Technology in Governance

In this age of Internet and emails, it is interesting to know the extent to which these technologies are used in the day-to-day governance of the state.  In the private corporate world, these technologies have become a necessity rather than an option.

Over the years some of the  Chief Ministers branded as tech savvy like Chandrababu naidu and S.M Krishna projected temselves as  CEO’s  of their states. However despite the hype, today we see that not many departments are using these on a daily basis.

Yes, in Karnataka there have been some very good initiatives in bringing technology to the masses and also have earned global recognitions like the Bhoomi project which digitised almost 200 million property records of the farmers in the state. The initiative was a huge relief to the farmers who can get the records they need directly from the Kiosks rather than waiting the Govt offices and paying bribes. However, there are still lot of areas which beg for technological upgradation which affect the masses daily.

For the starters, how tech savvy are our representatives? As we all know, the state govt issued Acer Laptops to all the members of the state legislature last year in celebration of the golden jubilee of the state. However, how many of them are actually using the same for the purpose it was originally intended for?   However a very small minority of the leaders have come to realise that the internet can be an effective tool in bridging the gap between the Govt and the populace.  In this regard, the initiative of our current Home Minister Dr. V S Acharya is really laudable. His blog http://drvsacharya.blogspot.com is a right move in the right direction. 

The government of the day as well as its departments do have a web presence. The official website is http://www.karnataka.gov.in/ . However, the site is not interactive as it should be.  It has the same old Govt look which needs to change. Also, emails can be a very effective tool when it comes to communication. Also, in this age of going-green, that would definitely cut both the time and the cost associated with the day-to-day communication. None of our leaders as well as the officers in the govt publish their emails. The only way to contact them is either by phone or by letter  which has been the norm for the last 50 years.  A corporate-like setup to the government will definitely go a long way in improving the efficiency and reliability of the govt.

Technology  can play a very important role in curbing the rampant corruption plaguing today’s govt.  This stems from the fact that the whole setup  is designed to facilitate the same. There is accountability at any level. Computerisation can eliminate the unnecessary delay and the harassment of the people by the officials. A computer trail will make it very difficult to defends the unreasonable delays associated with the govt services. Also, the govt should install required time taken for different services in all the offices. As a result, people can now expect the result in a time bound manner.

Another area where technology can bring about a radical change is the pubic distribution system.  The decades old system that  is currently operational is mired with rampant corruption and pilferage. Only a small percentage of the subsidised goods reach the needs. Most of them are diverted to the black market. Computerization of the whole system could save the govt crores of rupees annually and also the needy can be well served.  There are talks of introducing smart cards with biometric data of the families. This can be of great help. Also, computerization of all the beneficiaries and the transaction would allow effective management of the same and reduce the corruption involved in this business.

This is just one area. Just imagine the scope of the technology should the GOVT decide to implement in all its areas?

We would like to hear from you about this issue. Please pen your comments or email us at thinkrational@gmail.com

 

Destroying Public Property

So many times we see public property being destroyed in the name of protest. In fact, burning govt offices, buses has become a norm in every so called protest. We have seen this happen even in the recent episodes of farmer protests.

Somehow the populace has come to an understanding that the only way to teach a lesson to the government is by pelting stone at KSRTC and BMTC buses and burning them as well. What brought them to this conclusion is only anybody’s guess. How can burning buses help any cause they are protesting for?

These people just don’t seem to understand that they are hurting themselves by such actions. Usually it the local buses that bear the brunt of such protests. The likely consequence is that there will be shortage of buses plying in that route from the next day. It is so ironic that the same people will then start cursing the GOVT for not providing the service.  The resources spent on repairing/replacing could have well spent on adding additional service.

Somehow, the general feeling of ownership is not imbibed into the population. People do not seem to understand that anything Govt owns is indirectly paid by them in the form of different taxes. Offcourse,  most people do not pay taxes which is a totally different issue that needs to debated. Until such ownership feeling is developed,  such behavior will continue to prevail.

