Post independence, government of India has initiated several programs to alleviate poverty and improve the socio economic conditions. Thousands of crores of rupees has been spent on subsiding food, promoting education, providing low cost housing, improving rural infrastuctucture, waiving of loans etc.
But because of poor governance, inefficiency and corruption government efforts are not resulting in tangible results on the ground.

The result is that most Indians lack provision for health, education, food, housing, employment, transport, drinking water, infrastructure, security, pollution control & basic sanitation.

In spite of rapid economic growth, the social sector indices portray a very poor image of India. Some stats are worse than even the war torn sub-Saharan African countries.

•    Nearly a third of India’s people live below the poverty line

•    India ranks 171 out of the 175 countries in the world in public health spending

•    An estimated 72% of Indians still lack access to improved sanitation facilities

•    Of the 2.5 Billion people that defecate openly, some 665 million of these live in India

•    India currently has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth

•    About 49 per cent of the world’s underweight children are in India

Dismal scenario in public education
After so many years of independence, only 35% of the population is illiterate and only 15% of the students reach high school. That is in spite of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, education cess, mid-day meal, national policy on education and the thousands of crores spent annually in education sector.
Due to poor governance and lack of political will the most critical sector i.e primary education, has been ignored. We have to suffer the ignominy of being the nation with most number of illiterates in the world.

Politics and Governance

The most surprising factor in India is that it is not necessary that people will vote for those political parties which provide or promise good governance. People mostly vote on the basis of identity and it is very easy to sway them. Political parties also engage in vole bank politics and focus more on populist measures rather than focussing on improving the socio economic condition.
Three major factors that political parties use to exploit masses are:

•    Identity Politics
India is a very diverse nation and identity plays a very important role. Dalits continue to vote for Mayawati in spite of the fact that she has done nothing in improving their economic status. Similarly Christians or Muslims do not vote for BJP in Goa & Maharashtra despite the good governance that they provided during their rule.

•    Populist measures
In spite of being the best chief minister of AP since independence Chandrababu Naidu was not re-elected. He lost the mandate in favour of huge list of populist measure promised by YSR. Since then most political parties have embarked on populist measures such as free color TV, free housing for poor, fertilizer subsidy etc which are merely symbolic and do not improve the lot of poor people.

•    Urban Decay
Due to collapse in farm income there is a very steady migration taking place from villages to cities. This has resulted in huge influx in urban population resulting in Illegal colonies, slums and collapse of infrastructure. Instead of addressing the core issue i.e improving farm income and generating employment in villages, political parties use slums as vote bank.
People also prefer their status quo to be maintained since at least in cities they are getting regular income even though they live without basic amenities.

These divide and rule and populist policies pay scant attention to good governance. Also they manage to garner votes and win elections because of voter’s apathy.

There is a genuine lack of will power in today’s politician to translate government goals, objectives and policy priorities into tangible economic benefits for poor people.

Solutions for Ushering Good Governance

To provide good governance it is essential to bring about administrative reforms and create systems to improve efficiency of public delivery mechanism. Application of Information Technology is the best method of improving efficiency, providing transparency, monitoring schemes as well as improving overall productivity.

The following methods can be adopted:

•    Create a repository of best practices, methodologies and tools in governance reforms including successful software/e-governance implementations.

•    Posting all government related information and forms etc online. This will reduce the interface of the public with government officials, eliminate queues and provide enormous relief to public in general.

•    Video Conferencing with district officials on a regular basis will ensure that the schemes launched by political leaders with fanfare are actually implemented on the ground.

•    Computerization of all records is the most essential factor in improving productivity. Computerization of police (FIR process), land records, school enrolment etc will simplify cumbersome processes and procedures of respective departments and agencies

•    Public-private partnerships can be initiated to improve the overall infrastructure development. It will not only speed up the process but also generate continuous revenues to the government.

•    Setup computerized complaint redress system/call centre for all departments and ensure that all complaints are handled within specified time frame.

•    Setup centre for good governance like www.cgg.gov.in in every state which will analyse key issues in governance, identify solutions, help develop action plans, and support implementation of these plans and the reform agenda.

Use of information technology can improve efficiency & provide transparency in government systems and procedures. It will also ensure that corruption in minimized.

