what efforts would you take to improve the condition of your own constituency
Answers
1. More respectful of differing opinions
“The moment I disagree with you, I will not listen,” says the news anchor to the panelists on his debate. If you were part of ‘debate club’ in school, the first rule you would have learnt is ‘to hear out your opponent before making a counterargument.’ Switch on Lok Sabha TV or any television news channel, and you will quickly realise that this rule simply does not apply.
Debates are often reduced to a debacle — from parliamentarians marching to the well of the House, to journalists screeching at the top of their lungs —with everyone wanting to be heard, but not hearing the other.
2. More data-driven
‘From the fight against polio to fixing education, what’s missing is often good measurement and a commitment to follow the data.’ writes Bill Gates.
If one has to make recommendations to improve the education system, s/he needs to know simple things like the student-teacher ratio or whether there is a principal in each school. Good data can help identify gaps in the current system.
Information should be available in formats that are easy to access and analyse —breaking away from the tedious filing system of many government offices is a good first step.
3. More focused on outcomes and quality
Pratham’s ASER Survey says there is a government primary school within one kilometre of almost every habitation in the country. Yet our education system is broken.
We tend to assume that building more schools is the key to fixing our education system. Or building more hospitals will resolve the health crisis. While the need for basic public services is unquestionable, the need for good public services is as, if not more, important. We need stronger qualitative measures of policy implementation and for our political discourse to shift from quantity to quality, and from inputs to outcomes.
4. More interactive
Web 2.0 and social media are changing the conventional ruler-subject paradigm of politics — more engagement is possible between voters and representatives today.
But to make our political discourse truly interactive, political parties and politicians should not use these platforms as yet another vehicle to propagate their agenda. The challenge is to create more regular and constructive exchanges between the electorate and decision-makers.
5. More nuanced
Mantras like ‘women’s empowerment’ or ‘development,’ which many of our leaders mindlessly echo, do not tell us anything about the what, how, and when.
The public is more critical of vague repetitive rhetoric of social identities and appeasement that was once enough to mobilise people — evidenced by the public’s reaction to the #RahulSpeaksToArnab episode. For a more nuanced political discourse, both individual interviews and speeches, but even party manifestos and agendas, should be more action-oriented and time-bound.
