During the and after 2009 elections we heard many people talking about this trend. Some of the smaller parties even tried to project this trend as irrational and ignorant behavior of voters. For me, it makes logical sense and confirms the belief that, man by nature is rational. Our rationality and decisions depend on how much we know and understand.
For the ordinary voter, it is all about electing the best among the available choices. That’s why ordinary voters many a times, want to see if the party they like has a decent chance of winning. (as simple as people liking a fancy car but still buying the best one amongst the popularly accepted cars as that will give them a wider service network and re-sale option) Let’s examine this in the context of our “First past the post system” with an example.
Take a scenario of two main parties A and B and a start up PartyC. If the voter likes partyC and knows that C did not have a decent chance to win:
Option I: Vote for Party C and express where he stands
Staunch supporters of PartyC who do not see any difference between the other two parties will choose Option I
Option II: Vote for party A, and prevent party B from winning (Thinking A is a better party than B)
Most of the common voters will choose option II and hope that PartyC will gather the critical mass in future. Most of the fence sitters and neutral voters will end up taking option II. (Mind you they are not simply joining the band wagon of winning party)
("Not voting at all" is not an option anyway in my opinion and it is totally a different subject, hopefully to be discussed in my future posts.)
What are the options for PartyC? Do we have a fair chance to challenge the Status quo?
This is a legitimate and important question. We can take a radically different approach and clamor for a proportional representation system. That’s a bigger question, hopefully we might discuss in this blog in future.
But the more sensible approach is to see how we address this in the existing system. A smaller party is supposed to represent some aspirations and ideas in the society. They have to convince enough number of people and create the momentum for themselves. But this is too difficult and is giving an unfair advantage to existing parties. The smaller party will get the required support from people in due course of time, if they have enough patience and commitment to their ideas.
Another option in our system is to merge with one of the mainstream parties and work as a pressure group within that party. Suppose PartyC in our case with 3 lakh votes across the state, ends up losing the election badly. In this case party C will not have any influence on the ruling party and the government. This means 3 lakh people are not getting their fair share of participation. But a group which has 3 lakh supporters will have enough power and influence on any mainstream party, if it is a part of it. That way the idea can garner its fair share of consideration and can definitely influence the existing parties. After all political parties are supposed to represent various thoughts in the society and balance them to deliver the results.
Weekend Politician Note: I hope this post is helpful to at least some of the readers. Please feel free to post your opinions and questions so that we can discuss various aspects of this issue. I would be delighted to see different perspectives as that gives us a chance to understand the issue better.
Right to Education (RTE), Is it really a great legislation that will help change this nation? Or is it one of those high sounding utopian papers to be mentioned in future Independence Day and Republic Day speeches?
Time can only tell which way it will go but time cannot decide the outcome. We the people of this country (aam admi) have the choice to determine whether to park it in many of those boring speeches or to make it really work for us. Before determining the XYZ (Is it good or bad? How is it going to change our life? What needs to be done? Alternatives etc.), let’s see the ABC (What it actually is) of this piece of legislation.
ABC of Right to Education – what exactly is this in common parlance!
Every child of this country who is between 6 and 14 years of age is legally entitled to receive free and compulsory elementary education (Class VIII). The Government is responsible and accountable for ensuring this.
By the way, what is the meaning of Free and Compulsory education? The intent is not to compel anybody forcibly to go to school. It is compulsory for the government to provide opportunity, resources, facilities and infrastructure for all the future citizens. Main features of the Act through which the government is supposed to ensure the right to education for all the children are:
For improving Infrastructure(to be ensured within 3 years from now)
·The governments shall ensure a school for class 1 to 5 within a distance of 1 KM in every neighborhood and in the case of classes 6 to 8 within a distance of 3 KM.