Conclusion

The rapid growth in GDP is not resulting in the improvement of our quality of life. Distribution of wealth is skewed. Most of the social indicators in India suggest that we are worse than even the most poorest of third world countries.

The inadequate public pending has forced even the people below poverty line to depend on private sector for social needs like education & health care.

Only better Governance and efficient administration can stem the rot in India. India is a world leader in IT sector. It needs to use the power of technology and knowledge to improve policy-making decisions in government and enable it to respond better to the needs of the people.

The political leaders need to be responsive to the present and future needs of India. And must initiate second stage of liberalization with reforms and focus on principles and practices of good governance.

• Politics of Vote Bank
  Votes are bought to ensure victory in elections
• Growth without Development
  Rapid GDP growth is not resulting in poverty alleviation
• Concept of Paid News
  Journalists are bought and most news is now planted
• Sports mere entertainment
  The most popular sport has become a gizmo in the hands of few rich people
• Food Inflation at its peak
  While millions are starving in India, food is being exported

What is the point in having independent judiciary, political system, bureaucracy and media? When a small section of rich people are bending all the rules and eventually ruling India.

The following three steps must be immediately implemented:

• Reveal the account details of Indians who hold Swiss bank accounts
• Scrap Mauritius treaty as most black money is bought via Mauritius
• Hawala transactions must be curbed as it generates a parallel economy

The number of rich in this country far exceeds the government estimates. If actual income of rich Indians is disclosed then all the 500 people in Fortune 500 would be Indians. It is high time to stop crony capitalism in India.

All the issues that Shiv Sena raised are relevant in today’s time. But they are cleverly side lined by the media. They are provoked constantly on the issue of Mumbai. The TV anchors are provoking eminent personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani etc and creating sound bytes. If proper analysis is done and all issues separately analysed then Shiv Sena’s concern is valid.

These are the 5 issues for which Shiv Sena has come under heavy criticism:

1. Stoking Regionalism

Indian states were created on linguistic basis. Every linguistic majority gets best deal in their respective states. Maharahstra state was created only after a long and agonizing agitation in which over 100 people had to give up their lives.
If regionalism is anti-Indian then why did the government agree for separate Telangana state? Why non-Himachali’s are not allowed to buy property in Himachal Pradesh? Or why the grossly anti national autonomy report submitted in J&K. Does J&K not belong to all Indians or is this privilege restricted only to Maharashtra/Mumbai?
The Marathi speaking population must be given priority in Maharashtra – Period.

2. Deteriorating Law and order problem

Media has launched a shrill campaign as though because of Shiv Sena the law and order has collapsed in Mumbai. They even created a term – “violence of the mind”. In fact the only time there was law & order problem was when MNS activists were beating people who had come to attend railway exams. And every one now knows that encouraging MNS has only resulted in dividing the traditional Marathi vote bank and benefited the ruling party.
In last week there have been a series of naxalite attacks in Jharkhand, infiltration attempts in Jammu, kidnappings in Bihar.
Rahul Gandhi’s visit was all about one upmanship and did the job of rubbing salt on wounds of the Maharashtrian pride. The Shiv Sena had only spoken about raising black flags during Rahul’s visit and the protest was thwarted by a huge contingent of police force.
If only the Police had taken a similar stand during terrorist attacks.

3. Uncontrolled Migration to cities

There is a huge migration taking place from UP & Bihar. It must be analysed and corrective action must be taken. The leaders of those states must be taken into account and made to mend their corrupt & inept ways. This will ultimately lead to a uniform development across India. Just saying India is for all Indians and any Indian can work anywhere is an escapist statement and will not solve the problem.
Those media people who are talking about Mumbai are sitting in Air Conditioned TV studios in Delhi and have never been to overcrowded filthy areas of Mumbai like Govandi or Mankhurd. Due to uncontrolled migration the infrastructure in Mumbai just has collapsed.
Today it is Mumbai; tomorrow it may be Bangalore or Ahemdabad to crumple.

