The current system of democracy in India is broken. Digitalisation is the way to save this failing system of governance and transform it into an effecient model which lives up to the expectations of citizens.
Tuesday, June 13, 2023Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S President had suitably defined democracy as -
A government of the people, by the people and for the people.
But, in the present-day scenario, democracy is not able to fulfill its basic purpose for which it came into existence.
The initial form of democracy which came into existence in Athens, Greece, was direct democracy. When a new law was proposed, all the citizens of Athens had the opportunity to vote on it. To vote, citizens had to attend the assembly on the day the vote took place. This form of government is called direct democracy as all the citizens were directly involved in making new laws and essentially determining their future.
Nearly 60% of the modern democratic nations observe representative democracy in their country. Representative democracy is a system of government in which the citizens elect individuals to represent their interests and make decisions on their behalf. In this form of democracy, the elected representatives act as a link between the citizens and the government, and they are responsible for making laws, formulating policies, and representing the concerns and viewpoints of their constituencies.
One of the reasons of the exponential growth of China is the stability that a one-party system provides. Due to China being a one-party state, the government did not have to satisy its voter bank by making policies in their favour and, those near-sighted decisions were not taken. This stability played a huge role in the rise of China as an economic superpower.
These problems above are breaking the trust of the citizens upon democracy which leads them to towards preferring undemocratic type of governments.
Here, the system of direct democracy comes to our rescue.
Drect democracy is currently being practiced in countries with low population like Switzerland (8.7 million people) but seems to be quite unfeasible in countries with high populations like India and USA.
This drawback can be solved with digitalisation.
Today, the elections in India are conducted physically in the voting booths. The cost to the Election Commission of India for conducting the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 was a staggering 3870 crore rupees! The first step towards digitalising democracy would be by digitalising elections.
Around 70% of our population will have access to the internet by 2025. So, in this age of digitalisation, it makes a lot of sense for the government to conduct hybrid elections. The govt. can start conducting elections digitally as well as in polling booths. I believe that many of the citizens with access to digital devices and the internet will be quite willing to vote digitally instead of standing in long queues under the scorching sun, just to exercise their political franchisee. Not only will this increase the voter turnout, but, will also help the govt. to drastically decrease the cost of conducting elections as the server costs would be always lower than setting up physical poll booths. The hard-earned money of taxpayers would be used in a better way for the welfare of citizens and the process of elections would become more streamlined.
Sharing a personal experience, I recently went with my father to observe the process of casting your vote for the first time. The polling booth was set up in as govt. school. The students most probably had to miss their three precious days of studies for the installation of polling booths. The current system is not only inconvenient but also ineffecient.
There are some key aspects to conducting fair elections digitally in India :-
Establish a secure digital voter registration system that allows eligible citizens to register and update their voter information online and implement strong authentication methods to verify the identity of voters in the digital space.
This can be acheived by using Aadhar as a unique identification system to verify the identity of voters and prevent fraudulent registrations.
Develop a reliable and secure online voting platform that ensures the integrity and confidentiality of votes. The preferences of the individual voters and the running tally should be kept private to avoid social desirability bias – there is less pressure for someone to vote based on what others think of their choice and impacting tunrout respectively.
This can be achieved by using blockchain to facilitate free and fair elections in India. Blockchain will ensure that no-one can intervene with electoral roll in the first place. Altering data over the blockchain is almost impossible. If anyone tries to manipulate the data, the person will be caught using ledger technology-led tracing.
Indian govt. with the kind of talent it possesses, can easily dedicate a new department to build a robust private blockchain protocol and probably, open-source it. Have read recently that the govt. has been partnering with IIT Madras to build a blockchain protocol which will be probably be ready by the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The true outcome will only be revealed over time.
Firstly, the protocol should be tested in local panchayat elections. As the effeciency of the protocol and local penetration of digital devices and the internet wil improve, one day the whole electoral process will be digital.
It is almost impossible to metamorphosize the democratic system of a vast country like India from representative democracy to direct democracy.
The solution would be to posess a hybrid system which can be devised in the future to eliminate the drawbacks of representative democracy discussed above by adopting a few elements of direct democracy system on the way.
After all, you need the pearls of a variety of colours, for the necklace to look colourful and vibrant. As the world ‘s largest democracy, we need a revamp in the democratic system of India and put forth our contribution to moving our way towards not only a being the largest, but, also one of the most effecient and flawless democracies in the world.
The cabinet of ministers should only consitute the leaders who are the experts in their particular departments. Joining politics should not be the only way towards making a large-scale impact upon the country.
Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew who transformed Singapore from just another colonial outpost to a global financial power centre, had a mantra for Indian Politicians on Good Governance,
Integrity - absence of corruption, meritocracy - best people for the best job and a fair level playing field for everybody.
Adopting these principles is not a one-time task but an ongoing commitment to good governance. Indian leaders must recognize the long-term benefits of incorporating integrity, meritocracy, and a fair level playing field into their decision-making processes and policies.
By embracing these ideals, Indian leaders have the potential to shape a nation where citizens can trust their leaders, where talents are recognized and utilized, and where opportunities are accessible to every citizen who has merit to make a change. After all,
Change is the only constant.