Make the Paper Tiger Roar!

A new Municipal Commissioner has recently taken charge in Pune. Since elections to local self-government bodies—the foundation of Indian democracy—have not been conducted in the state, none of Maharashtra’s municipal corporations currently have elected corporators. Commissioners are functioning as administrators and hold supreme authority over the cities. In this scenario, these newly appointed Commissioners carry as much significance as a newly elected government. Therefore, it is only natural to place similar expectations on them. This article reflects those expectations. Although the article focuses on Pune’s new Commissioner, these expectations are, with slight variations, relevant to all 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra.

We do not expect the commissioner to undertake grand or revolutionary new projects for the sake of doing something "different" or "historic." There is no shortage of policies, laws, acts, rules, regulations, orders, directives, and circulars (and forgive us if we missed a few more official terms). However, grand schemes that look flawless on paper often end up on ventilators due to an incompetent administration. Hence, it is vital to ensure strict implementation in letter and spirit. Here are a few key examples to illustrate this:

1. Several villages have been newly included in Pune, and many roads mentioned in development plans are yet to materialise. As new roads are built, it is essential to follow the guidelines of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC)—including gradient, base layers, asphalt temperature, and proper width and height of footpaths and markings. Non-compliance can attract a penalty of ₹1 lakh for contractors. These rules exist on paper; the expectation is that they must now be implemented.

2. When existing roads—cement or asphalt—are redone, care must be taken not to increase their elevation. Failure to observe this simple rule has led to historic buildings and homes gradually sinking below road level. Unscientifically elevated roads especially affect citizens during monsoons. A 2016 expert committee report, prepared by the PMC itself, outlines the proper method for repairing potholes. Unfortunately, not a single location in Pune follows these guidelines, leading to the same pothole-ridden roads every year. Citizens expect the new Commissioner to enforce the PMC’s own expert recommendations.

3. The PMC has a detailed Road Trenching Policy (2016–17), which mandates clear signage at all trenching sites indicating the type of work and duration. Non-compliance can result in a ₹500 per meter fine—even PMC departments are not exempt. Yet, years later, neither contractors nor departments install these boards, even after written citizen complaints. This reflects a callous and ineffective administration. Besides signage, many other rules in the trenching manual carry hefty fines. The new Commissioner must ensure strict enforcement of this policy.

4. To approve the funding for the Pune Metro, the central government mandated the city to have a parking policy. PMC approved one in 2019. Today, two Metro lines are fully operational and a third is underway. Yet, six years later, the approved policy remains unimplemented. Is a “Smart City” like Pune really incapable of enforcing its own parking policy? The new Commissioner must prioritise this.

 

5. Like any other growing Indian city, Pune faces serious issues with encroachments on roads and footpaths. To balance the needs of street vendors and the rights of citizens, the 2014 Street Vendors Act was enacted. In 2022, PMC formed a vendor committee, but it hasn’t met or delivered any concrete outcomes. Meanwhile, rampant encroachments choke main roads. Common citizens wonder how a scooter parked in a no-parking zone is swiftly fined, yet permanent illegal encroachments right next to it are left untouched for years. There are clear rules and policies about how street vending should be conducted—time, space, and removal after hours—but the PMC has turned a blind eye to enforcement. 

6. India may or may not become a “Vishwaguru,” but when it comes to illegal political banners, we’ve certainly mastered the craft. From local self-proclaimed leaders to central ministers, politicians across all parties brazenly flout laws they swore to uphold. To curb this, the administration has strict rules—on paper. Following court pressure, the previous Commissioner issued a detailed circular with 19 points in December. But without enforcement, it’s meaningless. Will our thick-skinned leaders fear a paper tiger? Commissioner, we hope you dare to make that paper tiger roar.

These are just six examples, but similar issues exist across every department. Rules, laws, policies, and orders are already in place. Pune needs a Commissioner who can translate these into action. We need a display of intent and capability. We have no doubt about the capability of an IAS officer in this role. Therefore, Commissioner, please don’t aim to do something extraordinary during your tenure. Just implement what’s already on paper—and have the intent to do what’s necessary. That’s all we expect.

(Published in Daily Sakal on June 4, 2025)

References:

• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/road-contractors-must-follow-irc-standards-or-pay-rs-1-lakh-fine/articleshow/78821955.cms  

• Road Development and Road Maintenance Committee Report 2016

• Pune City Road Trenching Rules, Rule no.30. 

• Pune City Road Trenching Rules, Annexure 12.  

• https://punemirror.com/pune/civic/activists-demand-action-on-delayed-pune-parking-policy/cid1745744098.htm

Absent Leadership, Dying Cities

In many of our discussions, writings, and casual conversations, the topic of ‘urbanisation’ is often mentioned with a highly negative connotation. And rightly so—because all our cities are essentially dilapidated, unplanned, and overpopulated human settlements. They lack the quaint calm of villages and also the energetic buzz of a well-planned urban hub. What we have are cramped colonies where people live out of compulsion, not choice. Why has it come to this?

There are many reasons, but I want to highlight four primary ones:

1. Lack of Timely and Appropriate Policies, Rules, and Laws

Take the example of Singapore: a city that created a development plan in 1971 and reviews it every ten years to make necessary changes. In contrast, even after ten years since the establishment of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), we still do not have a finalized development plan for the region!

