It is 1115am on 15th January 2012
And the Mumbai Marathon is in full swing. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of eager enthusiasts and organisers will be pleased at the end of the day, to know that they did their small bit to help various needy NGOs get some additional funds to pursue their own individual goals. Great!
So how did the first fortnight of 2012 turn out to be for you? Any interesting ideas and projects that caught your attention, which you think is going to impact your environment in the near future? In my case, I was excited to learn from a very senior government official of the Indian state of Gujarat, about the Swagat project which aims to provide a periodic high-performance videoconference facility for all the local bodies and citizens of the state to discuss directly with the Chief Minister and his Cabinet on development issues. I think this is yet another positive step in using technology for governance.
Elections to several Indian state legislative assemblies have been announced and the stage is soon evolving for general parliamentary elections in 2013. I am very keen to know what innovations by the electorate, the Election Commission as well as the main political parties and the candidates, will become game-changers. I have a couple of ideas:
· How about a series of 3 face-to-face debates by all candidates in each of the constituencies – one in a FM radio station, one in a TV studio and one in a public space – focusing on (a) ideas to minimise corruption in the constituency, (b) ideas for economic development of the constituency and (c) ideas for bridging the socio-cultural divides that currently exist in the constituency. The debates may be moderated by a senior local news editor or a popular celebrity and the costs incurred by the Election Commission.
· How about a series of highly-secured mobile election voting booths (powered by solar / renewable energy source and equipped with modern telecom technologies) that will move to the voters’ residences /localities. This will ensure higher participation of the electorate, minimise bogus voting and record voter preferences on real-time basis.
I wish you all a great weekend and a wonderful week ahead.
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