WANT GROWTH HAVE MORE ELECTIONS

What is the primary purpose of a government in a democratic set-up ?

 Going by the Indian experience one would be tempted to answer that it is to ensure that each member of the ruling party (however insignificant) makes enough money which would take care of their humble needs for the rest of their lives, if not more. Given the lack of incentives for portrayal of a clean image, engaging in hard work, decision making (of unbiased nature) our politicians are unabashedly corrupt and act as the biggest barrier to growth and development. It also does not help that our society is so divided among the lines of caste, region, language, religion etc. since all that  politician have done to win elections in this country is fuel divisive sentiments among  people and side with one groups to reap the benefits. And It also never helps that taxpayers in this country mostly don’t vote.

Ideally, the purpose of the government should be to take prompt and effective decisions that promote sustainable development, establish law and order, and protect the rights of the citizens. Government should get new and better legislations enacted through the parliament to facilitate long term growth, prosperity and well being of the citizens it serves. However, government sector in this country has an unblemished track record of not completing work even after 10-15 years from their announcement. (Anyone who thinks I am being overly critical should look into our deft handling of the Common Wealth Games, I don’t think we stand a chance of hosting another major International Games for the next 100 years.) Five years is a fairly long time for getting a lot of ground breaking projects off the ground and complete them. However, governments at all levels in this country suffer from such high degree of inertia that hardly anything ever manages to move. Sometimes it is hard to believe that its run by the same people whose private projects get concieved one day and get implemented the next!! We may not find honest politicans to run the country, but can we atlest get the corrupt ones to work. Well I think there is...heres an idea.

Lets imagine a situation where we reduce the number of years a politician spends in office from five to two or even one, that of course after putting a revamped IT based election methodology in place to reduce the cost of holding elections, will it have an impact on the productivity of our politicians or our thick skinned neta’s infuse inertia to this arrangement too. To understand this lets make a few additional changes. We will mandate elections, from Lok Sabha to Municipal Body to Panchayat, to be held on the same day. This again will bring down the cost of holding elections. Political parties will be given only one week for campaigning and related activities. Further to ensure that our TV watching and IPhone wielding population comes out to vote, we will make voting compulsory for all individuals above the age of 18. Technology will ensure that they actually do (UID can be used for tracking). Once voting is over, results can be announced within a few hours.

The step will bring substantial behavioral changes in the way voters and candidates approach politics. There will be far greater degree of participation from the public in the electoral process. The practice of looking up to the politician as the master, protector etc will also come to an end as frequent changes in incumbency will discourage such tendencies. The biggest advantage of the system is it will enable new people to enter politics and end the hegemony of many political families. The concentration of political power will also spread across larger number of people which will end the rule of dynastic politics in this country. It will put the entire economy on steroids which will be driven by quick decision making.

The biggest problem created by this idea will be that policy makers will become extremely shortsighted. Long term good will often be sacrificed for short term benefits. The shortened cycle of political process will also increase volatility in stock markets , and commodty prices. There will be no uniformity or direction in public policy etc. Though crucial these problems are not without solutions. If designed well the suggested changes may really work wonders, especially in this country where people have a very high propensity to avoid work. Its just an idea, may not be great but then no one seems to have thought about a better one…

YF-IThink