Well, I think it's been quite a long time since I last spent time on this particular topic. Now, finally, the auspicious time seems to have arrived, for me to write my concluding blog on this topic. Albeit a little stretched, I felt the need to conclude the topic formally so that I am able to put my thoughts & ideas on the remaining few points on my blog. Please bear with me if this article stretches a bit more than necessary.
Elected representatives compulsorily spending at least 25% time of their elected term in their respective constituencies overseeing development work & progress.
The ERs are elected from every constituency to represent the citizen of that constituency in the Parliament or Assembly. The primary job of any ER is to ensure access to some of the most basic necessities required to lead a dignified & decent lifestyle as a human being. Of all the things, we can actually count these basic needs - nutritious food, shelter, clean drinking water, primary healthcare, primary & secondary education, sanitation, communication, transportation, electricity, & the likes. Mind you, nowhere are we talking about bringing IT companies to all the constituencies. However, the power of IT can be leveraged to achieve a lot of progress & development in our country. Mandating compulsory spending of at least 25% time in the constituencies thru' an Act of Parliament brings in a lot of changes to our landscape, to the mindset of our people. Where it used to probably take upto 10 years or more to have a primary healthcare center in place, we can perhaps hope to have it in place in about 5 years' time with this legislation. To bring in accountability & transparency into the legislation, there should be an empowered local citizen's forum to monitor the progress of any development works on a regular basis & bring it to the notice of the ER & / or local administration in the event of any lacking. Ideally, the local Panchayats should be empowered to conduct this task. This, in my opinion, is one of the surest ways of ensuring local development & this will also check large scale migration of people from rural to urban areas seeking means of livelihood. This is because, once we have basic infrastructure in place, industry will automatically move to these places seeking skills available locally at lesser cost. The fact that our urban areas are already chocked to the brim for lack of proper infrastructure does not need any special mention here. Hence, this step can help us achieve economic equity also, by way of motivating industry to set up shops in rural areas. The reason why we need legislation is to bring in seriousness & accountability among our ERs, failing which, they will continue with their usual lackadaisical & irresponsible attitude.
Establish strong code of conduct & ethical standards for the elected representatives both inside the House & also in public.
The establishment of strong ethical standards & code of conduct in any public office is of paramount importance as it has National repurcussions. Who should be the custodian of these ethical standards & constantly monitor the behavior of the ER? Ideally, every individual ER should be the custodian of these standards. But, we all know how our ERs function. Hence, like we have a Parliamentary Standing Committee on some of the important matters, we should also have a similar committee to periodically monitor (perhaps, on a annual basis) the conduct of the ERs. Such a committee should have representation from the following people - Loksabha Speaker, Chairman of Rajya Sabha, the PM, & Leader of the Opposition in both the Houses. Subsequently, if necessary, Presidents of the leading political parties can also be included to represent their respective parties during the hearing of any violation of ethical standards or code of conduct by any ER. What kind of punishment need to be imposed in the event violations of code of conduct? That depends entirely on the seriousness of the offence. If the violation leads to unrest in the society leading to security threats, the ER can be disqualified from his office. If the violation is a minor one, then, appropriate punishment in the form of imposing suspension from work for a certain period of time & / or penalty can be thought about. Violations directly or indirectly threatening the Nation's unity or peace, should automatically lead to disqualification of the ER & debarring him / her from holding any public office for the rest of life. Should the ER realize the mistake & correct his conduct, then, the ER should make a formal representation thru' the party he / she belongs to, to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, who in turn would determine the merit of reconsidering the ER to hold public office. This should be done only after allowing sufficient time for the debarred ER to prove his credentials as a responsible public figure. All the above actions have to be taken with complete cognisance of the Election Commission & the Union Law Ministry, as this comes directly under the purview of Representation of People's Act.
Mandate compulsory debate at length on the floor of the House with the assistance of qualified experts on all the issues of National importance.
Any issue of National importance needs to be debated at length on the floor of the House with active participation from majority of the ERs. In the event of lack of expertise available, they have to be sought from within Government, industry & academia, & then debated. I do not think this point requires further elaboration.
Compulsory study of the fundamental structure and philosophy of the Indian Constitution & the Federal Democratic System in India upto graduation level.
Understanding the fundamental structure & philosophy of our Constitution, & its basic tenets requires a lot of maturity on the part of the people. For, theoretical understanding is one thing; practical integration of the philosophy of our Constitution into our everyday life, reflecting in our responsible thoughts, speech, & actions is an entirely different matter. Hence, studying this topic uptil graduation leads to gradual maturity of the mind & intellect, & also achieves the objective of practicalising the philosophy of our Constitution into our everyday life.
Make it a criminal offence punishable under law if religion, caste, creed, language, color, or any other diversity in society is used as an electoral platform.
Without elaborating much on this point, as it is self explanatory, the reason why it should be held as a criminal offence is simply because it directly affects the Nation's unity & peace.
Make primary education a subject of the State & legislate free education for all upto 10th or 12th class.
This is very successfully practiced in some of the developed countries. Primary education (at least uptil 10th or 12th class) has to be made a State subject because it is the primary responsibility of a Democratically elected Government - to provide basic education to one & all in the country. The reason why we can regard it to be basic education till 12th class is because, by then, we are reasonably mature enough to make independent decisions on our careers or at least seek help from experts, elders, & wellwishers to make those decisions. If necessary (as is mostly the case), we can setup these schools as a PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) model. Such a move would drastically bring down the cost of primary education in our country, where the majority of the people are barely able to make their ends meet & child labor is an everyday norm and accepted as part of our daily life. Hence, making primary education a subject of the State will achieve lot of National goals, namely:
- Eradicate illiteracy
- Encourage poor parents to send children to schools
- Provide basic education necessary to seek skilled jobs
- Reduce the overall costs of providing primary education
An educated & informed citizen is always the backbone and strongest link of a successfully functioning & vibrant Democratic society. It is only reasonable to expect an educated citizen to also be well informed. And, only a well informed citizen can proactively participate in bringing about any change to carry forward the smooth, fair, just, & equitable progress of a Democratic Nation. For, equity is not just about sharing wealth & resources, but also sharing responsibility in a Democracy to ensure fairness in every walk of life, to ensure justice. Let this be our noble ideal to follow & aspire for. Let this be our beacon of hope. Let us endeavor to make progress possible, to achieve an equitable & participative Democratic Society. To achieve this, we now have a great opportunity at hand - Loksabha Elections 2009. Let us exercise our franchise in an informed & responsible manner to bring about the change we all want to see for ourselves & the future generations to come...
This concludes my 5 part series on the topic - Lessons from the American Presidential elections & the urgent need for political reforms in India. Please post your ideas & comments on the blog so that we all can be equal stakeholders in this endeavor...
Jai Hind...Bhaarat Maata Ki Jai...Vande Maataram...
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