Democracy 2.0

I Am Government!

मैं (हम) भी सरकार।

Government is empowered by us to work, with integrity, for us.

- Sandeep Srivastava, Candidate, New Delhi Assembly

Politics matters far more than we think.
ALL modern problems are due to poor governance.

However, government is a social institution.
A 'divided society' will get 'failed governance'.

Governance revolution doesn't need political incumbency*.
It just requires assertive, conscientious society.

*A new political party is NOT needed; self-assured citizens will revamp incumbent governments.
Read more....

The need of the hour

Politics matters far more than we think.
ALL modern problems are due to poor governance.

However, government is a social institution.
A 'divided society' will get 'failed governance'.

Governance revolution doesn't need political incumbency*.
It just requires assertive, conscientious society.

*A new political party is NOT needed; self-assured citizens will revamp incumbent governments.

Mass-scale social transformation is the seed for good governance.
Emerging technologies offer unprecedented societal capacity-building.
World-class education, health, economic dignity to ALL is a commitment away.

The little-known secret of Indian democracy

Indian democracy is powered by Political capital, rather than Social capital.
Political institutions and occasional statesmen have sustained our democracy.
But both are much weakened now.
Building social capital is the only way out to make democracy work.

The state of Indian society

Incidentally, our Indian society has come to closely resemble what the great German philosopher Nietzsche defined as 'the last man'.

He explained that:
"The last man is the one without a chest".
There is no great ambition, no desire to be a better human.

They remain satisfied with the fulfillment of petty material desires.
They feel no shame in being unable to rise above those material wants.

A complete contrast is his concept of the Uberman (Übermensch).
The Uberman is the one with spirit; the one with their own values.
Nothing for them is a 'pre-given' way of life, as they chart out their own paths.
They have the power to influence and change others’ lives.

Ironically, Nietzsche wanted the concept of the last man to disgust people.
He wanted to inspire society to strive to be an Uberman.
However, the exact opposite of this has come to materialize in contemporary times.
We are too satisfied being too little; there is a widespread apathetic stagnancy.

Thus, the ‘I am government’ initiative is all about propelling the country to become a society of the Uberman, and inculcate the idea in each and every one of us, that:

⇒ We are capable.

⇒ We are responsible.

⇒ We are the change.

What is 'I am Government'?

Quintessential society

A society consisting of holistically enabled people is the epitome of a society of the dreams. The participatory as well as the contributory aspects of its people is enabled by their exposure to a fine opportunity of training and expressing themselves. This, in turn, elevates the standards of the society's 'level best'. The symbiotic relation, at its most efficient form, is what a quintessential society is.

Amartya Sen defines a capability as “a person’s ability to do valuable acts or reach valuable states of being; [it] represents the alternative combinations of things a person is able to do or be” (Sen 1993, p. 30).
The opportunity and liberty to attain what a person is highest capable of is for the governing agency to supplement. This, in turn, will increase the achievability potential as well as individual target. A systematic and effective effort towards increasing social capability will mean that the developmental process turns into a dynamic method of standard elevation. This will then replace the current aspirational higher state to the existing lower state, striving to achieve elevated goals.

Martha Nussbaum reflects that it’s the problem of political and social and economic inequalities that make results in the facing of infinite hardship to exercise basic human capacities. She emphasizes that the purpose of good governance should be to shield the people from the kind of vulnerabilities that stands as an occlusion in the way of enriching life.

The process of social enabling is to be all inclusive. The centrality of the quantifiable material welfare based on is but a part of the complete progression of a human life. The material support must ensure subsequent opening of avenues that’ll reinforce a shift of paradigm in social development, where exists a heightened standard of basic human living.

Money-less Elections

True democratisation of election - anyone eligible can contest; ONE digital campaign platform for all

Money-Less Elections

'Funding of elections is, indeed, the mother of black money' - T. K. A. Nair, principal secretary to PM, UPA Govt. (2004-'11). We hold the world's costliest elections.

Surprisingly, the 2019 election campaigns were highly digital yet very undemocratic - tens of thousands of paid trolls and 'news makers' drowned all real conversations. Muscle, organically linked to money, is another huge distortion in holding fair elections.

Money also makes political parties undeservedly central to contestant choices - quite a murder of democracy. All parties and candidates must be brought to a singular pedestal, such as an election portal. The quality of political vision and plan must be central, not the quantity of noise.
Living Governance

24X7 closest engagement with EVERY citizen out of a two-way exchange of influences

Living Governance

Revolutionising the citizen-centricity of governance is the paradigm shift waiting to unfold; citizens can't anymore be faceless beings. Governments can't offer sub-optimal, and compromised community-level processes and resources; governance must be personalised.

