for-a-better-india
TRANSCRIPT
Increasing Public Participation
A Solution to build up a successful electoral system
Team – ‘For a Better India’(FBI). Team leader: K.RAMAKRISHNA REDDY.
MEMBERS: S.RANJITH KUMAR.
B UDAY KUMAR.
B VINITH KUMAR.
P V V VIDHEY.
The electoral system in any country should support and
strengthen the empowerment of the people of the country
to exercise the system to guarantee an equitable framework
of economic and social justice.
There are 1,200 political parties in India and of these
about 150 are active and functioning.
• Entire electoral system in India is based on
Money and muscle power manipulations.
• Usage of Caste and Religion sentiments to attract
a section of voters .
• Pre – Election offers by the ruling govt. to get a
greater number of votes.
• Role of an opposition party today is merely
revolting against the ruling party rather than
putting forward the problems of people.
• The average income and assets of I dia’s 100 richest legislators grew by 745%
between last two consecutive elections.
. Per Capita income in Loksabha is 5.33 Cr while of an Indian citizen is Rs.38,037 .
• Bribing or buying voters to get elected as a representatives.
•Attitude of people towards
politics is degrading .
•Value of vote not being
recognized or understood by
major section the voters.
I reasi g ote for ote poli y.
• Need for redefining the functionality of The
Election Commission of India.
•Awareness among voters regarding the
Elections and Representative they are going
to elect has to be increased.
• In a country with very high youth population like India, participation of youth
in active politics is meager .
• Voting percentage of the youth is also very less compared to the adults.
Electoral Reforms – Going through the roots
Framing an Effective Electoral System with participation
from all sections of society.
• Building a 4 level 3 stage system for The ECI comprising volunteers,
intellectuals , government officials NGOs.
• Effective Volunteering to reach out to the remote rural areas.
• Excellent intellectual background backed by officials monitoring
the volunteer system at different levels.
• High Reach out ratio per volunteer .
• Filtering at electoral level for an efficient and effective political
system.
• Focusing on root level problems for building up a better political
system.
• Implementation of public participation in framing and proposing
reforms.
• Increasing participation of women and youth for building up a
proportionally represented society.
• Reaching out to most remote and underdeveloped areas and setting up a
platform for them to express the problems.
Functioning of E.C.I –
A 3 stage 4 level continuous process.
1. pre election.
2. during
election.
3. after election.
Assembly constituency
level.
Parliamentary constituency
level. State level. National level.
• Widening the functioning of
Election Commission of India and
reformulated .
• Its functionality during 5 yrs period
between elections is very poor and
has to be increased.
•ECI has to be given a special
status like that of Judiciary in
the Govt.
•Elected Representatives have
to be made answerable to the
ECI throughout the term.
• Organising joint meetings in public or televised
including participating candidates in each
constituency to explain agendas and capabilities of
each candidates. .
• Effective Linkage of ECI with ACB,CBI , JUDICIARY
and others for speeding up Decision making.
• Restricting advertising patterns and the Publicity
schemes of the political parties.
Volunteer system oriented in setting up an answerable
representation system in small communities.
• 1000 volunteers per parliamentary constituency working under an intellectual
monitoring committee them.
• The intellectual committee would comprise of retired IAS ,IPS officers , Military Ex-
servicemen and officials of ECI.
• A Total of 5.4 lakh volunteers would be required .They would be recruited directly by
an open call.
• The volunteers would be going throughout the constituency reaching out to each and
every street and house.
• They would be interacting with people regarding their voting in their locality ,
functioning of the present M.L.A and the M.P.
• The volunteers would be conducting talks during holidays in nearby community halls
and organizing meetings . Intellectual members might occasionally participate in these
meetings.
• The meetings would comprise equal role of men & women encouraging their active
participation in politics .
• Mai pro le i today’s youth is la k of so ial a are ess a out a y issues which India is struggling on. So , the curriculum of technical and non-
technical courses should be included with a course which enhances their
social awareness , leadership qualities and Oratory skills.
• The course curriculum would include discussions on problems of students
in the Educational Institution encouraging them to find out solutions and
also their participation to help making our country a better place for the
future generations. This would build up a responsible youth participating
Indian politics more actively.
• Volunteers selected would be youth in majority. This would provide
Employment for the unemployed.
• The volunteers would be organizing camps and workshops in schools ,
colleges and universities emphasizing on building up an efficient
representation system , healthy politics and making the students ready for
the future.
Increasing Youth participation – For a Better
Tomorrow.
Advantages over present system.
•Enormous increase in voting percentage among men ,women and youth.
• Strict resistance for offerings during elections.
• Participation of youth in active politics would increase at a good pace which
would be very helpful in building up the nation.
• Reluctance towards illegal money in public.
•The volunteers selected would be useful as permanent faithful election staff.
• Due to regular gatherings for a social cause desire for development would
arise resulting in growth of nation on the whole .
• The meetings could be utilized for several other issues like solving local
problems, coming up with new Ideas for public welfare etc.
• Representatives would have a convenient platform for interaction with
public.
• These meetings could be useful in getting a clarity among the voters on the
capabilities of the candidates and would help in the winning of the most
deserved candidate.
• The Main advantage of the system is that it is running under ECI.
• A part of the funds of ECI have to be transferred for the running of
this program. Present economic status of ECI would create a
financial deficit.
• The solution for this is diverting the illegal money caught during
election all over the country for the running of this program.
• The total number of volunteers would be 5.4 lac. Followed by
mentors each having a group of 500 volunteers under them.
• The working of the whole system would be pre-planned and
monitored by intellectuals comprising professors, retired
servicemen, journalists ,social workers etc.
• The whole system would finally be working under The Chief
Election Commissioner of the country and the states.
Necessary Framework for the Volunteer
System
Budget for the System-Avoiding Deficits.
Expenditures of establishment ,transportation and logistics would
be around 30 crores per year. This would be 5,55,000 per annum
per constituency. THE TOTAL BUDGET FOR THE SYSTEM WOULD BE
625 CRORES PER ANNUM.
Mentors and
intellectuals
A total of 54 crore (5,00,000 per person)per annum
for the mentors supporting the volunteer tree in the
Constituency. Additional 15 crores per annum for
the intellectuals supporting the system
Volunteers A total of 540 crores per annum for the welfare of the
whole volunteer community of 5,40,000 volunteers.
Practical Challenges and Risks.
• Implementation of some of the ideas of this system requires some
a e d e ts i the o stitutio like Represe tatio of People’s Act 1951 to be
made. This requires a great political and public backing.
• Dedication required from the volunteers and the mentors for the proper
functioning of the system.
• Strict opposition from the many political leaders in the initial stage could be
faced.
• Creating interest and seeking support from the public would be a critical issue
in the beginning.
• Acceptance from The Election Commission of India would be a key factor in
the beginning of the program.
• Getting several sections of people in the society onto the same platform for
a common cause would be very challenging for the volunteers.
• Logistics of the program involves co-ordination of thousands of people in
different corners of the country which has to be very effectively achieved.
sources
• Google.
• Wikipedia.
• Election Commission of India. eci.nic.in
• All India Progressive Forum.
• adrindia.org and
• Ideas of the team.