4. Not mixing Sports & Politics

Pakistan has no sports relation with Israel. Telangana activist’s recently dug the pitch to prevent IPL from taking place in Hyderabad. Those who say don’t mix politics with arts or sports are being hypocrites.
In spite of all the fake statistics put up by the media, majority of Indians still believe that Pakistani cricket players & artists must be kept out of India. Their love for art/sports/films is because of the huge market that India offers and has nothing to do with passion.
We have to learn from History. The main reason why apartheid was eliminated was because the world took a tough stand and boycotted South Africa. Similar tough effort is required to eradicate terrorism by boycotting those countries that encourage mindless violence on Indian’s i.e Pakistan & Australia.
And that is what Shiv Sena advocates – Isolate countries that support terrorism.

5. Release of movie – My Name is Khan

Sharukh Khan is a very sharp business man. He was indulging in a publicity stunt for promoting his film. He may have thought that his pro Pak statement would consolidate the global Muslim community. Unfortunately it has gone horribly wrong. It has angered the average Indian who is at the forefront of bearing the brunt of bomb blasts.
The strange thing is that he did not actually bid for a Pak player. Now he is giving stupid excuses like they did not have funds.
Lack of genuine Muslim leaders in India is the reason why hypocrites like Sharukh Khan are given importance. He has managed to consolidate Muslim vote bank and has behaved like a typical minority politician by giving anti-national sound bytes.

It is a matter of time that he joins politics.

Maharahstra will witness a destructive game of politics because congress is trying to establish its vote bank in UP & Bihar. The first step that Maharastrians must take is to unite forces. All the five great Maratha leaders (Udhav, Pawar, Raj, Athavle, Munde) must leave aside their differences and join hands or else Mahararashtra will go the Andhra way.

Or they will end up carrying the slippers of Gandhi’s on their heads.

P.S: The Author is a North Indian who has spent considerable time in Mumbai.

Today with lots of efforts, India has managed to disassociate with Indo-Pak centric policy decisions. Even the US government has a new Af-Pak strategy now. So what is the need for us to associate our self with a country that is hell bent on a path of self destruction?

In Pakistan, a group led by singers, writers & cricketers are crooning for friendship. But they all have a special reason for that. And that outpouring is not love or brotherhood but money.
The lucrative Bollywood deals, publisher royalty & IPL contracts are making them sing peace songs. But what about the rest of Pakistanis, have they changed?

Have the mujahadeens across the POK closed training camps?
Has the Pakistan army reversed its anti-Indian attitude?
Has ISI stopped promoting anti-Indian activities?
Have the mullahs stopped spread of fundamentalist Islam?
Have the politicians given up claims of annexing Kashmir?

They are the real power centres in Pakistan. And what single action have they taken towards building peace & goodwill with India?

Perhaps the Indian’s in the peace committee needs another betrayal to remind them of facts. And they won’t be made to wait too long by our Pakistani “Brothers”.

1. Better Media Management
Indian Media & News channels in particular have played a major role in projecting BJP as a pariah and making it untouchable. Unlike in the past, media used to take on the government and expose its misdeeds; today most journalists are in the pockets of congress party. They are working on a single point agenda to somehow discredit BJP. So BJP needs to be smart & setup its own media network.

2. Zero tolerance for indiscipline
A loss is never easy to digest especially if it is a second consecutive one. After the disastrous lok sabha election results, the knives where out in the open and everybody was at each other’s throat. Now there is certain degree calmness maybe because of RSS diktat. The disciple message needs to percolate right across the organization especially at the top & those with feudal background.

3. Focus on winning elections
People are clever than we think. They have generalised that all politicians are same & will decide on whom to vote on the basis of – direct benefits provided by the respective party. Good governance comes after winning an election & for that BJP has to induce voters. The party must launch a series of measures that alleviate the problems faced by its core constituency i.e middle class voters.

Today the country is facing several serious challenges that affect its basic integrity. Governance has become nothing but – divide & rule. It is imperative that BJP strengthen itself and offer an alternate system of governance that focuses on twin pillars of nationalism & economic growth.

Observations:

1. It was very anguishing to watch BJP spokesman being grilled one after the other almost endlessly
Thier opinion on most issues was trivialised not only by plastic smiling anchors but even by biased audience.
It was as if they had entered in an interrogation centre.