Government should be live - connected, every second, with every citizen - in conceiving, designing, delivering, and organising multi-dimensional support for dignified living for every citizen. Extensive artificial intelligence is to be harnessed in governance for this goal to proactively create comprehensive differentiation in policies and services.

Of course, what it implies is that government is another layer of assurance and support, and ideally the unfailing layer, for families and individuals. It may be added that 'artificial intelligence' is meant to refer to a very wide range of emerging technological opportunities.
Further, it’s also expected that the government will flag and influence specific aspects of the dominant socio-cultural contexts towards proactively building a better nation in a nearer future. The current national government must get credit for several such assertions - ‘Swachh Bharat’, small family patriotism, water conservation etc.
Self-service Governance

Digital, 24X7, tailored, corruption-free access to all government services, e.g., marriage certificate

Self-Service Governance

The e-delivery of government services is hardly the potential for transformation in the quality of governance.

Self-service is the opportunity for creating the foundation of next-gen democratic governance; it goes far beyond merely making government interfaces and service deliveries virtual. It recognises the real possibility of treating every citizen to be responsible and de facto government for their own rights and entitlements as per the digital processes.

Local community leaders must be used for outreach to citizens, wherever needed (no dedicated government paraphernalia needed anymore).

Of course, there should be exemplary penalty for deviant citizens, but the entire governance structure has to build assuming responsible behaviour with well-designed control system and community watch.
Let's comprehensively dismantle 'government's extensive apparatus' to deliver services to citizens!
Right governance

High-intellect governance and enlightened citizenship needed for complex emergent challenges and opportunities

Right Governance

Generalist political leaders and bureaucrats cannot govern! It’s too complex for business organisations, let alone national governments. Governments are comprehensively failing in harnessing the transformational opportunities in defining the both goals and the means to leapfrog the humanity-old challenge of dignity to every life and the emergent challenge of creating a happy earth.

To top it, government is not above society, it's indeed a social institution; an arm of the society to support some roles.

Enlightened citizenship is needed to ensure governments build a better earth and socio-cultural context. The current practice of 'low quality, ever expanding' laws to regulate social-cultural and economic contexts needs to be urgently replaced by social evolution.

Right governance is seamless and invisible governance, indistinguishable from the society. Governance to be local in ensuring personalisation of development. Governance to be global in ensuring a better earth, today and tomorrow.

Banish career politicians

Politician: Not professionally!

The bane of democracy is the emergence of a new class of professionals - politicians! A full-time political career implicates income through political power and patronage, the salary is nominal even when elected.

Much like all professionals, such as engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, government employees, there is corruption in political careers too, perhaps more so. Corruption in politics has always been multi-dimensional. Therefore, it must be a purely secondary profession, and political leaders must first be social leaders.

Let's not worry yet as to how it can happen - the following four anchors addressed under will consolidate the ability of the governance system to deliver the best.

Contemporary State of Society

Let's be clear that the state of governance and polity can never be better than the state of society; indeed, the current multi-dimensional corruption in public life just reflects the corruption in society at large.

Expectedly, the fountainhead of transformational change in our lives is our dream and determination to change our lives; society must rediscover itself before change in governance can even be conceived.

But it requires a magical approach to change. As Immanuel Kant puts it, “Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage.” Tutelage is the human inability to make use of their understanding without direction from another.

The perceivable reality that we, too, are the active part of the governance system, is the step that’ll turn us to active citizens; who are well merited to live in a satisfactorily self-sufficient and progressive society.

"At the individual level swaraj is vitally connected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification and growing swadeshi or self-reliance." (M. K. Gandhi, Young India, June 28, 1928, p. 772). This non-substituted outlook of self governance and state governance is a significant dimension of looking at the possible social progression system, in which, the overall performance of the society influences the growth equation of the nation.

We believe the following four-dimensional change will do the magic -

1. New-genre of scholastic resources that enable EVERY family to ensure world-class education for their children

2. New curriculum for co-scholastic education to be global and local at the same time - thus, reaching the last child

3. Tech-enabled inventive micro-enterprise revolution - which is to bring economic and social dignity to EVERY adult

4. Building politics focused, dedicated digital platform that enrich social and political interactions at local levels. The sooner these four get initiated in a community, the faster the readiness for the revolution in governance will be achieved.

