You've got E-Democracy!!!

So, over the week, I was reading up about an interesting concept. This concept is called 'E-Democracy'. In the recent Mumbai terror attacks, the one thing that came out of a terrible situation, was a demonstration of how electronic media, social networks, blogs and sites like twitter were used to disseminate almost instantaneous information about what was happening on the ground in Mumbai. So much so, that a couple of reputed news networks were giving in live feeds to twitter to show their viewers live updates about the attacks.

E-Democracy is fairly intriguing in concept as well, and has already been implemented in various ways around the world. It essentially involves using all of the new age media out there as a political tool. This takes the effect of democracy, and the message that can be passed to the people to a whole new level, which can then be used by them to educate the lesser educated about politics, the importance of being involved in government, and how online spaces can be used as a forum for airing grievances, and addressing them by providing real situations.

A tool like this becomes incredibly convenient for people of a democracy, especially among the tech-savvy, educated section of the population, the kind this blog aims to reach out to, to make their voices heard in a world dominated by the neanderthal mode of governance we are used to, with our members of the parliament, and legislative assembly screaming at the top of their voices to get laws passed, and decisions made.

Consider the possibilities for the government

• A bill needs to get passed. The local representative of the state/ federal governments puts it up on a central portal, and announces that the bill is now open to votes for all constituencies. A time period for the bill is also announced as to when it comes up to be voted on, in the assembly. All popular votes will have to be completed by then.
  
• The local population is made aware of the highlights of the bill via a preamble written to local constituencies, and distributed along small community blocks by volunteers. The preamble also offers details on various ways to vote, by going online, by writing to your local representative, or placing a vote over the phone.
• The full text of the bill is also available by request, and under the Right to Information Act, it is obligatory for the bill to be presented to anyone who asks to see it.
• Depending on the number of 'yes' or 'no' votes received by the local representative, he/she decides on how to vote. If they decide to vote against the decision of the people, a written explanation as to why is afforded and attached to the text of the bill at the time of the vote by the local representative.
• This set of actions will truly bring democracy into the mainstream, and ensure that people that need to be governed, are kept aware of the laws being passed, and how they affect their daily lives.

For the citizens, E-Democracy can serve a host of purposes.

• Education of the population. A lot of people today are unaware of the power that rests in their hands, choosing simply, to deny their capability to make change happen, and accepting situations on an as is basis. E-Democracy can be implemented by way of citizen created portals to put up information about the political process, problems with the daily bureaucracy, and the ability to provide people with a common ground for discussions with no physical or location based constraints. It is a strong platform to learn about alternatives to the one process of the state, and gives people an insight into the sources of power outside it.
  
• Using the internet as a platform to spread political, environmental activism. Again, this comes back to the power of the internet to disseminate knowledge. Organizations seeking to garner the support of people toward a cause can use the internet to gain popular support.
• Open Source Governance, which gives power to the people to draft legislation that can then be presented to our local representatives, and then acted upon by those representatives according to the points mentioned above. This is an excellent method to boost participation of the people in the governance of a region.

Again, as with all forms of participation, there need to be adequate checks and balances, to the implementation of E-Governance/ E-Democracy in general, and the concept is still in a fairly nascent stage of realization. A central body controlled and staffed by the people, needs to be established, to watch over the process, and to keep people from manipulating it to their own advantage.

All in all, it seems like a good time for democracy to evolve. Isn't it time we got E-Democracy?

(Credits: A lot of good information of E-Democracy is available in the public domain by way of wikis, and articles written up by prominent political analysts. Please contact me if you need more information about e-democracy, and I can point you in the right direction. Thanks to all those people on the internet, who took the time out to write those articles, and got these thoughts cycling in my head.)