2. On issues related to weak governance, the anchors were seen batting for the congress.
The congress ministers were being prompted/helped during interviews.
There was no coverage of ineffective congress ministers & their policies – at all.

3. During the last phase of elections the news anchors went a step further.
They tried to break BJP alliance partners, pushed Left front in UPA camp and formed an anti BJP front.
They started quoting constitutional experts, that the largest party need not be invited to form government.

4. Just before counting day, the media also fooled the Left front & regional parties into forming a “secular front with congress”.
While it was the Congress party that ate into major chunk of their vote bank.
They were quoting left front – “We won’t allow BJP to form government at any cost”.

The result was surprising & regional parties were decimated.
In Bengal, it was BJP that prevented a complete rout of the Left by dividing votes & saving them 6 seats.
BSP was left with only dalit/hindu votes & SP does not have a single Muslim MP!

It was a trick in visual imagery.
The general middle class perceptions on BJP would have been different had the TV channels shown repetitive videos of:
Shivraj Patil fumbling, virulent speeches of Muslim League leaders, divisive policies of Arjun Singh etc.

So my humble suggestion to BJP is to setup own TV channel.
The above view echoed in several of the comments posted across the internet.

Benefits of setting own news channel:

1. Instantly reach an audience in Kerala/West Bengal/Tamil Nadu/Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP presence is zero.
They constitute 143 out of 543 seats and in those states the TV penetration is staggering.

2. Unlike other parties, BJP has intellectual depth. Its leaders are presentable & knowledgeable.
Information can be presented cohesively – especially without stupid interrogations.

3. Using your own TV medium would allow you to present your side of the story and set your agenda.
Let the Left, SP, BSP, NCP etc take on the Congress in TV debates.

4. Every political party except the BJP has its own TV channel.
By proxy Congress operates several TV channels across regional lines apart from the leading two news channels in India.
Even regional parties now have their own TV channels.

In TV news channels it was the BJP interviews, speeches & briefings that were most watched/popular programs.
Every spokesperson was articulate, knowledgeable and had an air of superiority.
However the news channels used BJP, presented them as a ruling party, polarized voters, increased their own TRP’s while all time vilifying them!

It is time to give the agents of congress party some competition.
For a start – stop visiting those two news channels and watch their TRP fall.

Since they are quite sure that congress will fail to win even 100 seats on its own they are projecting a rag tag of political parties as a front which the congress party will be forced to support. Just to keep the BJP from coming to power.

The process has already begun in Orissa.
The reason why BJD withdrew from NDA is because it realized that congress, its principal enemy is no longer a force in the state. Congress is decimated in Orissa and the BJD & BJP is growing. So the anti congress compulsion & the need to stay in NDA is not there anymore.

Left front hogs limelight in Orissa even though it has only 1% of the vote back. The BJD has taken a calculated gamble. While the BJP needs only about 40 assembly seats to bring Biju Patnaik back on the negotiating table.

However the results in Karnataka have shown how quickly the table were turned when the alliance partner of BJP ditched them after completing their term. Kumaraswamy & JD(S) got wiped out in the subsequent elections.

The third front may actually hasten the nemesis of Congress and help BJP in the long run.
Moreover there are many fence sitters in this election like Jayalalitha, Sharad Pawar, Mayawati, Chiranjivi, Chandra Babu Naidu & Biju Patnaik who will play their cards only after the results are declared. And the left front would be left with empty sack since their own tally is expected to reduce drastically this time.

Will people vote for a political party just because mobile connections have increased or a slew of launch of foundation stones?

It is election time in the largest democracy of the world. The contest is very tough and all political parties will fight aggressively for every seat. However the campaign managers must realize that they have to attract voters and not just launch a barrage of disinformation.

In the run up to elections it is very important that the political parties maintain some standards during campaigning. The following must be avoided by all political parties:

1. Loud blaring speakers
Nothing is more disturbing than a constant barrage of noisy sermons and speeches using old loudspeakers. E.g. rickshaws going around blaring patriotic songs aimlessly.

2. Distorted secularism
There is absolute revulsion when religious leaders stoop down to the level of being agents for political parties and recommend their flock which way to vote.

