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Meeting with Mr Vidyashankar - Notes
Written By Ravi_D - 19 August, 2008
Bangalore Elections Voter ID Meeting Action
<< Edited on 22 Aug 08 >>
Using this entry as a precedence, here is a thread to compile outcome of today's today's meeting with Mr Vidyashankar, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka.
Key messages:
1. Don't get demotivated, keep the momentum going...
2. Revive a BATF type entity for transparent interaction b/w Govt and Citizens. With regular interaction meetings, such a platform enables citizens and prominent individuals to discuss issues and ideas directly with the government, and monitor progress on what was previousely agreed. More effective than groups meeting with individual officers.
After introductions, discussed some issues, and expressed appreciation of what he has done as CEO.
CEO himself is from IT background. Knows who we (Praja) are.
Understands the issues and problems very well. Has a set of solutions in mind himself, some under execution. Wants to put the house in order << updated >> (under his jurisdiction). Hope is that someone will notice the changes here and follow suit in other states.
About Voters list & ID (my understanding of what he had to express):
> Transparency is high on the agenda.
> Current system is archaic. Needs updates. Some updates need changes in the law. << updated >>.
> Pilot project ongoing to get all voters list along with geographical data on the web. A private company with plenty of experience is entrusted with this work. They will maintain it for five years as well, and governement staff with training will continue from there on. Idea is to provide a map of constituencies, and click on it to get details of voters registered!
> The project also aims to streamline the distribution of populace across polling booths, so you always go to the nearest polling booth. Exercise in Shanthinagar is already complete. In 3 to 4 months time, all Bangalore data is expected to be available. All constituencies in Karnataka would be covered in about 6 months.
> Registration / updatation is an ongoing process. Local election registration officer will coordinate these activties. One is available in every constituency. Visit www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in for contact details.
> Once an application is filed, it needs to be adjudicated within 10 days. Not necessarily happening right now, but efforts are on the way to make it happen.
The project discussed above is already set in motion. << updated >>.
Others who attended (including Murali Sir) please post your notes and pictures!. And correct me if I'm wrong in my understanding.
Thanks,
Ravi
COMMENTS
anusree.kailash - 19 August, 2008 - 17:32
This was my first foray into a government office to meet a government official for discussion. I must say that me and my friends feel very much encouraged by this meeting to put in our efforts to a better future for this city. There are committed and tech-savy people as a part of our government! He was courteous and he listened to every point we wanted to bring up and went about addressing them appropriately. The take-away for me was that when we approach an official with a problem statement, it makes a lot of difference to have suggestions and support to offer. Perhaps that made a big difference in how our meeting with Mr. Vidyashankar. Even we get tired of listening to people cribbing without end, don't we?
Mr. Murali and Mr. Ravi have already covered all the points made at the meeting. One more point is that Mr. Vidyashankar came up with a really interesting suggestion regarding the issue discussed here:
http://praja.in/bangalore/discuss/2008/08/potholes-roads-tarred-one-month-back
Abhilash asked him whether he has any suggestions which we can take up for this case. He promptly suggested that we ask for a clause which requires the contractor tarring the road to maintain it for say five years as well (until its time to tar the roads again). I think thats a brilliant idea because there would be someone really responsible and accountable for a road at any point of time.
He felt that regular meetings (once in 3 months) with all the officials concerned would really be effective in bringing about the change. I feel that this will also bring it to notice that citizens here are watching closely and demanding results.
I for one, am driving some initiatives at my office so that, people get to know what exactly to do and where exactly to go to get their names in the voters list, and to make it simpler for them to do so. Tomorrow I am having a meeting with the Corporate Social Responsibility team of my office to get this realized. Simple initiatives like a ready-reckoner in our office Intra-web may help get the notice of all the people in my office. Also, I will be looking at how the Forms can be collected at office by a team of volunteers and submitted as a batch.
We need to put in our full support for the government so that our apathy does not hinder the progress in our country. I urge each one of you reading this to get creative and find ways to support our people with the Voting process. Now, though the elections are not coming soon, we can cause inclusion of people into the electoral list so that when the elections do come up and the Voter ID cards are mandatory to vote, the process is smooth. If you are reading PRAJA, chances are that you already do your bit around you, but lets spread the work. We are not alone in seeking to do our bit. There are people around us who want to. We can just speak to them and ask a simple question "Would you like to get involved?". My way of looking at it is, unless I ask, there is no possibility at all of them saying "Yes". And for that possibility, hearing a "No" doesn't matter, because there is nothing lost. :D Lets get them involved. Together we can achieve greater heights.
Tried to upload a picture here. All pictures at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/anusree.kailash/MeetingWithChiefElectoralOfficer
silkboard - 19 August, 2008 - 17:12
Looks like you guys had a very nice meeting. Thanks for for posting detailed reports on the meeting. Was hoping to see some pictures as well.
Since Mr Vidyashankar heads DPAR, and since central government's DPAR runs a online public grievance system,will we be right in asking him if our state govt can do similar and start an online greivance system. It'll be a sort of virtual "janata darshan", and won't work if it gets over-used for frivolous purposes, but I wanted to see his opinion on this.
Here is the intro note on website of DPAR Karnataka. Read the second point (#b) in there:
All matters concerning the process of Administration with a view to increase efficiency and bring improvement in the quality of work in every sphere of administration
Sounds interesting, isn't it!? In reality, it'd be hard for one department to bring big changes. But DPAR could be a good body for us to interact with, we could learn and understand a few things there.
ammu - 20 August, 2008 - 21:26
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