2. Apathy of Leaders Across All Political Parties Toward Implementation

This is most evident in the case of delayed local body elections. Some cities have completed entire five-year terms without any elected local governance. While the Constitution, municipal corporation laws, and election regulations all exist, implementation is utterly lacking. The government has not even taken a strong stance that elections must be held and pending court cases should be expedited to prevent local democracy from being kept on life support. Politicians from all parties—engaged in a game of musical chairs for power—find it convenient to keep control of city budgets worth thousands of crores without having to answer to elected representatives. Even basic rules aren’t enforced. For example, there’s a rule that whenever there is digging or construction work in the city, boards must be put up to inform citizens. If not, there are penalties. While the authorities are quick to impose penalties on citizens, they fail to follow or enforce these rules themselves. Whether it's a big law or a small one, implementation by the government is abysmal.

3. Lack of Government Consistency

Look again at the issue of municipal elections. Depending on what suits a political party or alliance, the structure of elections keeps changing—from single-member wards to four-member wards. There is no logical, consistent policy or approach. In the last 25 years, no two consecutive elections in Pune have followed the same method. This naked political self-interest of those in power is plain to see. When court petitions delay elections, our sly politicians simply shrug it off, indifferent to the erosion of democracy.

4. Absence of an Independent Evaluation Mechanism for City Governance

There is no autonomous body to quantitatively or qualitatively assess city governance. Neither municipal corporations nor the state’s urban development department conducts such evaluations. Massive schemes worth thousands of crores are launched, but no reports are available on what goals were set, how much was achieved, or why objectives weren’t met. If an independent organization, research group, or university wants to evaluate performance, even basic data is not made transparently available. Despite managing large municipal budgets, not a single corporation presents its budget in a citizen-friendly format that enables research or scrutiny. The unspoken strategy seems to be: don’t provide information, and you eliminate the possibility of independent evaluation. And because there’s no evaluation, we’re stuck at the first step—unable to make appropriate policies. Without accurate data or performance reviews, what kind of policy-making is even possible?

So, are citizens responsible for all this? No. The real culprits are our irresponsible, all-party political leaders. Currently, there are no city councilors in any of our cities. Commissioners appointed by the state government are managing urban affairs. That makes the state government accountable, particularly to the MLAs who sit in the legislative assembly. In Pune, there are about 150 to 175 corporators and only eight MLAs. This means that one MLA is effectively responsible for the work of at least 20 corporators—which, of course, is unmanageable.

Officers don't respond to citizen complaints because they don’t fear losing votes in any upcoming election. Even a look at the minutes of Pune’s ward-level mohalla meetings shows that small tasks can take six months or more. The administration is lost in its own arrogance, and the leaders whom we could hold accountable are nowhere to be found.

In such a scenario, is it any wonder that our cities are on a ventilator, gasping for survival?

(Published in Daily Sakaal on April 11, 2025)

We, the people of India...

Often, we do not quickly understand the difference between the two national days of India, 15th of August and 26th of January. The 15th of August is our Independence Day, so it’s easy enough. It was the day we earned our freedom from Britishers. But what exactly does a Republic Day mean? ‘Republic’, ‘Constitution’ sound like such big, baffling words, don’t they? The truth is, they are not as difficult and burdensome as we believe. Let's see why.

 Our country gained independence from the British on 15th August 1947. Until then, they were running our country. When they left, the governance came under our control. Then we Indians had to decide how to run our own country. More than three hundred and fifty people from different regions, from various castes and religions, who spoke numerous languages came together to make this decision. And two and a half years later, after a lot of discussions, arguments, and dialogues, they wrote a book. It is called the Constitution of our country. In this book, they wrote down all the rules for governance. When you buy an electronic device, you also get a manual along with it. It provides detailed information about using that device. It tells you how to take care of the equipment. And also, what to do if it breaks down. Our constitution is like the manual to run our country. It has instructions for the distribution of responsibility to look after it. It also tells you what to do if something goes wrong. So 26th January 1950 was the day we decided to adopt the Constitution. This day is as important as or rather more important than Independence Day. Because the constitution helps protect and preserve the freedom we have earned.

The Indian Constitution was prepared after studying the Constitutions of various countries, different laws and regulations, and the thoughts of many philosophers. It is the largest, most detailed Constitution in the world. But the interesting part is, it's not just a gallimaufry of things. It was written keeping in mind what applied to our country, our people, and the culture. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and many such experts played a vital role in shaping our Constitution.

I really like the very first words of our constitution. "We, the people of India ...". It means this set of rules, the manual to run the country, is not gifted by anyone; it hasn't been borrowed from anywhere. But we, the people of India have prepared and accepted it. This part of the constitution is called Preamble. It explains what this book is all about. ‘We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a ‘sovereign’- means truly independent; ‘socialist’- means inclusive of people from all walks of society; ‘secular’- means non-discriminatory on the basis of religion and sect; 'democratic republic' - a government of the people elected democratically. It further states that in this country there will be justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity. This Preamble is as useful as a compass that indicates the direction. We need to keep a check on everything that occurs in our country, everything the government does, and see whether it's going in the direction showed by the Preamble. It is our duty as a faithful patriotic Indian citizen.

We can amend the constitution as per the need, time, and situation. More than a hundred such changes have been made till today. Though its basic structure cannot be changed. Nobody can make any amendments that may compromise the rights given to the Indian citizens or harm the basic framework of the Constitution. And this is its greatest strength. Just like the Preamble states the direction in which our country should lead, the third part of the Constitution states exactly which rights the citizens enjoy. They are called fundamental rights. But the constitution does not stop here. It also tells us what we, the citizens, should do. They are called fundamental duties. Every Indian is expected to fulfil these duties to take the country in the direction we have set for ourselves.

The benefit of understanding the constitution is, if we want to enhance our lives, it tells us exactly what to do. From our history of about two hundred thousand years, we can see that we invented several things. Fire, the wheel, steam engine... millions of such tools! And the purpose of it all was to make our life comfortable and happy. But only inventions were not enough. For our life to be safe, peaceful, and happy, we needed to make rules for co-existence. The Constitution and the laws based on it are meant to enrich our lives. The Constitution is as important for a peaceful life together as a compass is for directing a ship at sea. If we want our everyday life to prosper, be peaceful, and happy, then we must try to understand the Indian Constitution, right?!

