Good governance vs. vote bank politics
Introduction:
Good governance is a socially acceptable language widely used at present. Generally speaking, good governance means, a clean and impartial system adopted by the government for ensuring fundamental rights, justice and human rights to every citizen of the country, including those below the social strata. Voice of the humdrum finds reflection in the general administration. At the forefront of the philosophy of good governance are the World Bank and the UNO which propagate the rights of the common man and the voice of the neglected as the key to effective governance.
Effective governance, now-a-days, is identified with RTI utilized as a medium for eradication of corruption under the establishment of transparency turning the government accountable to the people at large. E-governance is being insisted upon and facilitated in the society as never before which makes the full use of available technology as a tool for the benefit of mankind. E-governance has become a catch word worldwide, making the administration think to work for its people and to care for the need for one and all. Though many countries have discarded the coaching system needed for the success of the e-governance, a few countries adopt it with the letter and spirit.
E-governance technologies:
The countries acting against this are generally apprehensive about the government confidentiality and use in various sensitive areas as in electronic voting machines (EVMs). Resultantly, e-governance has not been able to spread its wing in full and square, but is limited to the planning and performance information of the government as well as the prevalent set of rules, governing the management and performance of different government portfolios.
The government is keen on collecting the opinion and the advice of the general public in various matters of state governance by the judicious use of e-governance technologies. This has enabled the government to reach out to people in a very direct manner to solve their problems as much as it is capable of accomplishing.
However, it is a matter of regret that in our democratic set up. The right to information has not been working as it is expected to be; rather the outcome visible is clearly antithetical in a number of cases. The earliest generations’ defective EVMs are still in use in the conduct of elections in India. The source of the software and its code is being kept secret. The hardware used in these machines is easy to manipulate which the experts of the technologies have given perspective. It is a prevalent opinion from all corners of Indian voters in the last election that the machines or the software or hardware used therein were all defective.
EVMs showed different results than they hoped for:
The manner in which one area or set of people who voted for reflected otherwise in results declared later. This is the perspective of the general public, the scientists, the lawyers and villagers living in far off localities that the EVMs showed different results than they hoped for. Questions of apprehensions of heavy scale manipulations were raised every here and there making the EVM system of voting in elections susceptible. Though such huge manipulations are seen and reported during the last general election, it is surprising that no political party or political leader is raising a genuine voice questioning the system of EVMs replaceable by paper votes or both systems being used together as a mark of transparency.
E-governance needs to be properly implemented from the top and from the planning level coming down to the level of the ordinary man as we see the system in use in various countries. Our planning and legislative system have not used e-governance so far as a result of which the transparency and the competence expected in the field of implementation are grossly lacking. Our planning and implementation of various schemes are very often found to be defective and the people are rendered helpless due to e-governance not being in place.
E-governance and RTI:
Satisfactory results will only come and timely measures are only possible with the introduction and implementation of e-governance. Government websites should show what it thinks the society and in what manner and extent it is going to implement among other measures. This is the very essence of the Right to Information (RTI). Indian citizens will only feel that they were called onto participate in government selections during elections only. However, no government in India is a participatory government. Neither has it took into account the opinions of its people. Nor it leads its people know of the measures it is implementing.
Everything can be done in a very orderly and transparent manner with technology pervading the whole of the country. But what are lacking here are the will power and the transparency of the administration in implementing e-governance. All political parties rely on technology for their party’s statistical information and voting patterns being followed and adopted. But no party seems to be concerned about the people in the society at large. This has compounded the problem.
During the last general election, leaders of many political parties and the party administrators were seen greeting people and begging for votes through messages and voice mails in mobile phones, collecting the mobile numbers of voters in the most illegal manner without the mobile owners, themselves knowing of it.
Social media with mobile as a medium:
Anna’s Lokpal movement has opened the flood gate for profuse use of mobile messages and voice mails for reaching out to the common people. People in the higher strata of society, students and the youths of the country use computers, internets, fake books and twitters as social media which have now been targeted by political people for their organizational and agitation goals.
Medias and various mediums have lifted many leaders to the stature of greatness and glorification. By the by, all state and central government is now beginning to distribute free models and laptops among people with a keen eye on 2012 general elections. Social media with mobile as a medium is good for the people if it is widely used in a very transparent manner as a tool of information to know what it is happening in what corner of the country and what it is going to be done by the government and what place.
Conclusion:
Nevertheless, no government is concerned with the problems of the people as the mobiles are not going to be used to know of their wants and troubles but to send and receive messages and voice mails needed to tide over the ensuing elections. The use of technology in each and every fabric of society is not bad; rather it is excellent and the need of the day because of information reaches very fast. Conversely, what the technology in India being used by the government and the political parties is only for their political gains which have little relevance for the people everywhere.
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