Does India need smaller states ???

After the creation of Telangana, many smaller regions have demanded for the statehood.

Gorkhaland, Vidarbha, Bodoland, Bundelkhand, Saurashtra etc. are the frontrunners in the list. Many people are saying that this is ablow on the country’s unity while many are saying that it’s a process of decentralization which must be done. The matter of statehood shouldn’t be seen politically, it’s an administrative, cultural and social matter.

Smaller states are better than bigger states in many perspectives like electoral representation, development, administrative ease etc. Let us consider the following three arguments in favour of smaller states.

First, the argument that ‘small is beautiful’ does find resonance in the developmental experiences of the newly created smaller states. Factual analysis shows the development and efficiency
argument does work in favour of the new states when compared with the parent states. During
the tenth five-year plan period, Chhattisgarh averaged 9.2 percent growth annually compared
with 4.3 percent by Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand averaged 11.1 per cent annually compared with
4.7 percent by Bihar, and Uttarakhand achieved 8.8 per cent growth annually compared with 4.6
percent by Uttar Pradesh. Arguably, getting ‘a territory of their own’ unleashes the
untapped/suppressed growth potentials of the hitherto peripheral regions.

Second, comparatively smaller but compact geographical entities tend to ensure that there is
better democratic governance, as there is greater awareness among the policy makers about the
local needs. Smaller spatial units having linguistic compatibility and cultural homogeneity also
allow for better management, implementation and allocation of public resources in provisioning
basic social and economic infrastructure services. A relatively homogeneous smaller state allows
for easy communicability, enabling marginal social groups to articulate and raise their voices.

Third, smaller states provide gains for the electorates in terms of better representation of their
preferences in the composition of the government. In a patronage-based democracy like in India,
the amount of the transfer of state resources/largesse a constituency/region gets depends crucially
on whether the local representative belongs to the ruling party. Understanding this electoral logic
of patronage distribution, the electorates of a smaller region have a propensity to elect
representatives with preferences more closely aligned to those of the bigger region within the
state. Such a motive, however, would no longer operate once the region constitutes a separate
state.

So, if political parties really want to work for the betterment of society and people, smaller states should be made in India. That can also help in India’s quest of being SUPERPOWER !!!

Political Reforms- To Make Indian Politics Free & Fair

In recent times, the politics in our country has gone to new low. Use of foul language, black money, paid news, horse trading of members etc. has risen now an utter need of political reforms. Only with that now we can expect the politics of our country to be fair.

Regulation of Money flow & voter trading During election period:-
For free & fair elections, it is very important to implement stricter reforms to curtail money flow & voter trading during election period. The money & freebies intended for distribution to voters sized by the police is to be tracked down and an enquiry to be ordered by the district magistrate and a report to be submitted to the SEC. Based on the report the accused are to tried and if found guilty the candidate should to be banned from contesting elections for next 5 years in and if the elected candidate is found guilty, his election should be set aside and he should be banned from contesting elections for next 2 terms.

Media:-
No contesting candidate should directly or indirectly have a stake in any of the Print/Electronic media houses enjoying considerable circulation or readership. No candidate should directly or indirectly favour media houses in terms of monetary favour (Except for Paid Advertisements during elections) or any other kind of favour which can be related to monetary value. Any elected candidate proven holding stake in any media house or favouring through non monetary terms which can be related to monetary value should be disqualified immediately and banned from contesting elections for next 2 terms. Media is a responsible medium through which true information is passed on to
the citizens. Parties and candidates are influencing Media houses either by completely holding media houses or having stakes in them or by favouring media houses by offering various sops to certain media houses when in government there by influencing the media houses to report favourable news. This is no less than indirect buying of public mandate.
This has been overlooked or disregarded by the Election Commission.

Criminal Free Politics:-
Any individual who has been tried by any court and has been punished with imprisonment for more than 2 years for offences which include,
Murder, Rape, Money laundering etc should be banned from contesting elections and any such elected representative who enjoys the office has been proved guilty of any offence after taking the office, election of such candidate should be set aside and he should be banned from contesting election.

Regulation of Registration and De- Registration of Political Parties:-
There is no provision for De-Registration of a Political Party with Election Commission. Election Commission of India should be authorized to De-register political parties practicing antinational, anti-social, anti-citizen & anti-democratic customs. Many organizations are forming political outfits and abusing democratic process by compromising with other established political parties to make fortunes for themselves.

Resignation to office:-
Disqualifying elected representatives and impose ban on him/her from contesting elections for the next 2 terms if any Legislator or MP resigns to his post more than once during his tenure of 5 years stating irrelevant causes for resignation except on grounds of proved negligence by the government to his constituency or on the medical grounds (Only under serious medical conditions which leaves him unfit to carry his/her duties). Candidates are abusing the democracy by resigning their posts on the name of self respect and to test their acceptance, popularity for their next elections and to prove their sustained or evaluated majority among the public. This way for every re-election, govt. is loosing public money for organizing re-elections. Some legislators are blackmailing
government in the name of resignations to gain ministerial births and prominent posts.

Cap on Political Parties Expenditure in Elections:-
There is no provision for cap on expenditure by Political Parties during election period. There is an immediate need of cap on expenditure by Political Parties during election period to curtail money flow and
freebies by respective parties to the voters which are jeopardizing the democratic process.