-      -Translated by Srujana Pradnya

(Original Marathi article is published in Kishor magazine of January 2021.)

The Chaos in Municipal Elections

In the winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly held in Nagpur in December 2019, the new Mahavikas Aghadi government amended the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act[1]. According to this amendment, the system of two to four corporators contesting from a single ward of the Municipal Corporation has been changed to one corporator per ward. But for the past few days, there have been talks in the political circles about going back to the system of two members per ward again. This article discusses the said matter and why the general public needs to pay attention to it.

The Indian electoral system is called ‘First Past the Post’. It means, out of all the contestants, the candidate who gets the highest number of votes, wins the election. A geographical area is agreed upon to decide who may vote for that candidate. The geographical area which is chosen for the MPs sitting in the Parliament and the MLAs sitting in the Legislative Assembly is called ‘constituency’. Locally, it is named ‘the ward’. The idea behind it is that one person from each geographical area should be elected through the voting process. But this system is currently facing a lot of political arbitrary interference. Let’s look at Pune Municipal Corporation as an example.

Till 2002, one person per ward used to be elected from Pune Municipal Corporation. But things suddenly changed since that election. In 2002, the Pune Municipal Corporation adapted the system of electing more than one person from a single ward. Three corporators seats were introduced instead of a single one. Voters needed to cast three different votes for those three seats. In 2007, the system changed again to one corporator per ward. Again the voters voted for a single candidate contesting from their area. Five years later, in 2012 during the next elections, the system was changed again. This time two candidates per ward were introduced and voters cast two votes to elect their representatives. Followed more changes during the elections in 2017! This time it was four corporators per ward. More changes are planned for 2022. No two elections between 2002 and 2017 have been similar. Every single time, the state government has changed the laws about elections. Though this is only Pune’s example, every other municipal corporation except for Mumbai has been through similar changes.

Naturally, one may ask, what’s wrong with these changes? What’s wrong with having more than one corporator per ward? Now let’s see what really is wrong with it. The law specifies how many corporators should be there in a municipal corporation and also if their number should increase in proportion to the population of the region. If the ward has more than one corporator, the size of the ward itself also increases. Municipal corporations are called ‘Local Self-government Institutions’. In this definition, the word ‘local’ is important. It is a governing body that takes care of the local issues at the root level. Clearly, it is always better to have the people’s elected representative (corporator) from the same area. But when the ward size increases immensely, the representative comes from a distant area instead of the nearby one. My corporator is no longer someone who lives in the same locality as I do, who knows the local issues, and not someone whom I know either.

Another important point is, if there is more than one corporator in the same ward, the responsibility cannot be determined. As they say, ‘everybody’s responsibility is nobody’s responsibility’. It is exactly the case in the wards with multiple corporators. Since it’s unclear who is the true representative of the people, the credit for the completed work is claimed by everyone. On the other hand, they all blame each other for uncompleted tasks. But the citizens cannot hold any of the corporators accountable for it. Answerability and responsible government- the very backbone of democracy- are harmed. Over the years, it has been consistently observed that even though all the corporators in a ward are from the same political party; the differences, competition, and discord among themselves also affect the development work. Let’s not even think about the situation if they are the representatives of different or opposition parties.

There’s another point related to the uncertainty of responsibility and area of work that needs to be mentioned. Which is of ‘Area Sabha’. The 73rd Amendment in the decade of the 90s gave the people in rural areas the right to hold a ‘Gram Sabha’(village council) to take direct decisions about local matters. Urban citizens still have no such right. But the law that goes closest to it is the one to hold Area Sabha. The law stipulates that these meetings need to encourage the direct involvement of the citizens in the local decision-making process. It is mentioned that the chairperson of this meeting should be the corporator of that particular ward. But since there are four corporators in a single ward in Pune, officials and political leaders privately confess facing the intricacies about who should be the chairperson. This bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly in 2009 but it still hasn’t been implemented till date.

The fourth and most important point is - it is difficult for a common man, an independent worker, to contest the election from an enormous ward. In a democracy, it is insisted that at the local level, candidates working at the root level should be elected and political parties should come into the picture later. It is secondary whether that candidate is the representative of a political party or is an independent one. This is the reason why there is no party representation in Gram Panchayat elections. Should this be the case at the city level too, is another issue altogether. One needs to be regardful that the electoral mechanism shouldn’t be unjust towards the independent candidates. When the ward size and the number of voters are increased because of the multiple members' ward system, it becomes almost impossible for a common independent candidate to reach out and campaign in such a heavily populated area. On the other hand, it is comparatively a lot easier to contest the elections for a candidate who has money, party workers, and other means of campaigning. Besides, because of the constant changes made during every election, a common man who wants to stay put at one place and work sincerely, is easily side-lined. Elections are made difficult for such a candidate. This is a threat to democracy.

One of the excuses given in favour of multiple members ward system is – the reservation for women and backward classes. Had this been the real reason, this same rule should have been applied to all the municipal corporations together. In reality, apparently, there is only one corporator per ward in Mumbai Municipal Corporation; but in Pune, this ratio is four to one, whereas at other places it's two to one and even three to one. So obviously this reason is given just for the sake of it. Another excuse is, if there is only one corporator, he starts considering himself the king of the ward. But this can also be the case with MPs and MLAs. So should four or five constituencies be combined in order to hold elections? On the contrary, instead of having a cure worse than the ailment, if measures like ‘Area Sabha’ are implemented effectively, it will help change the feudal mentality of our representatives.

