People Power

This crisis that the Indian democracy is facing presents an opportunity. We can learn a lesson from the unexpected and unprecedented news coming out of Tunisia and Egypt in recent weeks and apply it in the context of India. The first thing to notice is that this was a movement that has been aggressive about not having a leader - a movement without a recognizable, charismatic figure in front of it. The second characteristic is that the movement made heavy use of the social media networks and mobile communications technology to keep the citizens together with a common goal.

We need a clear direction on how to initiate a movement and go forward without a recognizable and charismatic figure in front of it. We need to create an opportunity for the masses to openly communicate with one another. We shall use networks and new internet tools to communicate, form groups and take action without the traditional party organizations.

The power of using social networking and media tools to communicate with the common masses and trigger them into action is clearly illustrated by Rajesh Kalra in his blog post When 30K turn up spontaneously against corruption, politicians better worry, where he says: "I have little doubt that this spontaneous show of strength would have made the political class uneasy, more so with them witnessing the events unfolding in Tunisia and Egypt. While it may be too early to predict a similar uprising in India, for I think we are intrinsically far more stable and also patient, but my gut feel is that the way things are moving in this nation, the political class certainly cannot take things for granted anymore."

He further argues that technology can be used to provide transparency in administration and thereby limit corruption: “Having monitored IT and telecom sectors closely for almost two decades, one thing that is indisputable is that technology, utilized well, is a hugely potent tool if we are genuinely interested in providing good administration to our citizens. It assumes even greater importance in our country, beset with corruption at every level.” See his blog post West used technology to check corruption. So should we.

That the current US administration under President Barak Obama is heavily using technology to strengthen the democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative is a well established fact. See President Barak Obama's Memorandum to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the subject: Transparency and Open Government. This US government initiative is incidentally under the leadership of two Indians - Vivek Kundra, the first Chief Information Officer (CIO) of USA and Aneesh Chopra, the first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of USA.

Again using web technology and social networking tools see how some of the prominent citizens of India from all walks and spheres of life have come together with a strong desire to see a corruption free India. Another example of how technological solutions can be used to mobilize an enormous volunteer workforce to go out and clean up an entire country's illegally dumped litter in just one day is here.