Another issue is, there is no credible deterrence against such acts. How many times have we read about  people being sent to jail for burning a bus or pelting stones on Govt vehicles?  In the absence of such deterrence, there is a general feeling that anything done in the name of protests will be allowed to fade off or the matter is closed once the incidents fades off the public memory. Nobody knows what happened to all those arrested during Dr. Rajkumar’s funeral procession or many such incidents. There are also news that police had made arrests after the recent violence in hubli-dharwad and haveri. But there is no official word about the status.

We also see statements by some of the politicians to take back cases against farmers who were protesting for fertilizers. Doesn’t that mean that such politicians directly abet destructive behavior during such protests? Is it really good for the development of the society? What message do we give out by such statements to the general populace?

Government should strongly come out against such acts of violence both by educating the public against such acts as well as taking strong measures like enacting laws, making arrests and making sure that those arrested are sent to jail in a timely manner. If for example a person is sent jail for a year for torching a bus, then that would definitely make people think about indulging in such acts.

There are ample opportunities to set right the wrong notions in the society. The only lacking factor is the “WILL” both from the part of GOVT and the society!!!! It will be very interesting to see how the GOVT headed by  CM B.S yaddyurapp and the new Home Minister Dr. V.S Acharya  handle such cases. Also, in this age if RTI, why is the media not highlighting the issue by finding out the status of the previous cases?

Please tell us what you think about this issue.

 

 

Shortage of fertilizer in Karnataka

These days we are bombarded with the issue of “Fertilizer Shortage”  in karnataka. All around we see the media (both print andvisual) as well as numerous blogs writing articles upon articles highlighting government’s  failure in solving this vexed issue.  Both the state’s CM B.S Yaddyurappa and the Home Minister Dr. V. S Acharya have been accused of firing on the farmers and the opposition parties have also called for their resignation . Lately, we are also seeing highly visual suicides by the farmers again linking it to the fertilizer shortage.

However,  no where we see any concerted effort by the media to rationally analyze the whole episode. It looks like every body just gets carried away by the current hysteria, in most cases being generated by the vexed interests.

Lets look into this issue for once keeping aside everything we have seen and read all these days.

First of all, fertilizer in our country is a highly subsidised commodity just like some other items like cooking gas, oil etc. The central government grants subsidies to the chemical industry for producing the required fertilizers that are then distributed to the states.  Individual states then distribute this in the grass root level.

Usually in the month of March and April respective state governments submit their estimated fertilizer requirement to the central government and stock the same before the onset of monsoon rains in June. Since Karnataka being under president’s rule during that period, it should have been the responsibility of the Governor’s administration (say Central Govt) to estimate and stock the required amount of the fertilizers in May. But that never happened. The other contributing factor might be that the agriculture dept employees were drafted for election duty by the EC. As a result as againt an opening stock of 58,516 tons of fertilizer on Apr’2007, the available stock on Apr’2008 was a mere 3412 tons. Added to that, the monsoon rains which usually start around mid June, started 2 weeks early.

This was the scenario when the new BJP government took oath on May’30.  CM Yaddyurappa met PM Manmohan Singh on June 2nd and conveyed him the situation regarding the fertilizer situation and was assured of all the help in time. Since the CM had decided not take any administrative decisions (possible because of the bad experience the last time around)  concentrated his efforts on gaining vote of confidence which he won a week later on June 06, cabinet ministers were sworn in on June’08 and portfolio allocated on June’10.

The reason for mentioning this fact is that we all need to have a clear picture of the events that unfurled in the early days of this govt. Usually they say that every new Govt will have an honeymoon period of 6 months to an year. That’s when we can actually start judging the performance of the government based on the policies implemented,  the developmental works undertaken etc.

However, on June’11 we saw the disturbance in Hubli-Dharwad and that was attributed to farmers protesting shortage of fertilizers. 3 buses were burnt, shops were stoned, public properties were damaged.  Police resorted to lathi charge to quell the disturbance.

The next day, in haveri, it was reported that farmers were again agitating demanding fertilizers and the police fired on the agitating farmers. All the opposition parties, news outlet and the print media painted the govt with recklessly firing on Innocent farmers.

Lets looks at this for a moment. First of all, since the fertilizers were not supplied from the central Govt, the state govt would have been in no position to supply fertilizers. Now blaming the shortage on a 2 week old state govt  might not be a correct thing to do and the same cannot be said about the previous administration.

