FOR-A-BETTER-INDIA

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.