A matter for us to consider + Lok Satta

["Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok" <sanjeev@sabhlokcity.com>]

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Dear friends,

Apart from the healthy debates on facts, figures, and policies that we have
on IPI, tangential threads seem to frequently arise on aspects matters best
left to very low quality internet lists. In particular, it does not enhance
the quality of IPI discussions for any one of us to come down to character
assassinations/ personal attacks at any cost (and please note, I am NOT
pointing fingers at anyone here!).

We are fortunate to have people like Prof. Subroto Roy on IPI. Indeed he
has been one of the major supporters and promoters of IPI virtually from
its inception. How many full-Professors of elite institutes like IIT who
will condescend to discuss issues on as open an internet forum as a
web-archived mailing list? Prof. Guptara is also our welcome subscriber and
strong supporter, and so are other academics (and non-academics). 

For those who have not yet done so, please download Prof Roy's work at
http://www.indiapolicy.org/debate/Notes/roy1984.PDF (Pricing, Planning and
Politics) from the IPI publications page and take a close look at its
brilliant analysis of Indian policies. Under no stretch of imagination can
he be called a socialist, perhaps, if I may say so. 

I simply wanted to re-submit my request that the bandwidth of IPI be used
ONLY for constructive discussions which have as direct a possible impact on
the ground in India.

It was a bit disappointing that the issue of Lok Satta was quite neglected
by members of IPI. How many of us have taken ANY action on JP's request?
Please do review the mail below AGAIN. Note, JP says, "Training of about
20-25 activists from each state (FDR/Lok Satta will be happy to provide
free lodge, board and training. Travel costs should be borne by the
participants.)." Please go out and work with him. The entire message is
being sent again below. 

PLEASE do support JP on the ground. He firmly believes in liberal values
and  we must support his excellent work. IPI and Lok Satta, along with many
other organizations, have to work together. Only then can we achieve the
desired change in India. 

Can Prof. Roy set up a branch of Lok Satta in West Bengal, for starters? 

Thanks!

Sanjeev

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Dear Friend, 

Sub: - Citizens' Initiatives for cleaner elections - national coalition
for electoral reforms. 

Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR) is a non-partisan think tank and
resource centre dedicated to governance reforms in India. FDR sponsored a
people's movement Lok Satta. The mission of Lok Satta is to promote
peaceful, democratic transformation of Indian governance process and to
enable India achieve its full potential through good governance. 

Lok Satta emerged as a major civil society influence in Andhra Pradesh.
While governance reform goals are national, we have consciously decided to
limit our grassroots work to Andhra Pradesh. We believe that major civil
society initiatives can be launched by credible persons of impeccable
track record in their State, and who have the advantage of knowledge of
local language and intimate acquaintance with local conditions. We have
designed and implemented several grass-roots programmes for collective
citizen assertion with considerable success. People's Watch movement for
better delivery of public services and against corruption, Swarajya
movement for specific governance reforms at the State and local level, and
Election Watch movement for effective monitoring of elections by citizens
are the most important initiatives. Lok Satta now has over 100,000 members
and far more significantly the movement has wide name recognition and
enjoys passive support and goodwill of about 15% - 20% of the State's
population.  

Lok Satta is increasingly convinced that the national reform effort should
be centered around the key issue of electoral reforms. Free and fair
elections are the starting point of a functioning democracy, and are the
key to resolving today's crisis. A fair degree of consensus has been
achieved on the contours of reform over the years through the efforts of
various committees, statutory bodies and activist groups. The political
class is at least theoretically committed to electoral reform, and will
find it difficult to openly resist genuine reform. Most electoral reforms
can be achieved by a mere law of parliament and certain procedural
changes. Electoral reform, concerning local governments need legislation
only at the State level. Given these factors Lok Satta has been earnestly
striving to forge alliances nationally to build a genuine and effective
movement for governance reforms with the main focus on electoral reforms. 

Accordingly we are sharing our concerns with credible activists and
thinkers across the country. Our experience in Andhra Pradesh shows that
carefully designed citizen activism in monitoring elections, unearthing
irregularities and focusing public attention on the practical reforms
needed are the best ways of building a movement and furthering the cause
of reform. We have discovered, for instance, that in urban areas about 40%
of the electoral rolls are flawed   either the eligible voters' names are
missing, or the ineligible and fictitious names find place. Post-election
surveys in cities indicate that over 20% of the votes cast are probably
bogus. We have designed and implemented an elaborate and transparent
programme to screen candidates for criminal record, and identified and
publicized names of 45 candidates with verifiable criminal record. It
electrified the State and gained wide-spread national attention. The
recent judgement of the Delhi High Court directing the Election Commission
to collect and disseminate information on criminal record of candidates is
based in part on Lok Satta's documentation of criminal record of
candidates. Lok Satta organized live public debates and common platforms
in a structured format in over 130 Assembly and Parliamentary
constituencies. A live State-wide television debate too was conducted for
the first time in India. Over 10,000 volunteers were trained in the
techniques of Election Watch. 

The impending elections to Legislative Assemblies in the States of Assam,
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal give all of
us a priceless opportunity to mobilize public opinion in favour of
electoral and governance reforms. We seek your leadership and guidance in
organizing citizens and launching Election Watch movement in all these and
other States. FDR and Lok Satta will be happy to share our insights and
knowledge and provide training and other inputs. We will do everything
possible to facilitate the launching of Election Watch movement
everywhere. But the actual leadership and effort must come from activists
and public opinion makers in each of these States. We believe that these
citizens' initiatives have a realistic chance of coalescing into a
national movement for electoral reforms. Without non-partisan grass-roots
activity based on painstaking research and insights, mere advocacy is
unlikely to yield results. Genuine non-partisan activism is more likely to
unite people for a common cause. 

We propose the following steps in pursuit of the goals outlined above: 

* Identification of public opinion makers, activist organizations
and movements in each State.  

* Initial meetings to arrive at consensus and draw up the detailed
programme.  

* Training of about 20-25 activists from each state (FDR/Lok Satta
will be happy to provide free lodge, board and training. Travel costs
should be borne by the participants.).  

* Preparation and printing of Election Watch manuals for each
State. (Lok Satta will assist the efforts, but translation will have to be
done by local activists).  

* Setting up an Election Watch Committee in each State with the
involvement of eminent and credible non-partisan citizens   jurists, media
persons, civil servants, activists, academics and thinkers.  

* Setting up a National Secretariat to assist the efforts in each
State and to help share knowledge and experience.  

* Taking up sample surveys to focus on some of the obvious,
indefensible, easily remediable flaws in election process.  

* Prepare a few media capsules and launch a media campaign.  

* Planning effective follow up action to build a National Platform
for electoral reforms.  

FDR and Lok Satta are not funded organizations and as a principle we do
not accept foreign funding. Therefore there are severe resource
constraints. However, FDR/Lok Satta will provide all back up support and
help initiate the process.  

We will be grateful if you could participate in this effort and provide
your leadership and guidance. We would appreciate if you could indicate
your willingness, fill out the enclosed proforma and mail to us. The
enclosed literature will give you a broad idea of the work of FDR/Lok
Satta. You may also like to visit our website: www.loksatta.org to get
more details. We will be glad to furnish any additional information you
may require.  


In view of the urgency and importance of this effort, we would appreciate
an immediate response. 

With warm regards, 

Dr Jayaprakash Narayan 
Campaign Coordinator 
fonderef@hd1.vsnl.net.in 



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