Why 'I am Government'

Commoners more criminal

Measures taken to impede corruption by verdicts declaring punishment is welcome! However, to overlook the well guarded and proficiently committed corrupt acts by socio-political elites is astounding. Read more

Commoners more criminal

Measures taken to impede corruption by verdicts declaring punishment is welcome! However, to overlook the well guarded and proficiently committed corrupt acts by socio-political elites is astounding.

In this case of electricity theft, the officers in question were perhaps bribed by the real convicts, while in another scenario of corrupt practices, there exists rampant unscrupulousness in pricing and licencing of e-rickshaws.

The cancer that corruption in governance is exists in financial, ethical, professional, legal, as well as strategic fronts. Certain usage of the constitutional means ends up hurdling the citizens to the corner. Arise and stand against such injustice!

On the ground...

Who're 'aam aadmi'?

The existing narrative of 'aam aadmi', although claims to accentuate the socio-economic position of the ordinary people, the nuances of the same shows that the position of the economic lower class is being normalised with provisions only to embellish their state of perpetual inadequacy. Read more

Who're 'aam aadmi'?

On the other hand, economic middle class is being elbowed from the end result of the initiatives taken in the name of ' aam aadmi'. Additionally, they are being pulled into a disabling swamp due to the allocation of developmental provisions for the betterment of the economic lower class.

It is crucial to enable every strata of the society as based on their unique requisitions. There is an opportunity to bring up lower class as well as sustain middle class. A leap in technological involvement in the governance procedure is required to increase efficiency and eased accessibility. This, in turn, will set in motion a mechanism ensuring equalisation of the socio-economic classes.

Let's redefine the Indian 'aam aadmi' to be like the educated middle-class, and change the public policy vision and actions.

On the ground...

Everything is Political

The famous quote by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann stating, "Everything is political" is quite the truth. All the modern problems we face are due to misgovernance. Each passing day, the mechanism of governance is getting more removed from the society. Read more

Everything is Political

The famous quote by Nobel laureate Thomas Mann stating, "Everything is political" is quite the truth. All the modern problems we face are due to misgovernance.

Each passing day, the mechanism of governance is getting more removed from the society. All of our recent pieces of legislation are poor pieces of drafting; the bar of intellect deliberation and thinking is lowering by the day.

There is no recourse for people for five odd years from even loathsome acts of misgovernance. The seclusion of politics from the people as alien is resulting in the passivity of citizenship. It's only by participation can the governing system be compelled to wake up from its long and lethargic slumber.

Fortunately, improving quality of governance is the easiest of all imperatives - we got the power to vote! The contemporary leap in the use of high-tech means is lifestyle as well as governance demands an increase of intellectualism as a general social and professional norm. So let's all adapt to the smarter trends and improve!

On the ground...

The software curse

Undeniably, India's software industry literally saved the nation and brought respect to Indian passport across the world. Read more

The software curse

Undeniably, India's software industry literally saved the nation and brought respect to Indian passport across the world.

But it isn't an unmitigated bliss - we missed the digital revolution; we are nowhere in contest with the likes of FB, Twitter, Airbnb, Uber, Amazon, Gmail etc. and relentlessly rising digital hardware imports have reached threateningly high levels.

We import just about every emerging technology - solar films, robotics, nanotechnology, e-vehicles etc.
Unfortunately, and promisingly at the same time, emerging technologies hold the keys to all our challenges today (as always in history).

Let's make a small beginning and build our own alternatives for FB, Gmail, Twitter, WhatsApp, Amazon etc.

On the ground...

Protecting Ecosystem: Non-negotiable

Within four years, Chennai faced sever flood and drought. Nearly 100% of Kaziranga in Assam is flooded every year. The national capital sees nearly 50 deaths due to air pollution every day! Over 10 lakh people die, every year, of air pollution across the country. Read more

Protecting Ecosystem: Non-negotiable

We are alarmingly destroying the delicate balance of the ecological system that makes life possible on earth. Can we imagine existence without lush plant and trotting animal? How long before it becomes impossible to breathe without oxygen canister? Will we lead the aquatic lives to extinction and turn water unusable without manifold purification?

Such thoughtlessness towards increasing pollution and subsequent climate change is only going to return to haunts us. It's not a surprise that in many developed countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, environment is increasingly the key political agenda!

Let's live and let live or we will soon end up destroying any sign of life as we know now!

On the ground...

And the most recent display of governance bankruptcy
"Steep traffic fines will help instill fear of law: Minister for Road Transport & Highways of India".
The government may know that the fear of law has to be instilled first in government employees and politicians. A Rs 500 Challan, every time one defaults is good enough, if bribery is no option (as in developed world).