Why did I decide to blog ?

I had to get rid of inertia, hesitation and lack of familiarity with social media before blogging. But, as they say, it is better late than never.

The youth of the present generation are bright and aware of the world a lot more than I was at their age. Equally, we have failed to communicate with them and answer their questions satisfactorily. They acquire information from the social media as much as from Text Books. They find politics, not so noble a word and politicians as corrupt and manipulative. When we were in schools and colleges, the country was fortunate to have some great and inspiring political leaders, who had fought for India’s freedom from British rule. Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had spent more than 10 years in Jail. That these leaders had sacrificed for the greater good of the Indian people and were patriots could hardly be doubted. As young men and women we were inspired by the spirit of public service and sacrifice that these leaders represented and truly believed that the problems of poverty, hunger and unemployment can be solved.

My generation of politicians had not fought against British rule. We had not gone to prisons. We had made no visible sacrifices. So, we were perceived as beneficiaries of power and office rather than servants of the people.

The economy had not delivered as promised and there were glaring cases of abuse of power. So, what was required was major economic and governance reform. But, no alternative economic or governance policy was articulated. Instead, political parties went to people blaming those in power with single-minded devotion. Besides, political parties resorted to identity politics around caste, religion and region, which they offered as a solution to economic and governance problems. Once this approach to politics was taken people had to choose from various groups of politicians. But, the problems continued whilst divisive politics produced social fragmentation and group violence. Basically we drifted away from policy and programs to vilifying opponents and personality-oriented politics. I watched the Presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mit Romney on 4 October. Here was two political leaders arguing on two possible ways of dealing with problems faced by the American people and the voters are asked to make a choice. But, what if the debate had been reduced to each candidate abusing the other? People will still make a choice, but hardly would the choice be rational or well informed since it will be made on the basis of negative campaign and abuses. Let the Indian political leaders and parties spell out their policies and programs clearly. Let these policies be debated and let people make an informed choice. The Indian youth and the larger public should reject ‘personality-oriented’ politics and politicians and question the leaders, big or small, on specific policies each is advocating. Let the politicians be asked to answer:

How do they propose to create jobs?

How do they prevent abuse of power and rampant corruption?

What is their proposal for improving fiscal management like a balanced budget, proposals for revenue collection, keeping deficit under control, attracting investment etc.?

Let there be a debate on performance.

If a politician, big or small, is unable or unwilling to answer such questions he or she should be rejected. The focus should be on performance, performance and performance.

I will present my views on different aspects of Governance and issues as they affect Odisha on this blog and hope to be educated by your views, criticisms and suggestions and hope that blogging will be a rewarding experience.  The social media not merely narrows down distance, it also brings in equality. Everyone and anyone can blog, can accept or reject views. These are ways of a modern democracy.