Call yourself an involved citizen? Try this before posting on Facebook

Facebook and other social networks are an excellent way to spread awareness about an issue

1. Register yourself as a voter so that you can cast your vote in the next civic/state/national elections. Often, the victory margins(especially in Mumbai civic elections) are wafer thin, and with elections increasingly becoming free of fear(even if not 'fair' due to monetary power..), individual votes do matter now. 
2. Register yourself to vote in the nearest graduate's constituency, for electing a person to the legislative council(if any)-these exist in Maharashtra and Karnataka besides others states. This registration is in addition to the above voter's registration, and needs filling out a simple Form18, besides submitting attested copies of your ID/residence and graduation proof. 
3. Be financially literate when it comes to public budgets of Centre and State, instead of just looking for revision in income tax slabs! Publications of the ICAI like that on state deficits(http://220.227.161.86/25953frbm-cpfga.rar) and that on the oil subsidy(http://220.227.161.86/25177publication_cpfga.rar) are eye openers for those who take the time to read them in detail
4. Join a political party and reward transparency/clean politics with your funding/support whether you like it or not, you participate in politics and your not casting a vote means interests opposed to yours win because in a democracy, only the 'crying baby'(those casting votes) 'gets milk'(government handouts etc). Therefore, join a party whose interests are most closely aligned to yours(there is NO shame in participating in the system) and the national interest. Parties like Loksatta are a good example, as while their electoral successes are limited, they are quite vociferous in Parliament and contribute constructively to political debate like that on the Lokpal Bill.
5. Subscribe to good quality critical media:-The Hindu-TOI ad-war in Chennai amused the whole nation but should have got us thinking. Should we pay more to read a Mint/Tehelka/Money Life/Hindu or read a TOI/ET/India Today just because it is 'inexpensive'? Why don't we read good book like Do we value our time/knowledge gained so little?
6. Know your duties:- The Constitution lists fundamental duties, but since they are non mandatory, they are glossed over in favour of 'mandatory' fundamental rights. Things like scientific temper(how many of us still go to astrologers..), respect for heritage/nature etc are listed in the fundamental duties list, but are rarely practiced. So next time, before demanding fundamental rights expansion like 'right to work' etc, think whether you practice the fundamental duties or not. 
7. Ignorance of rights is no excuse to pay a bribe:-With tools like RTI forcing governments to put out information on the web/public domain, and with a multitude of websites out there explaining the rights in plain english, there is little excuse for stuff like paying a bribe/'middleman fee' to claim a tax refund when that would come automatically in this online processing era. For more complicated issues, a RTI application does help as press reports show. 
8. Civic sense is essential, stuff like not breaking Q system, not causing trouble to your co passengers, avoiding speed money/bribes. Doing that weakens social capital, gives public servants a chance to ask for bribes.
9. And lastly, read/understand before you share:-I've lost count of the factually incorrect Facebook shares I've seen like the 'bring back XXbn blackmoney to India', 'Sonia Gandhi citizenship theory','Singapore public services being cheaper than India' etc. Do a basic Google if something is too good to be true, else you are equally responsible for perpetuating a lie. And even if we all support the Lokpal Bill, that is no excuse for avoiding reading the pros and cons of the debate instead of being seduced by the pros only.

The case for prosecuting Tamilnadu CM Jayalalitha for corrupt practice for her photo on free laptops

In Sep-11, the scheme was finalized to distribute a free laptop to lakhs of high school students in Tamilnadu, ostensibly to help with their education. The laptop configurations could have been better, used open source software and included a webcam to allow students to benefit from elearning(as pointed out in this Tehekla article http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws101011MICROSOFT.asp), but otherwise the scheme seemed to be have covered all bases. I was impressed to see a scheme benefiting students instead of distributing colour TVs/washing machines/radios etc. But when I saw the pictures of the first batch of laptops, then the diabolical genius of the scheme hit me. As evident from the photos of the laptop cover in the Mint article(http://www.livemint.com/2011/11/15003504/Distribution-firms-borrowing-o.html?d=1), each laptop has the photo of the CM herself! Even if the laptop life is 3yrs, the students(future voters of tomorrow) and their immediate families will constantly see that photo. This is more effective than any transient publicity like newspapers, TV, handbills..