The truth is, there is no rational, deliberate thought, research put behind these changes. The method that is convenient for the political parties in power in the state at that particular time is implemented. It is a shameless political calculation that the electoral system that will allow as many corporators to be elected as possible, will be brought into action. So it varies according to the local political situation in each city. It is crystal clear that all our party leaders have a selfish interest in only taking the decisions that help them elect as many candidates as possible in the Municipal Corporation. It is the need of the democracy that the state government stops this arbitrary and selfish practice and keeps the people-oriented, accountable system of one member per ward permanently in all the Municipal Corporations. As citizens, we need to be aware and insistent on this.

-Translated by Srujana Pradnya.

(Original Marathi article is published in ‘Sakaal’ on November 20^th, 2020.)

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[1] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/maharashtra-passes-bill-to-scrap-four-corporators-

per-ward/article30369956.ece

Curtain Call

“Hello, I am speaking from Pune, Maharashtra. May I take two minutes of your time?” was how the calls began. The person on the other end, a voter from Delhi, would suddenly pay attention to this person from Pune who personally called them. The voice from Maharashtra would humbly request them to cast their vote to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – a request that would take many Delhi voters by surprise. They found it delightful that someone from another state is so concerned about the betterment of their state. While some of them promptly replied with a, “yes, my family and I are voting for AAP,” while there were others who engaged in discussions over the issue. They would ask about the various allegations against the AAP and from the other end, the person from Maharashtra would address these concerns. Majority of the recipients of these calls gave a positive feedback at the end. Those who were staunchly against the party also mellowed down to a point where they would say, “We will think about the AAP. Thanks to you, we did learn a few nee things about them.” After the call, a pre-recorded message would ask the caller which party the voter was more inclined to vote for. These answers were then recorded and used to get an estimate of the inclination of the people of Delhi. This is the Calling Campaign that played a major role in AAP’s success in the capital.

While AAP’s volunteers from Delhi and rest of India were in Delhi’s streets and mohallas, volunteers from other cities as well as Indians from foreign nations aided them through the calling campaign. When the campaign started, around 2000 calls were made during a day. However, this number exponentially rose to around 75,000 calls per day towards the end of the campaign. The people of Delhi received thousands of calls daily from AAP’s volunteers in Maharashtra – and throughout the campaign, the calls that were made from Maharashtra outnumbered all other states. A lot of effort went into ensuring volunteers’ active participation in the campaign and the volunteers themselves were so enthusiastic that some of them spent their weekends and off-days repeatedly calling voters in Delhi and urging them to vote for the AAP.

One can estimate the success of this campaign by simply taking a look at the numbers. Total number of calls was more than 1,022,000. That means as few as 1 million homes were spoken to. 21% of those calls were made from Maharashtra alone. In the last two weeks of the campaign, 95% of the people said their vote would be for AAP. And now, if you take a look at the results, you will see how flawless the polls done by the calling campaign were.

All this may sound glorious, but it is a Herculean task to pull it off. Setting up this infrastructure that is capable of withstanding the quantity of calls and to achieve the goals that were set when the activity was undertaken was an elaborate process. Let’s take a closer look at it.

There were three fundamental techniques used, one of which was set up on the smartphones by Arvind Kejriwal’s aide from the IIT – Prasonjit Patti. The second tech, developed for the internet was provided by Mohanraj Thirumalai. But incase these two ways fell short, the volunteers bought a toll free server just in case. There was a team looking after social media marketing, recognition, reporting which was supervised by Shashank Malhotra (Delhi), Kartikeya Maheshwari  (Philadelphia, USA) and Gopal Krishna (Patna). Shrikanth Kocharlakota was the US based volunteer who had the responsibility of promoting the calling campaign on social media. A team to train the callers for the campaign was led by Amitabh Gupta (Rourkee) and Alka Harke (Delhi). Apart from this, a team led by Akash Jain was responsible for supervising that the calls are successful. There was a helpline set up for the volunteers participating in the campaign which was under the supervision of Alka Harke which was operated by volunteers in cities like New Bombay, Baroda, Aligarh, Anand, Punjab and Haryana. Communication between departments was given a lot of importance and throughout the campaign; Mahesh Kedari from Chinchwad was overseeing the department that ensured smooth communication between members and volunteers. The calling campaign took place in 25 states; therefore a Coordinator was placed in each state. In Maharashtra it was Amit Khandelwal who handled that responsibility initially and carried forward by Ajinkya Shinde. A Coordinator to look after all the states’ Coordinator also existed – Vikas Shukla (Bengaluru) and Ashish Jain (Chandigarh). And then there was Gopal Sharma in Pune who was looking after all these teams. In Delhi, Bhaskar Singh formed a link between Gopal Sharma and the Party’s high command. All these members are in the age group of 25-35. Most of them volunteered for this campaign while juggling their full time jobs in the IT sector. Being from different cities, a majority of them haven’t even met one another yet; but they were all united by the one conference call and a dream to win Delhi that they all shared.

The biggest fear we had was what if the opposition parties use the infrastructure set up by us to promote themselves. The reason for this fear was the bad experience of the elections in 2013, where 33% of the calls were made to promote BJP or to create a negative perception about AAP using the AAP campaign infrastructure. That mistake would not be repeated this time around. There was a team in charge of the security of this infrastructure and every call made was recorded. If it was noticed that a volunteer is being counterproductive, he/she would be blocked immediately. Initially, many of the calls made were made to existing members of the party. Using all these elements, it was easy to supervise whether anyone is badmouthing the party or bringing it to disrepute or simply promoting an opposing party. Most of these bad apples were caught before we reached out to any voters. Hence, during this election, the negative campaigning was brought down to as little as 0.00001%

The expense incurred in carrying out this campaign was hardly over 1 million rupees. And a major part of that was simply in setting up the hardware for the infrastructure required for its functioning. The campaign on social media was totally free. This calling campaign ran by the AAP will go down in history as a revolutionary way to propagate a political party for an election using the modern media. The discipline and belief with which every single member trusted the party and propagated its ideology and vision for Delhi, it seems only logical that the AAP won in such an unprecedented manner.

