the truth is that people have sensibly always decided that the best fight was for the share of the pie, whether you call that religion or region. It is only the past 10 years or so that India has established making the pie bigger as a viable option. Most human beings will alwys choose option 2 - making the pie bigger (what economists call "growth in GDP") because you have to fight less people to get more. Politicians have always responded to what people want, and they will probably do so. So don't just hope that Government will see technology as a priority are - expect it
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