Conference on Electoral and Political Reforms 2011

Being a science student, it was a first of its kind experience for me to attend a conference on political and electoral reforms. Thanks to senthil anna who posted the information about this conference on his facebook page. As a sincere follower of present day current affairs and politics in our country, I was triggered to participate in this conference with a quest to learn many aspects as I am still a beginner in political course.

Conference was organized by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reform (ADR). What a perfect time to host this event! when five states are gearing up for assembly election in near future. As I proceed with the highlights of some of the important sessions of conference, we can understand the essence and prime purpose of this meet. The inauguration function was organized big with all the national and local media attendance; thanks to present and former CECs like Mr.Qureshi, Mr.Gopalswamy and many other officials of election commission. Immediately after inauguration, first session had a total of seven talks covering many aspects of electoral process. It was really the brilliant session in my view which included the direct interaction between participants and higher electoral officials. In particular, CEC Mr.Qureshi was kind enough to spend half a day in the conference and answer most of the questions by himself posted by the participants. Let me highlight the important issues which were discussed in this two day conference.

The main topic of discussion was 49-O. Many suggested that 49-O can be included as one of the button in the present ballot instead of voting for it seperately by giving the voter's details. CEC Qureshi replied that this notion is now in the form of political bill and political parties are not ready to pass this bill to turn it as reality. This clearly shows that politicians are really afraid of 49-O. There was a difference of opinions on the issue of 49-O. CEC Qureshi expressed his view on 49-O as negative voting and it is of no use. But he also stated that election commission encourages 49-O on the other side to stop the misuse of votes of non-voters by political parties. Few refuted the idea of considering 49-O as negative voting. They clearly said that in the long term process, if the percentage of 49-O voting is higher, then it will pave way for the political parties to think from their side to reform their principles and also to propose good candidates in the election.

The use of money power was the next major issue that was widely discussed. Almost all the participants and election commission officials expressed their concern on the selling of votes by the public. It was discussed only as the wrong method adapted by the politicians and not as the mistake of public to get money. But few suggestions were given like taking this issue to public by means of media awareness and also the volunteer actions of people concerned about this. All the participants agreed that they would do their level best to bring the awareness of money power and to stop the misuse of that in the elections.

One session was dedicated to the political reforms in which politicians from various parties were also participated for interaction. The topic of discussion was inner political democracy and transparency of financial accounts of political parties. It was of no surprise that no politicians except Mr.D.Raja talked about the above points but only focussed on "this and thats" of their parties. Even politicians showed their angry when a valid question was pointed at them. As a highlight painful comedy, T.K.S. Elangovan criticized the people for getting money to vote. He is from the party which mastered this art of money power to buy the people and he criticized the people for the same. Disgusting! The interaction of politicians clearly conveyed that no party is ready to reform their political principles as they stand that their party's present condition is very principled and always focussed on the welfare of people.

When one person suggested that interested volunteers and ngo's can be allowed to involve in election activities instead of government employers during the polling time, CEC Qureshi said that if it is allowed, many fake NGO's and volunteers will come from the political parties side to misuse that provision. He also told that government employees are the perfect choice as their job security is in the hands of election commission through government and thereby prevent them to indulge in wrong activities, which is not guaranteed when the volunteers and NGO's are allowed to involve... a real valid point!

The role of corporate people in the political ground was also discussed. The major source of income for the political parties comes from the corporate companies as a key of token for getting their work done easily. Only because of the corporate peoples, the political parties get so much of money as donation which is later used by the political parties to show their money power during election. So, election commission officials told that there should be some limitations imposed on the level of amount that can be given as donation to the political parties.

I also learnt that the electoral reform process will reach new heights if the election commission is given all the powers to make rules independent of government. Election commission has its own limitations in making regulations and rules in view of electoral reform and even if they make or propose, it cannot be realized in practice due to the pressure and blockage given by the political parties especially the ruling government (which again a political party). Surely election commission should be given all the power as a separate body like SEBI which will bring about significant change.