The highlight of this initiative was the fact that these weren’t paid tele-callers. These were common people with an extraordinary drive to change the status quo. No one shrugged the work saying “the elections are in Delhi, why should we help?” These were the people who are so infuriated by the political scene of the nation that they were keen to start the process of change, albeit in Delhi, while they wait for their turn in their state and the next lok sabha elections. And most importantly, they did so without any personal vested interests.

Jagdish Bellary from Gulbarga was one of these people. Confined to a wheel chair, he was upset he won’t be able to go to Delhi and work in the field, but he participated in the calling campaign and made phone calls for 8 hours at a stretch. He also managed the calling campaign in Karnataka. Rakesh Dwivedi from New Bombay shares Jagdish’s enthusiasm. He would start talking to three Delhiites on three separate mobile phones and turn it into a group discussion and would convince all of them to vote for AAP. He also pulled an unimaginable feat of making 826 calls in a day. To get a perspective, people have lost their seat for lesser votes. Sanjiv Jindal from Nanded made a whopping 1011 calls to Delhi during the campaign. There is no doubt that this historic win was only made possible by the dedicated and perseverant task force of volunteers that worked behind the curtain.

This is a very positive and important phenomenon that people from all across the country are willing to participate in the process of honest governance in such large numbers with no regard to caste, religion, region - in the true spirit of this nation. People from various corners of this country reached out to more than a million homes in Delhi and urged them to vote for change and a better tomorrow and the people of Delhi responded by voting for AAP candidates in 67 out of the 70 constituencies.

When a play ends and the curtain closes, the performers re-appear on the stage for one last hurrah and accept applause. AAP’s calling campaign put an end to the archaic way of politics and governance in Delhi and announced a change in the way politics will be in the future. To these performers of the calling campaign, my humble applause.

-Translated by Omkar Rege
(Original Marathi article was published in Maharashtra Times of 15th February 2015)

O ri duniya…

“Kalaa to hamesha aazad hai.”

Raja Ravi Verma firmly states in a scene, while having a word with some of the Congress leaders. He simply means whether or not this country gains independence, nothing can confine his art. Soon after his nonchalant statement, his artistic brilliance is targeted and ensnared. Religious fundamentalists join together and bring Raja Ravi Verma before the court by filing legal complaints against him on the grounds of- offending religious sentiments and manifesting vulgarity and promiscuity. He is assaulted on numerous occasions and is also beaten up. They pelt him with stones and also set his printing press ablaze. In spite of all this, the court stands unyielded in the favour of the independence- the artistic independence!

This tale, set at the end of the 19th century in Aamchi Mumbai, unfolds itself in Ketan Mehta’s much awaited release of the film ‘Rangrasiya’. The peculiar irony here that citing the reasons of the ‘profane nude scenes which will hurt the religious sentiments’, the Censor Board held back its release for nearly 6 years. At last, the film was able to make its way to the cinema halls in November. While watching the film, I couldn’t help but get reminded of M. F. Hussain repeatedly. Hurting religious sentiments, exhibiting vulgarity were the one and the same reasons that M. F. Hussain was accused of, though M. F. Hussain was marked by misfortune. Unlike Raja Ravi Verma, the point in the history that he was born in, was not conducive to serve him proper justice. To add to the misery, M. F. Hussain was Muslim by religion. Hussain’s effigies were burnt in protest, rallies were organized. Vanity and peremptory religion was highly glorified and at the end of the day, the art was handcuffed and sent behind the bars. The more unfortunate occurrence was Hussain’s disinclination to fight for his art. He fled the country. No different were the people, who too were unwilling to fight for him, moreover to congeal and fight for the freedom of expression. No one went against those people, who dared to strangle the free art. The reason for it, is the non-existent liberalness and acceptance. It also lacks wisdom that diversity is an opportunity to grow and widen your perspective. If so and so person makes a painting, or makes a film, or writes a book and I find some of it objectionable, I go completely neurotic, gather around the people with the same thought and conviction and create mayhem by vandalizing, committing arsons, sending threats, just to ensure a legal ban on that particular painting-film-book? What sort of mentality is this? Despotism? Subjugation?

Many people aren’t aware of what exactly forbearance is. It is understood that there is tolerance in forbearance but the concept doesn’t cease at that point. ‘Don’t get fooled while I bear it, you will pay the price when the time comes’ is not part of it. Acceptance is the first step towards forbearance. In it, two types of acceptances are expected- first is other people can have a different set of beliefs, which by the way they do have and second is they have the right to express that opinion through many or any of the media i.e. speech, graphic art, motion picture, writing, theatre, performing arts etc. No development can be achieved towards being forbearing unless these two are accepted. The moment they are, the contribution of the ‘bearing’ falls in its own place. There are no hard feelings.

We’re at a juncture of establishing a civilized culture followed by colonization and living in wild. Till the end of the 20th century, civilized culture was celebrated and prospered. From now onwards, man should start to evolve towards being a global human. Some would deduce being a global human is to embrace globalization. Many interpret this as westernization/ westernization of the entire world. I do not suggest that. Some would also argue that becoming homogeneous is being global. I don’t mean to address that either. Homogeneity, westernization or westernization is fatal for the extreme, yet stunning diversity this world has. According to me, being the global human, being broad minded can be paired to forbearance. I see global lifestyle as different ethnicities and societies living together harmoniously by preserving the mélange, having respect for each other, drawing inspirations and learning from one another. For making this happen, forbearance among one another cannot be superseded. As said by the French philosopher Voltaire, ‘I do not agree with what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’  This one quote is the paradigm for the creation of a wise democratic society in the modern world.