3. Defacing walls with posters
As it is India is a very dirty country where the municipal authorities are just not functioning. There must be a fine of minimum of Rs 10,000/- per poster on a defaced wall.

4. Justifying Dynastic politics
By definition democracy means “by the people” but Indian politicians have converted it to “By the family”. All parties are guilty of converting their organizations to a Family Inc.

5. Media manipulations
Mass Media in India is today, just a business. There is no ethics or journalism involved. Each and every media report, analysis, story, debate or interview the media adopts a very biased approach. In fact most psephologists appear jokers because of their continuous wrong predictions & and an anti- BJP bias.

6. Buying voters
This new trend of using liquor, free food and even cash to woo voters has spread to all political parties. The politicians are so rich that this practise if implemented uniformly may even remove poverty from India.

7. Swearing
Election campaigning is telecast in prime time TV and for family viewing. It is therefore necessary that all politicians must maintain a sense of decency in their speeches.

8. Show Off’s
India is a poor country with most people struggling to make a decent living. However the assets of politics would rival those of the richest of businessmen in the world. Driving around in a cavalcade of luxury cars to visit a poor village appears nothing but sheer revulsion.

9. Booth Capturing
Most political parities used to employ local henchmen, criminals and mafia dons to intimidate voters, now these men have themselves graduated to being politicians and are adept at stuffing ballot boxes.

10. Lies, lies & damned lies
Political parties must not promise in their manifesto, anything they cannot deliver. It will come back to haunt them later, like Ram Temple for BJP. They must honour their commitment however stupid the election promise was, like colour TV scheme of the DMK government.

In a country rattled by terrorist attacks, absolute poverty, corruption – the success of parliamentary democracy is a miracle. Let’s sustain it for future generations and have a clean election this time. Let the games begin and most important – let the best person win.

The three A’s of Pakistan “Allah, Army and America” have been replaced by “Anarchy”, “Al Qaeda” and “Afghanistan”. The Pakistan army has suffered severe causalities and is not interested in fighting fellow Muslims. At the same time the Durand line (Pak – Afghan border) is becoming diluted and the generals know they are fighting a losing war. America is no longer interested in this region and will be making cosmetic arrangements so that its stand on Al Qaeda doesn’t get diluted.

In a nutshell Pakistan has become a major security threat for all nations especially India. No country is interested in fighting this new war because of the complex nature of the enemy and their own demographic compulsions.

Indian security establishment must take serious note of the development or else it will be caught napping as before. Mumbai attack was just a trailer.
More such barbaric attacks from western border are going to happen in future.

The mass media in India is busy romanticizing Islam, glamorizing western lifestyle and dehumanizing Hinduism; it has no guts to take up serious issues. Similarly the Pakistan media was obsessed with Kashmir, Palestine & global Muslim atrocities, unconcerned that they would be devoured by the monster of Islamic militants. Which had been created and nurtured by their successive governments.

The future strategy should be to somehow convince the Pakistan military & government to launch an offensive against Taliban and other Islamic insurgents. The Indian government will also have to become more proactive and borders will have to be sealed to prevent infiltration of any kind.

We are living in a deeply divided society with multiple religions, cultures & people belonging to different socio – economic status. The local version of the Crusades (Christian’s vs Muslims) is being fought in India. It is one religion against the local culture or even both religions jointly against the local culture.

In an increasingly intolerant society the fissure are being exploited by politicians & mass media. The divide & rule practise is already being implemented by the politicians in the name of minority benefits to target vote banks. And by mass media, which is quite evident by watching hysterical anti Hindu news in almost all news channels.

Every religion has its separate personal laws, official hierarchy, exclusive headquarters and absolute spheres of influence in a country. It is time to organize the Hindu religion as a single entity on the basis of a progressive religion with a democratic setup.

The first step must be to remove state control over temples & Hindu trusts. An organization can be formed on the basis of Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee to look after the fund collection and its disbursal. Similarly a network of schools can be setup to impart Hindu values & beliefs. Subsequently a reforms committee can be setup to look into the various problems affecting the Hindu society such as dowry, caste, illetracy & women emancipation etc.

Hindus have to organize themselves or else the current twisted version of secularism will make Hindus a second rate citizens in India.