Three things ECI can do to Encourage Youth Voter Registration

One of the things that keeps me busy these days is advocating better urban electoral processes with Election Commission of India (ECI).

In August 2009, Janaagraha came out with a report titled “Reforming Electoral Processes in Urban India”. I played a role in putting together the contents of this report. A few weeks back, I was at Nirvachan Sadan (ECI headquarters) to present this report to a few officials there.

Luckily, I got the opportunity to meet the current Chief Election Commissioner, Mr Navin Chawla. He congratulated me for Janaagraha’s work with Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign, and asked me a simple question:

Tell me 3 things ECI should do to encourage voter registration amongst the youth?

I am yet to get back with a response, but here are my thoughts:

• Talk directly to various Universities and make Voter Registration compulsory for college students when they turn 18
• Reach out directly to the youth – launch a national media campaign targeted at the youth, let the CEC / DECs / state CEOs directly go to college campuses to encourage the youth, start blogging on the ECI website
• Demystify and simplify the process of voter registration – a majority of the youth already have the motivation, it’s the process that lets them down

Please let me know what you think of the above suggestions, and your own ideas.

Electing a Citizen's Consensus Candidate in Mumbai

A couple of weeks back (13^th Sept), I was part of a very interesting and possibly historic event.

The event was held at Mumbai by Jagrut Nagrik Manch (JNM), a Mumbai based activist NGO, to elect a Citizen’s Consensus Candidate for Andheri (W) constituency for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

The decision to elect a Citizen’s Consensus Candidate (CCC) was an outcome of the frustration experienced by JNM and its partner civil society groups that were active in Andheri / Juhu area, due to the apathy of successive governments and elected representatives. To use their words, they felt “the time for requests is over, we need direct action”.

This isn’t a completely new idea though. JNM and other civic groups (including Lok Satta Aandolan and Janaagraha) had participated in a similar campaign called Vote Juhu campaign during the 2007 municipal elections in Mumbai. Local activists from Juhu ward chose to support one of the popular citizen leaders - Adolf D’Souza, who went ahead to win the election handsomely.

So now JNM set itself to repeat this task though at a much larger scale, that of an Assembly Constituency with over 200,000 voters. This had never been attempted before, and that is why this event could go down in history if successful.

Very briefly, following is what unfolded at the event:

• 4 candidates had decided to stand up for becoming the CCC. The candidates were interviewed by a panel, followed by an election to choose the CCC
• Electoral College included Area Sabha representatives / local activists from 157 polling booths of Andheri (W) constituency. They had all pledged to campaign for the winning CCC
• All candidates were asked to pledge for a “Right to Recall” before the election results were announced, which all of them did
• The winner was Hansel D’Souza, who won by a whopping margin of 117 votes!

The event was well covered by the media – HT, DNA and Times of India.

I participated in this event as a panelist representing Janaagraha. Co-panelists were some truly admirable people – Dr L C Jain, Shabana Azmi, Ajit Ranade (ADR), Adolf D’Souza, Manish Sisodia (Parivartan) etc. Our role was to challenge the candidates with questions.

The best question (I think) came from none other then Dr L C Jain. To the first candidate who came on stage, he asked “The JNM video played at the beginning of this event spoke about us needing to protect our constitution…. My question to you is – have you read the Indian constitution?” The answer came as “Hmmm... only in bits”, which wasn’t received too well by Dr Jain or the audience.

After the winner was announced, Mayank Gandhi (Founder, JNM) made a passionate appeal to all members in the audience (mostly local activists) to take a week’s leave from their work prior to election day for campaign work. The energy in the air and emphatic mood of the crowd and their newly elected candidate Hansel, were infectious.

There were several highlights of this event for me.

First, it was amazing (and surprising to some extent) to see the kind of support Janaagraha has in Mumbai. This is largely due to the role Janaagraha played in bringing about the Nagara Raj bill or Community Participation Law (CPL). I had perceived this to some extent last year too during the outreach activities of Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign. Of all the cities in India, I think Mumbai seems most excited and knowledgeable about CPL!

Second, it was wonderful to see a small democratic process throw up a genuine and capable candidate – Hansel D’Souza. Informed participation at its best!

The greatest takeaway from the evening however was the experience of how passionately JNM and other participating groups were involved in this exercise. It is so rare these days to see hundreds of educated urban citizens – young and old – turn up on a Sunday evening on the promise of bringing about change. Yet, the event hall was full with more than 300 people, all raring to hit the campaign trail the immediate next day.

If this exercise is successful, it would throw up one good MLA in an assembly of 288 MLAs. Partisan politics will always ensure that this MLA would have little say in the affairs of the state. Yet, I feel it is a worthwhile and much needed attempt in state level politics. Besides prodding the existing political setup, it would serve as a role model for what citizen groups, anywhere in India, could achieve when they choose to work together with passion, dedication and towards a common goal.

At the Outset

Welcome to my blog in its new avatar!

I had been brooding over the metamorphosis of this space for long. Since I have gotten down to doing it finally, let me set out the kind of things you will find me writing here. But first, a brief flashback to what I have been upto.

It was over 2 years back, in July 2007 that I decided to follow my heart and give a career in public service a serious try. I took a few months off from my previous job and began as a full-time volunteer at Janaagraha. I soon realized that my passion for public change deserved a long term commitment, and joined Janaagraha as an employee in November 2007.

Before I came across Janaagraha, I had NEVER volunteered for any cause nor did I have any first-hand knowledge of the kind of work happening in India’s non-profit / NGO sector. So I began my journey within Janaagraha with a very modest agenda.

First and foremost, I wanted to test if I was really cut out for a career in pubic service. Yes, there was a degree of self-doubt whether my passion for public service was a brief fantasy or a genuine desire to make a difference.

Second, I wanted to seriously engage in issues of urban governance. Janaagraha is widely regarded as a thought leader on urban issues today in India, and I wanted to get an insider’s view to what the real issues were and the solutions to the same.

Finally, and this is what relates closely with the theme of this blog, I wanted to test my own effectiveness in making a difference. I had a reasonable belief in my capabilities (sheepish grin!), but viewed “making a difference” as something completely out of reach. For one, I had no idea of how one goes about making a difference!

Today, after 2 thrilling years within Janaagraha, I can comfortably answer the first two points above. I have firmly committed myself to a lifelong career in public service, and have gained a good understanding of the fundamental issues plaguing India’s urban governance. I know the learning will continue over the coming years.

On the third point however, I have realized that there are no set answers. There is no recipe for “making a difference” but the ingredients are well known – passion, passion and passion. Everything else I think, follows. The context for each issue is different, and so are the stakeholders and their motivations.

But I have a resounding belief in one thing, that one individual CAN make a huuuuuuuuge difference. I know this sounds cliché but I am speaking out of a deep conviction based on experiences from the last two years, seeing many individuals and organizations doing fabulous work in India and abroad.

I haven’t achieved much personally, but I try to apply myself passionately on all the issues that I work on. I get delighted when a new challenge presents itself, and love to “experiment” various solutions and find which one works. This then enriches my way of thinking in future. Hence the title of this blog – A young Indian’s experiments with public change.

This is what you will find me writing frequently about in this space:

• The inside story of how my team and I go about building “Jaagte Raho! campaign” – an ambitious initiative to redefine how urban India engages on active citizenship
• My experiences at Janaagraha while engaging on various urban issues
• My experiences with working in the grassroots at Bangalore, trying to organize communities towards greater participation on civic issues
• Any interesting activity or initiative I come across that is aligned to my interests i.e. urban governance and civic engagement of the youth

Happy reading!