Secondly, since when we as a society started approving destruction of public properties as a legitimate form of protest? That line of thinking would definitely lead to chaos in the society. Also, stoning police does no good to anybody. We all should understand that even they are normal persons with family. When cornered, every living being will try to protect itself against the aggressor by all means. Even in this case, we have seen that the law enforcement officers severely out-numbered  by the raging stone pelting so called farmers, used all the traditional means of crowd control.  The phrase “so called farmers” is used because usually in these situation, it is the anti social elements that take advantage of the situation. We have seen the same happen during Dr RajKumar’s funeral procession.  The situation went out of control when people surrounded a KSRP bus with very few constables and started pelting stones. We all should put ourselves in that situation for a moment and think what we might have done. Probably one of the constable fearing for his life must have started shooting resulting in the death of a farmer. Hopefully the judicial enquiry might throw more light on the whole episode.

It is very easy to blame a person or an entity for a particular incident. It is true that the Home ministry is responsible for the law and order situation in the state. However the local administration is directly in charge of such situation. Blaming Home Minister Dr Acharya might be ill advised because he had assumed the charge of the ministry just a couple of days back and I don’t think we can judge somebody’s ability even without giving time to perform.

All opposition parties are blaming the govt for the episode.  A strong apposition is a must for the proper functioning of a democracy. However, even opposition parties like the Congress should introspect their acts while they were in power. There were incidents of firing on farmers when both the principal opposition parties were in power. Everybody should find out the actions being taken back then.

Even the media should introspect its reporting ethics. Some of the news outlets have been towing the opposition line during this incident which is not healthy. Instead, they have to do some honest analysis of the events and persent it to the people. We all know the tipid response of the media when President Bush went to War. Only a couple of years later did the media realise its mistakes.

Even today, we see news about farmers committing suicide.  However there are news that these are being done with an intention of getting govt compensation. Again patience is advocated in reporting such incidents. It is heartening to see at least some of the media outlets are talking and implementing self restraint that is a very healthy development.

As per the latest information, the Central Govt has released only 62,400 tons of the fertilizer as against the promised qty of 1.4 lakh tons by June’20. It is interesting to see how the state govt and the opposition parties will handle the situation arising from this shortage.  The need of the hour is to collectively approach the federal authorities instead of blaming each other.

One sad development that we have seen is that none of the so called farmer leaders nor the opposition leaders have denounced the destructive nature of the protest. In fact some of the statements were supportive of such actions which is very unfortunate.

We hope that this article will give you some more information/ insight about this issue. Now it is left to the individual reader to think rationally and build upon his/her opinion.

We would love to hear your thoughts about this blog and the issues that we highlight. You can leave a comment  or write to us at myrationalthought@gmail.com

 

 

The Beginning

Today, we as in general public get news and date-to-day information from diverse sources be it the visual media or the print media or the Internet. However the one lacunae that is observed in all these mediums is that sometimes these outlets publish information that tend to obscure the actual fact or highlight a particular line of thinking.

Being the Fourth pillar of a vibrant democracy, media has a very huge responsibility in dispersing information in an “as is” manner independent of external factor.  An effective media can increase public awareness in all aspect of governance be it positive or negative.  A informed mass can hold their elected representative accountable for all the actions and deeds.

Having said this, we also see  that in these days of rapid competetion, the news that is beamed or printed and published are not as honest and independent as once thought. There were days when people beleived that the news they see or read is genuine and formed opinions based on it. However, in the present scenario,  the media has lost that level of confidence and one should think Rationally before forming his opinion and that is what we have set out to achieve.

Our motto is simple “Imbibe Rational Thinking” in our readers on some of the current issues that we all see around. We hope our endeavour will help you in that direction.

What does “Think Rational” mean?

Rational thinking refers to logical or reasoning being involved in the thought process. It refers to providing reasons or rational behind thoughts or ideas. It adds an element of calculation and planning to a steam of thoughts rather then basing them on emotion or personal opinion. It is a kind of objective process of thinking and an analytic approach to any problem. Rational thinking is based on reasons or facts and is hence much more calculating and realistic. All people are capable of thinking rationally, but people will tend to cloud this ability because of emotions or prejudices.