There are 3 reasons behind articulating this here. First is - the disturbance caused after the recent release of Vishal Bhardwaj’s magnificent feature ‘Haider’. Second reason is - aforementioned film ‘Rangrasiya’. and the third reason is - today (16th November) is International Day of Tolerance. United Nations have announced this day to be celebrated as the International Day of Tolerance. Prejudice is rising to power day after day, dwindling in wisdom. Some die while protesting against such insular groups, while some simply join them. Some dense ignorants are elected as their leaders, minting and shepherding the flocks. Looking at all this, the mind harks back to the verses dating back to 57 years by Sahir Ludhianvi, in the film ‘Pyaasa’-

Yeh mehlon, yeh takhton, yeh taajon ki duniya

Yeh insaan ke dushman samaajon ki duniya

Yeh daulat key bhookhey rawajon ki duniya

Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai

Jala do isey, phoonk daalo yeh duniya

Mere saamne se hata lo yeh duniya

Tumhari hai tum hi sambhalo yeh duniya

Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai

[This world of places, thrones and crowns,

This world of societies that resint humanity,

This world of those hungry for (material) wealth,

What is this world, even if I get it?

Burn it, smoke away this world!

move this world away from me!

It is yours, you nurture this world!]

The lines naturally take the train of thought to the verses by Piyush Mishra in ‘Gulaal’. But Piyush Mishra doesn’t retort to burn the world down like Sahir Ludhianvi.. On the contrary, suggests that this world is volatile, often in flames by petty reasons and needs to be taken care of well in advance, which is positive.

Jaisi bachi hai, waisi ki waisi, bacha lo ye duniya

Apna samajh ke apno ki jaisi utha lo ye duniya

Chhitput si baaton mein jalne lagegi, sambhalo yeh duniya

Kat-pit ke raaton mein palne lagegi, sambhalo yeh duniya…

[Save this world, whatever is remaining in here, as it is,

Think of it as your own, and pick it up (in your arms, to protect it),

(else) it'll start burning in small-unimportant things, save this world,

it'll be cut-bruised-beaten and will be living in nights (dark times), save this world]

-Translated by Madhuwanti Vaidya
(Original Marathi article was published in Maharashtra Times of 16th November 2014)

Political Waves

After his first appearance on Dusshera, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared once again on radio sharing his ‘Mann ki Baat’ (Heartfelt sentiment) addressing to the entire nation. Truly simple gesture. The term of the predecessor Mr. Manmohan Singh, made us forget that a Prime Minister can have a conversation. What stands out in Mr. Modi’s term, is the media communication, may it be social media, internet presence or our topic of discussion, the radio. During the General elections and Assembly elections, countless loops of political party campaigns with all sorts of jargon were broken loose on different channels, as no party would dare to undermine the medium’s strength. Prime Minister’s address to nation was a significant event that took years to see light and every individual had the power to listen to his words directly. Why did the PM choose to appear on All India Radio while all the political parties have already reached every household with ease? Clearly, the goal was to reach masses, from those who can’t afford a tv to those who can but are on the move, wrapping up with a very pleasant promise to frequent on this sonic medium that is available at hand.

Running for elections, campaigning has become a costly affair off late. Especially when a person’s attention span has reached its all-time low, reaching to maximum voters isn’t easy. The political parties have noticed people’s lack of enthusiasm in politics, so to grab more voter’s attention, they’ve made the election campaigns an wild event by extensive advertisement, public speeches, flyers etc. Naturally, the political parties with lesser capital for campaigning become the runt of the litter.  We’re not focussing on its unfair nature or the election commission’s shortcomings. After being elected as CM, Prithviraj Chauhan could print full page newspaper ads, before the code of conduct could enforce, for PM Narendra Modi government-owned All India Radio was available free of cost. Why can’t the low-cost radio be for the rest of the parties? Television ads and newspaper ads cost a fortune and setting up your own isn’t economical too. The private radio channels operate mainly in urban areas with only object of entertainment. Just like television channels are at TRP’s wit’s end, radio channels too are concerned about their RAM (Radio Audience Measurement). Ministry of Information and Broadcasting charges huge fees for setting up a radio channels. Even that isn’t an affordable medium. For a political leader with humble resources for campaigning there only too few options available. Some would be tempted to blame it on news media but it would be improper. Considering the equation between heaps of money and how it affects election campaigns, the huge money is essential for the survival of the news media. Also, it will be implausible that if money will bring the voters’ appreciation or if that is apparently the truth, democracy is in big trouble. Free and fair elections are fundamental needs of democracy.Our constitution also recognises ‘equal opportunity’. Why not apply it and give chance to David against the Goliath?

In my point of view, the solution is a community radio that runs for a specific region. This pivotal medium has helped the social organisations to bring about radical changes that discusses on social values, agriculture, educational programmes etc. After the year 2008, launching a community radio is not a Herculean task anymore, as it was in 2003 when it took off. As per the online statistics provided by the Ministry of Information and Broadcast, there are 171 community radios still running in the country and 282 waiting for approval. Out of those 171, only Tamilnadu has 27, Karnataka has 22 and 18 in Maharashtra. Initial capital for a radio ranges from minimum of 3 lakhs to 20 lakhs, as per standard of technology, which is marginal compared to the rest of mass media. This could become a gem for the local parties, even so, according to the recent ministry regulations, community radios run by or for political parties are banned. Democracy evolves with maximised participation in politics, contrary to a silly opinion that democracy should not involve politics. Just like social media for the privileged, the availability of such widespread medium that reaches out to the grass roots of the population, will force all the local parties to openly compete against each other creating equal opportunities . If political parties are to have mouthpieces, why not authorised radio channels? It will not only generate awareness among the citizens who are the ultimate voters but also be an effective tool in the local elections. Owing to our Prime Minister’s suggestion, I have submitted my proposition, along with an e mail, addressed to Information and Broadcasting Minister Mr. Prakash Javdekar. Let us see what happens next!