Now, some may call me naive, or may dispute the efficacy of the scheme's publicity because

• Every ruling party releases full page advertisements with the party leader's photos, dwarfing the scheme/project for which the advertisement is released for..
• The CM is an iconic figure in the state, so what difference would it make if her photo is there in one more place?
• The initial impact will fade away after sometime. 
• People should be having sufficiently developed voting sense, not to vote for someone just because such a 'populist' scheme is made.

Whatever the case maybe, one cannot deny that she is benefiting from state funds to get her photo into the home of 7 lakh students and thousands of schools.  One would be outraged if school assemblies had the CM's photo prominently displayed, but this  photo display is as bad as that.

Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1987 on criminal misconduct by public servants states that (1) A public servant is said to commit the offence of criminal misconduct,....- (d) if he,-..(ii) by abusing his position as a public servant, obtains for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage. Publicity and association of the government funded scheme to the personal offices of the CM via the photo, is certainly a valuable thing, if not monetary. 

The hitch with the case is that only a police officer of ACP/above can take up the case, also the person competent to remove the CM(Governor) must give prior sanction, which would invite accusations of witchunt from the opposition, which is already on the warpath and remembers the use of Article 356 to unfairly dismiss earlier CMs. That is a pity, because such a test case would really deter politicians from blatantly benefitting from public funds for their own publicity. It is one thing to claim things in campaign material/rhetoric, and yet another to permanently emboss your image on state funded property.

Anti Naxalite militia Salwa Judum-a case of police outsourcing gone too far?

Before reading the entire judgement(http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/wc25007.pdf), I was taking the ultra right view that the Supreme Court is playing into the arms of Naxals, and endangering national security. But after reading the entire judgement and reasoning, my ideas changed too much.


This month(July 2011), the apex Indian legal court(Supreme Court) declared unconstitutional, the tribal militia armed and financed by the State of Chhatisgarh. For some background, note that the Maoist Naxal violence earlier confined to the mineral rich belts of Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand etc is now spreading to all deprived areas including Maharashtra, AP etc. An estimate is that 100+ Indian districts are now under the Naxal sway. Besides issues of internal security, this also holds up 'development' projects-both by Government and private sector. The conventional police means have not worked, so the State Governments are trying all means like amnesty schemes, arrests of supporters and special tribal compsoed state sponsored(Indian government often funded upto 80%) militas like the Swala Judum/Koya Commandoes. It is this last one which was under appeal.

The press and 'Civil Society' activists have largely opposed it on ideological grounds-that the State cannot arm tribals, that they are used as cannon fodder etc. These grounds may be valid, but they are policy choices which even courts cannot question. What was questioned(and grounds for holding the militia unconstitutional) was

