Date:03/05/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/03/stories/2009050355051100.htm
Front Page An online initiative for you to join in governance Sruthi Krishnan A step beyond providing accessible information to citizens -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Election Watch plans to have scorecard for MPs Idea is to look at larger picture of accountability and governance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHENNAI: At the Humanities Department of IIT-Madras, there is a door with a metal mesh to keep the friendly monkeys from paying a visit. The door leads to a room where associate professor P. Sudarsan reviews information collated by volunteers all over Tamil Nadu. He is the coordinator of Tamil Nadu Election Watch, which is part of National Election Watch ( www.nationalelectionwatch.org ), an initiative to provide citizens with accessible data on candidates. Going a step further, Mr. Sudarsan and his team plan to have, after the elections, a scorecard for members of Parliament, whereby the community can track online whether the promises they made from the podium are fulfilled from the chair. Many such online initiatives of civil society are now taking a step beyond providing accessible information. They have now moved into enabling citizens to participate in governance. "Elections are a starting point, where a lot of interest is generated," says Barun Mitra, director of Liberty Institute, which is behind the Empowering India ( www.empoweringindia.org ) initiative. The site has comprehensive information on elections, including past results, the candidates and voting patterns. The plan is to have all candidates provide a statement of their personal vision, says Mr. Mitra. When the candidate runs again in the next election, voters could refer to past information and decide on his merits. "There could be discussions and debates and the candidate can also participate." The site could act as an interface for everyone who is politically active, he says. "The idea is to look at the larger picture of accountability and governance," says Zainab Bawa, a researcher who studies the impact of technology on urban governance. She was involved in a project run between April 2003 and November 2007 that brought the municipality closer to the people of Mumbai. Run by praja.org, a system was put in place online where citizens could register their complaints and the municipality could address them. "This has not just made it easy to resolve issues, but increased participation of the citizens," she says. Such initiatives are not restricted to the urban landscape. In Mysore district, IT For Change, an NGO, has established community centres, equipped with a computer and audio-visual equipment, in six villages, says Vinay Sreenivasa, a project associate at the organisation. Such centres are there at the taluk-level too and all centres are run by women. At the taluk-level, if someone obtains information about a scheme, he or she mails it to the village-level centres. As a result, women in a village demanded better facilities for the balwadi centres there as they learnt that it was not in line with government regulations, says Mr. Sreenivasa, citing an instance where access to information led to a demand for better governance. To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