To reduce the progressive disease of the unaccounted money in dirty local politics, the broadcast of local radio channels can prove to be an overthrow. To fortify our democracy, let the radio waves wander in the political waves!

-Translated by Madhuwanti Vaidya
(Original Marathi article was published in weekly Lokprabha of 14th November 2014)

A step forward- Right to Information Act

In a democratic country the first step towards good governance is voting. But voting is not just good enough. You need to keep a close eye on your elected government. That’s your Step no.2. In order to do that, Right to Information Act is one of the best tools that Indian citizens have got in past 65 years of independence.

The Right to Information Act was implemented in India on October 12, 2005. It is quite possible that our politicians did not completely understand the power of this law; else they wouldn’t have been so forthcoming in giving it a nod. Or maybe, with a holistic understanding of what this law could do, our politicians implemented the law to keep a tab on the bureaucrats that, over the years, had become a thorn in the eyes of the rulers. Whatever the reasons may be, after the implementation of this law, a series of unearthing of several corrupt practices started to roll. The scandals that would remain hidden in the past started becoming accessible to common people at a nominal access fee. The government’s misgivings started getting exposed. This law is based on the simple principle that if this is our government, then we have a right to access its paperwork. Therefore, leaving aside documents of National security and documents that come under the official secrets act, all government documents are available to citizens. The law is definitely one of the most landmark laws made in post-independence India.

‘Misuse’ is a lie

After the law began being used widely, there also began a huge hue and cry about how it is being misused. There couldn’t be a more baseless argument than this one. The information gathered under this law was said to be used to hold government officials ransom. Primarily, how could an official be blackmailed, had he/she not engaged in any wrongdoing in the first place? How is it just to engage in malpractices and corruption and then point fingers at people threatening to expose them? Of course, just like it is wrong for the traffic police to ask for a bribe from an offender, it is wrong if someone is using the information for blackmailing the officials. But at the same time, for the offender to be fined, there is a significant need for the existence of the traffic police. Right to Information Act is also a kind of a traffic police – a vigilante to keep a tab those entering the no-entry lane of corruption. The trouble is that the amount of people entering this lane is so high, that the existing police mechanism isn’t sufficient. Besides, just like traffic officials were beaten up in the city a while back, similar attempts keep happening against the RTI activists. But this will not deter these activists from doing their moral duties because it is the need of the hour. As one can infer, if people start hoarding into a no-entry lane, the traffic comes to a standstill. The same is true of our nation’s progress. To not let this happen, we, at Parivartan, make it a point to train more and more people to join the force.

The second most common accusation against the RTI activists is that they ask for irrelevant information. This charge is equally baseless. Who is to decide whether a certain document has been demanded unnecessarily or whether it is really important? Will the officials themselves decide whether a particular piece of information is important or not? In addition to that, another issue that comes forward is that it is practically impossible for a common man to ask for specific information from a government office. In such cases, it becomes more convenient to simply get a hold of all of the information and then personally sit down and weed out the unnecessary documents. For instance, if I sense some corruption in the functioning of a government project, I may not know at what step in the system the corruption is taking place (let’s be real, how could I?). So, under the RTI, I ask for a copy of all the files related to that project. I also pay the charges of Rs 2 per page to obtain the said copies. Some of the files I obtain may end up not being useful at all, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t ask for them at all.

Everyone has heard the anecdote about Thomas Alva Edison inventing the light bulb after failing in hundreds of previous attempts. Researching through the RTI is a similar enquiry. People who expect RTI activists to specifically ask for the information that is of concern are the same people who ask why Edison didn’t try the 100^th way first.

Yet another objection from the officials is that the number of RTI applications is so high that it bites into their work. This may not be a complete hogwash, but this claim is only partially acceptable. Because the RTI law itself states that every government office must appoint an RTI officer to entertain applications from the people. But in most cases, one of the existing members of the office is made into a part time RTI officer. How will that person cater to both his responsibilities? Obviously then, the RTI starts to feel like an infringement into his/her work. The lack of man power shows the inefficiency of the government and also proves that the law is flawless.

Some people also believe that a certain group of people use this law for personal benefits than for social welfare. This is why; the RTI is seen as a whim of a person infected by the bug of activism. However, what needs to be made clear right now is that the personal use of the RTI is a right of every citizen of this country and in fact, such use must be encouraged. What if a senior citizen’s pension payment is being held back by an official? What if the official is then asking for a bribe? Then, under the RTI, he could ask all the questions like – 1. Under which law has the pension been held back? 2. What is the procedure? 3. And if a complaint has to be filed against the officer illegally holding back the pension, where should it be filed? 4. After the complaint is lodged, what are the specifications with respect to time and which laws are applicable for the same? Now, if the senior citizen uses the RTI for this personal benefit, what is wrong in that?

That apart, the law doesn’t ask you to state reasons behind demanding any document. Therefore, whether it is a personal query or for social welfare, is not a matter of concern. Not every oppressed person in this huge country of ours has backing from an organisation and neither is it necessary that every person has to have this backing. Every single independent citizen of India can individually use the RTI to put an end to the oppression by the government agencies.