1. State abdicating its responsibility to police:- Salwa Judum was seen as an 'off balance sheet' police force, with arms loaned to them, and money given as 'stipend'. The State did not have to contend with tricky questions on human rights violations etc. The Court objected to the State relinquishing its monopoly on violence
2. Unfairness to tribals:- While expected to do similar duties, under like disciplinary codes and exposed to greater risks, the SPOs just got a 'stipend' and a 'temporary appointment'. No special counter insurgency training was given to them, thus causing risks to both themselves and society. It is therefore unfair under Article 14. Contrast this to the Greyhound force in Andhra Pradesh of simillar composition/objectives, but with a critical difference, that Greyhound staff was part of the AP police, and given superior training/status. This did not happen in Salwa Judum, reading to much higher death rates of 6%, compared to 1%(average) for Central & State forces.
3. Questionable motivation:- Both army and police recruitment tests apply psychological screens to weed out vigilantist/paranoid personnel, or those who cannot act coolly and dispassionately.  This may lead to field mistakes/massacres, but also far graver consequences.  Local enmities, normal social conflict, and even assertion of individuality by others against over-bearing attitude of
   such SPOs, could be cause to brand persons unrelated to Maoist activities as Maoists, or Maoist sympathizers.
4. Post termination consequences:- A SPO could be terminated for far lesser cause and without appeal, than a regular police constable. His erstwhile opponents(Naxals) would target him both for his past actions, and then for his special knowledge on informers, operations etc. In that scenario, the sacked SPO would refuse to surrender arms and may pose a risk to society. And when India does not have a witness protection scheme or a way to protect high risk targets(except jail), his concern would be valid. Given that 1200+(out of 3000-6500 SPOs) were sacked since inception, this problem is not a small one.

The way forward:- The argument of Salwa Judum being a 'force multiplier' has been rejected. So unless the Government inducts these milita members into the police, there seems little scope to comply with the SC ruling, as disarm net is otherwise impossible. And hopefully, police outsourcing next time will be less blatant. India does not have its Blackwaters yet, so till then only the State can do the policing function.  

Indian and USA politics-more simillar than different?

When Obama's dream campaign catapulted him into the White House, the USA basked in the glory of electing its first Black President, and questions were raised whether this would have been possible in another country,. The 2004 Bush election fiasco in Florida was papered over, and other democracies seemed guilty of cronyism etc. But now, Indian politics do seem to resemble USA politics in more ways than one

1. Top politicians's eligibility questioned:- The 'birther' issue in the USA(arguing that Obama is NOT a natural born USA citizen and so ineligible for President's office) resembles the debate in India about Sonia Gandhi's Indian citizenship, which peaked in May-04 when she could have become Prime Minister, but died down after that. Still, peruse any online political forum and this issue hits.
2. Figurehead leaders:-The USA President's success story in 2009 apart, 2010 onwards has been a logjam in terms of laws, reforms, election results etc. Similar for our Indian Prime Minister who got a nominated backdoor entry into Parliament, and is not perceived as having influence. This was apparent in the recent telecom 2G scam, when corrupt coalition ministers were not sacked in the interest of keeping together the  coalition
3. Crony Capitalism:- This has been a well honored tradition in the USA with Congressmen openly lobbying for projects for their own constituencies and encouraging unnecessary ''pork barreled' spending. They also derive personal benefits from lobbyists and the companies they represent. While the Indian side was exposed in the Radia tapes(of a lobbyist chatting with her clients of replacing ministers, altering policies etc), it has died down. 
4. Faith driven politics in large areas:-In the Bible Belt of the USA, aspiring candidates must steer clear of the 3 landmines(Guns, God, Gays) if they desire election. Similarly, in Indian states like Kerala, North East(Christian Church advisory), Western UP, Bihar(where mullah support helps) and in UP/Maharashtra/Punjab(where certain religious sects dominate); faith issues are critical for candidates seeking election
5. Revolving door between public/private sector:- Many Indian politicians own flourishing business empires(Navin Jindal-Steel; Reddy brothers-Steel; Vijay Mallaya-alcohol etc), and can at times as ministers shape the policies to suit them. This allows an exit option when the political fortunes change. In the USA, this happens in terms of cushy jobs post electoral defeats/return to private legal practice(true for India too). 
6. Affirmative action angst:- This had not impaired Obama's campaign that much, but it is still used by rabble rouses to whip up fear among voters(WASPs) of being displaced. In India, post the extension of reservations(from 22.5% since independence to 49.5% in 2004-further action not taken only because the top legal court in India has capped it at 50%), the Congress did lose many 'upper caste' votes. 

 This post does not aim to rant on politics but hopes to spark off that hesitation before damming Indian politics as corrupt compared to other nations.