Let me list out some of the resolutions made in the conference.
1) First and foremost is to work hard for bringing the awareness against the use of money power to buy the voters.
2) To increase the percentage of voting (achieve 100% voting) through campaign especially in urban areas where the level of voting is poorer than the rural areas.
3) To use the Right to Information (RTI) act efficiently to bring transparency to keep a track on the political parties expenses in the election.
4) To provide the valid information anytime to a 24x7 call center specially set up by the election commission regarding the misuse of money by the political parties.
5) To use the social networks and modern technology like cell phone(sms), email, facebook, twitter, orkut etc. to bring the awareness of voting and misuse of money.

On the whole, this two day conference was a new learning experience all the way for me.

Farmers suicides- Indian Agriculture at its threshold

"Farmers are the backbone of the country"- Mahatma Gandhi

"More than 2,40,000 farmers committed suicide from 1995 to 2009" - Government of India's own National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

Its really heart breaking to see the above statistics of number of farmers suicide happened recently which clearly conveys that India is losing its major backbone at an alarmingly increasing rate. At least 17,368 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009, the worst figure for farm suicides in six years according to the data of NCRB. This data covers almost entire nation from nouth to south. Please note that this figure is given by the government itself (actual figure may be even higher). Its really shameful to see that the same government claims and self-praises that India is fast developing in an international medium. How can a country be considered in the "developing side" when the major source of income for majority of the people (villagers) is getting worsen day by day. Is this the real development of a nation? There is no doubt that technological and industrial developments are most happening in India. But the pitty truth is that at many of the places, these developments takes place purely at the cost of farmers and agriculture.

What is the cause for this increasing rate of farmers suicides? The major reason behind this is undoubtedly the inaction of government in terms of effective agricultural policies and plans. Everything has changed now right from the climate to the method of agriculturing. But there is no new realistic actions (announced only in words) in view to cope up with this changing trend. Since villages form the majority of India and agriculture and farmers form the main part of villages, its the moral responsibility of a government to introduce new projects and policies to improve the agriculture and the farmers life conditions. No need to say that in India, the first and foremost aim of the government must be centered on uplifting the overall agriculture. But our government seem to think the other way. They are very much interested in establishing and strengthening industrial and technological revolution. They are very keen to bring globalization in our country and not much cared about the destruction of our very own strength "agriculture & farmers". Politicians only visit the villages during the elections and after that villages and farmers falls under their "selective amnesia" regime. Government and politicians joins hand with industrialists to steal the maximum out from the ignorance of the poor people at the cost of their own living.

May be politicians want the poor people to remain poor for their political advantage. May be due to that, agriculture and farmers are not given the much needed attention. To the disgrace, dirty politicians have started to give open comments that "as long as poor are there, freebies will be there". Shame on them. Its the threshold time that government needs to act immediately and effectively to stop farmers suicides. Surely government can help farmers to regain their golden time by means of introduction of many new policies, dedicated five year plans and projects aimed at increasing the agriculture growth. This can be done with the advice of agricultural experts and researchers. Many good hearts are even voluntarily ready to help the government in this regard. Govt should stop encouraging the import of food and agricultural items that can be grown and cultivated in our own country. The present regulations adopted for the buying and selling of agricultural products between farmers, government and distributors has to be finely revised in accordance with the maximum advantage for farmers. When farmers economy level is improved and if they regain their lost glory, then change will happen and every farmers will be happy to encourage their childrens towards agriculture (something rare at present) so that the next level generation will follow the footsteps of harvesting, which will further ensure the indian green era in coming days.

As a fellow citizens, we need to give importance to this issue of farmers suicides as our eatables comes only because of those great labours. As our part, we can take this issue to the government and everyone's attention as much as we can. It will be of much effect to talk about this matter to our fellow citizens, circulate this issue through mails and social networking sites which can reach the broader section of people. It will be a great boost if media of all kinds... magazines, television, cinema and also popular celebrities give wide exposure to this issue so that the reach is more deeper and stronger.

Like in the case of #tnfishermen compaign for taking action against killing of tamilnadu fishermen by lankan army, we can also initiate a new compaign to bring maximum and immediate attention to the indian farmers suicide. The compaign mantra can be #stopindianfarmerssuicide and this can be used in net columns like facebook, orkut and twitter to gather the attention of the indian government and urban people.

Let us work at our level best to bring smiles on faces of people who feed us daily.

Long live farmers! Long live agriculture!!!