To summarise, the claims that the RTI is being misused is entirely false and misdirected. The anti-RTI propaganda is itself proof enough of how effective the law really is.

Politicians smothering the law

Maharashtra’s state government has tried to put conditions like imposing a word limit on the RTI application and to restrict applicants to only one query per application. Not a single political party from the state has raised their voice against this irrationality. But an interesting turn of events with respect to the stand on the RTI took place recently.

A few months ago, the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) appointed by this law, passed a decision that brought political parties under the purview of the RTI. That caused chaos in most political parties. Because, all the accounts of the party’s funds, expenditures, would now be open. Everyone would know whether the internal politics of a party follows democratic procedure. Party leadership must be under pressure that people might see the corrupt practices and use of brute force in the operations of the party. Therefore, an amendment that renders the CIC’s decision moot was tabled in the parliament. The peoples’ representatives themselves came forth to strangle and smother the law that empowers the people.

When the Congress party presented this amendment, the aspiring BJP also joined hands initially¹. And now that the BJP changed its stand and opposed this amendment², the proposal was forwarded to the standing committee for further discussion. When this proposal is actually put to vote in the parliament, every party’s point of view will obviously come forth clearly, but there is no need to wait that long. Because according to the CIC decision passed on June 3, 2013, it was expected from all political parties to nominate their Public Information Officer and voluntarily disclose all information (according to section 4 of the law) within six weeks³, i.e. July 15. Of the six national parties, if one checks how many have actually implemented this order, the answer, sadly, is none (check their official websites if you like). Should one assume that the parties are unwilling to come under the purview of the RTI?

Our parliament follows representative democracy. Our PM is not elected directly by the people, but is selected from among the elected representatives. Therefore, no matter which good soul is selected as the head of the nation, the parliament functions majorly due to the other 543 MPs. Laws are passed based on the opinion of the majority party or the majority coalition of 272 members or more. If the BJP, Congress, NCP, BSP, SP, CPI and other major parties in this country are going to refuse to bring transparency in their operations, then it is a matter of grave concern, according to us. And if the parties don’t want to be transparent in their internal functioning, one might wonder how transparent they will be in running the country. And it is fairly conclusive that where there is a lack of transparency, corruption and other malpractices will bloom. Therefore, we urge the political parties to voluntarily show us the willingness to be open about their operations and show that they are working honestly, for the people, through their actions.

Information is Power

The RTI is a very strong tool. However, the fact remains that Government’s mechanism to successfully implement this act has fallen way short, especially with regards to section 4. This section lists the subjects whose information has to be voluntarily made available by any government office. This list consists of 17 categories – all the employees, their designations and duties, their salaries, details of the work undertaken by the office, the law under which this office operates, the agenda set to accomplish the office’s objectives, minutes of the meetings, financial estimates, account details and other such important details. The section also says that this information should be available on the website of these departments for a normal citizen’s ease of access. It is also expected to update this information on an annual basis. If this section is well and truly implemented across all the departments of the government, total transparency will no longer be a utopian dream. But this doesn’t seem to be the consensus in government offices.

Why should the people have to file applications under the RTI? If the government willingly publishes all this information then it will easily empower the people and make way for a cleaner system. Most of the government’s administrative problems begin with a certain lack of transparency. All the laws are not easily available for access to us. What laws govern the functioning of the PMC? Who governs the process of working at such agencies? On the basis of which law was Pune’s Development plan chalked? – These are some of the things a common man can never get his hands on. It is not feasible to go to the market and buy a book every time. The laws keep changing and it doesn’t make sense to buy the same book over and over again, every time there is an amendment. Technological advances have made it possible to store and distribute large amount of information very easily. Why isn’t this information, be it laws, documents or other details, digitised and published on websites where it could be easily tracked by any ordinary citizen. But these websites too are severely sub-standard. The official website of the Indian Parliament, however, is really commendable. It consists of all the new proposals, bills, information about the MPs, the questions they raised in the house and the Government’s response to those questions as well as the attendance of a particular MP is readily available. Why can’t this amount of transparency exist in the Maharashtra State Assembly’s website? Or in the PMC website, for that matter? Pune is known as the IT hub but the PMC’s latest update is not directly available through their site. The decisions taken by various committees of the PMC are unavailable. And no one seems to want to look into this matter seriously.

Recently, while speaking to a PMC officer, he revealed, “Even if we make the laws accessible, what do people understand from them?” My response is that as long as you don’t provide people with material to read, analyse and understand, how will they begin to comprehend what goes on in the system? Was the RTI used only people well versed in the field of law? On the contrary, most RTI activists are common people and have mastered the craft from self-experience and by reading the law. Open the doors of information to the people and see how enthusiastic they are about it. But everything is chaos right now. No one can figure out what goes on inside the offices of the government. When this happens, the people start to drift away from their government. This disinterest and cynicism has developed among the people due to this deceitful operation that the officials engage in. People need to be taken into confidence; it must be made sure that the information reaches to the very last person and they must be made a part of the decision making process. And if our political parties are going to lag behind in doing this, we will have to be bold enough to question them and those rejecting the offer of transparency even after questioning should be shown the door when the opportunity comes.

In today’s scenario, the politicians and government officials know more about the laws than the citizens in general. Therefore they appear to be superior. But when the people have the same amount of information available to them, it is then that we will have set foot on the right course towards an ideal democracy.

-Translated by Omkar Rege.

(Original Marathi article is published in weekly Vivek of 14th October 2013)

[1] http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-04/news/41765590_1_rti-act-political-parties-arun-jaitley

[2] http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-06/india/41832735_1_political-parties-bjp-leaders-public-authorities

[3] http://www.rti.india.gov.in/cic_decisions/CIC_SM_C_2011_000838_M_111223.pdf