Electoral reforms needed in India...

The ongoing general elections in India have exposed the urgent need for electoral reforms. Agreed, that managing this democratic exercise for more than 700 million voters is a mammoth undertaking, but, the situation can be vastly improved if new ideas and policies are implemented. Here are my thoughts on some such reforms.

First, India should start early voting, where individuals can cast their vote at certain pre-determined locations a few days before the actual polling day. Since, these places would be few in number, security arrangements could be better managed and the people would have more options on when they can cast their vote. This would ease the pressure and the hype for the final voting day. This way, both the election officials and the security forces can better optimize their resources.

Second, we should allow absentee voting for everybody, and not just military personnel. This would allow a large number of voters who are currently away from their constituencies to vote. This would also include people outside the country and can also be used by people who are not willing to go to the polling station because of health, time, or safety reasons. The process of collecting and recording absentee ballots can be automated by using scanning technologies available today. Voting using the internet can also be researched in this regard.

Third, the feasibility of using mobile polling stations should be studied, especially for rural areas with low population. This can provide a safer and manageable way to allow people to cast their votes in less populous regions of the country without having to travel long distances in unfriendly weather conditions. Modern technology can allow tracking of such vehicles with GPS systems and a direct connection to satellites for uninterrupted communication.

In addition to these, I envision more radical reforms in the coming years like, a “none of the above” choice on the ballot and a central database of country’s electorate to allow for “anywhere” voting.

If every eligible voter is finger printed and his/her data including a picture is linked to the finger print in a central database, then with modified EVMs (EVMs with a capability to read fingerprints) a voter would be able to vote from anywhere in the country. Although this may be initially expensive, it would make the voting process easier, faster and most importantly transparent. In fact, implementation of other reforms like early, absentee or online voting would be easier once such a system is in place.

Ghajini ... not to be missed

Saw it on Wednesday ... outstanding movie ... superb performances ... and if you think that its a copy of momento ... then you are in for a grand surprise ... I like this one way better.

Will write in detail soon...

Indian Flag at Narita Airport

Great to see the tricolor around the world ...

Barack Obama and India

I was indeed impressed by Barack Obama’s oratory skills when he gave the keynote address during my commencement ceremony a few years ago. He has surely used it to his advantage towards the road to the presidency of the United States. The important question for us is determine the repercussions of his presidency for India.

Before that, however, we need to understand why the US matters to India.

The first and foremost reason is international trade. The importance of international trade for a country’s economy needs no explanation and the US is one of the few countries with which India has a positive trade balance. For the 2006-2007 financial year, India’s overall trade balance was a negative 2687 billion rupees, while the trade balance with the US was a positive 322 billion rupees. The trade balance did reduce quite a bit for the 2007-2008 financial year, but that was mainly due to increase in aircraft purchases by the airlines in India. Also, the US accounts for about 10% of India’s total foreign trade when measured in rupees.

Another important reason is Foreign Direct Investment in India. The US currently has the third highest FDI in India. FDIs provide the much needed foreign exchange that not only provides reserves for unexpected situations, but also keeps the imports unaffected by the change in the value of the rupee.

And, of course, we have the IT and BPO sector in India that does not reflect in either the GDP or FDI statistics. These exports for the financial year 2007-2008 have been $40.4 billion out of which the US has a 61% share. This sector is estimated to provide employment to about 1.5 million people.

One of the most important reasons why a change in the US presidency matters to India is the political situation in the Indian subcontinent and the US interests in Afghanistan. Every year India pays heavily (not just money) because of terrorism and unrest that is instigated by outside forces. The big issue here is not the defense spending (which is around 2% of our GDP – the US is about 4.9% of its GDP for comparison), but the impact terrorism has on the life of the people and the economy. (Remember how terrorism in Kashmir collapsed the booming tourism industry in the late 1980s).

Now, that we understand that the policies of the US government do matter to India, let’s look at some of Barack Obama’s expected policies.

One of the big differences between Barack Obama and John McCain was the fact that Obama propagated a bottoms-up approach to steer the US economy, while McCain supported the top-down approach. India generally benefits from a top-down approach in the US, where businesses are given incentives, which increases foreign trade. In addition, the fact that the general population is not directly provided money (or say tax breaks), they look for cheaper products, which supports imports from China and India and abets outsourcing. The top-down approach directly benefits the businesses and then trickles down to the population while a bottoms-up approach directly benefits the people and then reaches the businesses.

Apart from that, I don’t foresee a big change in US policies towards international trade with India including the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Regarding the war on terror, Obama seems to be geared towards ending the war in Iraq while continuing the hunt for terrorists in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. In such a scenario, the US is more likely to need support of the Pakistani government, which may result in both financial and military incentives to Pakistan. Secondly, the US may try to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir for a resolution so that Pakistan could focus on the western border. India prefers a bilateral improvement in its relationship with Pakistan. A continued US interest in the region may also make the extremists more determined to spread their philosophy making them more active in the region. This may increase activities like serial blasts and formation of new terror groups in India.

Rock On ... ROCKS

Besides Aamir Khan, one name that I feel is gradually becoming synonymous with quality cinema in India is Farhan Akhtar. After two successful directorial ventures, he comes up with a fine performance as an actor (and dialogue writer). He sung the songs too, but that has nothing to do with the story or the quality of the movie. Music is used as a medium to present a captivating storyline that leaves you thinking with a smile…

Even though I am not a follower of hard rock, I ended up at the theater on the first day of this movie’s release because of Farhan Akhtar (and Arjun Rampal). I must admit that I did think that the movie would be about rock music when I entered the auditorium.

Rock On is not about music but about human transformation, change and more importantly about finding the truth about oneself. The protagonists in the movie do not become rock stars, but stars in their own right, who are happy and content. The movie goes beyond understanding oneself, and looks at relationships at various levels, most importantly between two persons as individuals (and not relatives and/or friends). The main theme of the movie is that we cannot live by suppressing our passions… only survive. We all go through transformations in our life and more often than not tuck away our passions while going through the daily grind. This movie shows that passions can be realized at any stage of our life and in whatever situation we are in… and that alone can lead to true happiness.

I liked the performances of all the lead actors as everybody did their part with sincerity. I was reminded of Dil Chahta Hai while watching this movie, for its subtle approach to the story and the execution of the screenplay. The music is like any rock album and in my opinion nothing extraordinary. Some of the lyrics are interesting and written in typical English rock style. For an interesting music review click here.

My dream newspaper ...

This is indeed my dream newspaper - no violence, injuries or deaths ... sports and memories ... victories that make India proud ... at the Olympics and in Cricket.

Whose Loss is it? - Part 2

I had sincerely hoped that there would be no Part 2 to my post Whose Loss is it? But, it seems that I was asking too much and it’s evident that there may be many more parts to this post in the future …

Assocham estimates that India had lost about Rs 1,500 crore in the past couple of weeks because of the agitation in Jammu (and consequently violence in Kashmir) in a protest against the revocation of land allotted to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The sad part is that this figure is increasing by each passing day as the agitation continues.

The situation for the State of Jammu and Kashmir is even worse as Rs. 5,000 crore worth of investment anticipated for next year in J&K may venture into other states because of this continuing agitation and economic blockade. This could lead to a loss of employment opportunities for 25 lakh people over the next 5 years in the State.

It is ironical that even though good rainfall coupled with moderate temperatures this year yielded a bumper fruit crop in Kashmir, they may not be able to reap any benefit as the fruits cannot reach the markets because of the agitation.