Progress Report on Constituency by respective candidates:-
Every MLA and MP should submit a Year wise progress report on his constituency to the respective state Assembly and Parliament. These progress reports should be made public by the speakers. Till date there is no procedure for accountability of elected representatives. Every elected representative should be made accountable and answerable to voters who elected him as their representative before he goes to seek votes in next elections.

Disclosure of source of Income by contesting candidates & Elected
representatives:-
Every contesting candidate in his affidavit should disclose his sources
of Income in the affidavit filed by him. Every elected representative should also disclose his source of income & that of his family members every year to the election commission.

India, still being a developing country is mainly due to unfair means in politics. Unfair politics leads to non development, unemployment, poverty, bad health and these all make the country non progressive. So, it’s the need of the time to make political reforms and implement it strongly for a better future.

Indonesian National Elections

Indonesia, a country made up of 13000+ islands and sitauated in far Asia. It is generally considered as Indian Ocean last station and entry to the Asia-Pacific. Like us, Indonesia is also having country's general elections now.

Indonesia went today, 9 April on voting. More than 186 million Indonesians are eligible to vote on Wednesday for 6,600 candidates who are vying for 560 parliamentary seats.

The election is a complicated $1.5 billion (1 billion euros) logistical undertaking. Half a million polling stations are spread across three time zones in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation, often in remote locations.

Polls have put the opposition as the favourites and the incumbent Democratic Party has seen its support drop to single digits over a series of high-profile graft scandals.

There are in total 12 political parties fighting the polls.

The result will determine who can run in the presidential elections scheduled for July 9. In order to run for president, the candidate's party must win 25 percent of the national vote or 20 percent of the 560 seats in parliament.

Inspite of having no national political experience, PDI-P presidential candidate Joko Widodo is strongly favored by voters. The Jakarta governor polls at around 45 percent support. Known as Jokowi, he is perceived by many Indonesians as being an honest politician in a country plagued with rampant corruption.

Former general Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra party has 15 percent support, while tycoon Aburizal Bakrie of the Golkar party trails with 11 percent support in the polls. Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is not eligible to run again, as he has already served two terms.

Indonesia is the world's third largest democracy and the most populous Muslim-majority nation. The country emerged from decades of authoritarian rule with the overthrow of Suhorto in 1998.

Let's wish them good luck that people there vote sensibly and in the end, democracy win....

N.E. India- The Forgotten Kingdom !

            India, a very large country having many regions and states. North-East India consists of 7 sisters (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura) and Sikkim. The northern part of West Bengal (proposed Gorkhaland) can also be considered in this region. Even, we can call it the ‘Enterance of the North-East’!

            Before the independence, these states of NE belonged to different dynasties or countries. After Independence, gradually they came under the Union of India.  The other states or regions who came under the Union of India developed in all directions but for NE, that thing didn’t happen. The NE has its own culture, tradition, languages etc. The majority of the population belongs to various tribal groups.  They have their own special festivals and wearings. It has a very rich flora and fauna. The Brahmaputra and other big rivers pass from here. It has plains, tea gardens, mountains, hills. The environment and weather of here is next to the heaven. So, in the terms of having nature’s beauty, NE is very much rich!

            This region has population of near about 4 crores and area of 2.6 lac sq.km. North East India is known for its unique culture, handicrafts, martial arts, and scenic beauty. The main problems of the region are insurgency, unemployment and lack of infrastructure. Since the beginning of the economic liberalization in the 1990s, studies have shown that this region is lagging behind the others in terms of development. The NE states have 25 out of a total of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha (4.6% of the total number of seats). In 1947, Indian independence and partition made this a landlocked region which isolated it from the mainstream India and the industries also. The main road block for economic development of the NE region is the disadvantageous geographical location. The heavy and privileged status of the security forces in Northeast India, as well as seeming discriminatory treatment against Northeast Indians remain factors that contribute to tensions in the region. There are many cases of discrimination with NE people who have migrated for studies, jobs etc. in bigger cities. Even the media is doing the same. For example, the hunger strike by Irom Chanu Sharmila following the "Malom Massacre" has not received a proper coverage by the media, while the Anna agitation was covered as a festival!

            NE lacks proper infrastructure, educational set-up, industries and jobs for people. That can be counted as one of the main reasons for this region not having much development. Because of that the people of NE have to migrate to the other parts of the country. There are many tribal groups in NE and the clashes between them are also one the main reason for the blockade in its development. Recent incident of the quarrel between two tribes in Nagaland and Manipur is the best example of it. Because of that Manipur was cut down from rest of the country for near about 200 days. The prices of all necessary things for living were gone at the sky! Many states of NE don’t have Airports and even the Railways. That’s why the progress is slow there.

            The main religion is Christianity here. As it is claimed that the missionaries come here and convert the tribal people into Christianity and in reward they are given good food, clothes and education. At some extent these missionaries have helped the NE in coming up and to develop.

It isn’t like that the government isn’t interested in the development of NE region. It has made many policies for the development of the NE region. There are many programs for the social, educational and economical upliftment of the region. Even the government have formed many tribal and territorial councils for the special identity and development of that territory and its tribes. At the same time, the people of NE also have to be more and more hungry for the development and have to ask the administration and bureaucracy for the progress. The NE is an integral part of India and all the Indians are proud to have it as a part of their country!