·It is the fundamental right of every child to have access to a school with the following facilities:
1.An all weather building (at least one room per teacher, kitchen, store room)
2.Separate toilet facilities for Girls and Boys
3.Necessary teaching staff (At least one teacher for 40 Children and a Head teacher in case of total number of Children exceed 100)
4.Safe Drinking Water
5.Library (providing newspapers, magazines and books on all subjects including story books)
6.Play ground (Play material, games and sports equipment shall be provided to the children by the school)
For Standardization of Basic education:
·Central government will develop a framework of national curriculum
·Development and enforcement of standards for training the teachers by the government
·Center to provide technical support and resources for innovation and capacity building
To provide better opportunities for underprivileged and disadvantaged sections, this law stipulates:
·Private schools to admit at least 25% of their class strength with children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in their schools without any fee in class 1 every year. Private schools will receive reimbursements for such admissions from the government on the basis of per-child expenditure in government schools. (With effect from 2011 Academic year. State Governments to identify the vulnerable groups which includes children of single mothers)
To improve management and regulation of schools:
·All schools (exclude Private unaided schools) shall be managed by school management committees (SMC). (75% of SMC members are to be the parents and guardians of children.)
·All private schools need to get themselves recognized by meeting the specified norms and standards of RTE within 3 years. Failing to do so will lead to closure of such a private school.
Immediate changes in the life of aam aadmidue to RTE are:
·Your child’s admission into a school cannot be denied for the delay in getting Transfer Certificate or Proof of age.
·Children and their parents cannot be subjected to screening tests. Violation of this provision is punishable.
·No Teacher shall engage in private tuition or private teaching activity
·No Child shall be required to pass a board examination till the completion of Elementary education. Basically the school management cannot stop promotion to the next class by sighting failure in exams as the reason
·Children above the age of 6 years shall be admitted to appropriate class for their age in the government schools. The Schools shall provide special facility to train the children to bring them up to speed
Show me the money honey!
Well… This requires lots of money and first of all need reasonable estimates. Central and State governments are going to share the expenses for this. After a lot of bickering which almost threatened the realization of this legislation, finally the arrangement is 65% from center and 35 % from States (Subject to change based on further deliberations).
·Out of the existing teaching staff, about 7 lakh teachers need to be trained
·12 lakh new teachers need to be appointed
·Many new schools to be built and existing ones to be upgraded
Government of India estimates an expenditure of 1,70,000 Crores over next five years for implementation of the Act. The Prime Minister and HRD minister have assured that funding is not going to impede this initiative.
XYZ of Right to Education – analysis of impact and intent!
This is a good legislation that has the potential to change the country. In fact this is what probably many of the tax payers were hoping the governments to spend their money on. As you can see from the features, this can be summarized three points:
·Now the children of this country have a right to expect a decent school and other facilities freely available within a reasonable distance. The governments are accountable for providing this.
·All the private schools can no more be exclusive clubs of rich and powerful folks. They need to open up at least 25 % of their seats to children from disadvantaged sections.
·People’s participation in administration is sought to be improved
First of all this is a step in the direction of ensuring equal opportunity for all the children of this country. We have a long way to go before claiming there is equal opportunity and level playing field in the country. But this certainly can be the beginning.
Other benefits that accrue are
·Huge recruitment and skill upgrade for teachers
·Standardization of elementary education across the country
·Participation and involvement of aam aadmi have the potential to make the system clean
·Quality of Government schools to be improved; in the long run Government school becoming the default choice for every child seems to be the vision
Implementation is crucialas we have seen many a good plan torn apart by our failure in implementation. Many times lack of clarity on who is responsible for what is landing the aam aadmi in that complicated maze of different government departments. Grey areas that are left to the discretion of lower level government staff is a recipe for rampant corruption especially when the participation of informed public is very low.
In this law there is a clear definition of responsibility on various arms of the government which gives hope that this dream can be realized. The center is responsible for coordination and provision of funds. States to work out the implementation details based on their local conditions. Center has issued module rules which are guidelines for the states to make the implementation laws. Local governments (Panchayat, Municipality etc.) are given the responsibility to maintain a register of all the children in their area and their schooling status.
How are the disadvantaged sections identified and by whom?
As of now SC, ST, Minority, economically backward, children of single mothers etc are being considered. States governments will finalize the details. Selection of these children into 25% quota of private schools has to be random or according to a specified scheme.
Who will provide the study material and other costly equipment required by children admitted in to private schools?
Ideally, the school itself shall provide that as the requirement is going to be different from school to school. State laws must specify and track this.
What the vigilant aam aadmi can do to ensure success
·Get involved in SMCs and watch out how things are progressing
·Watch-out and involve in the selection process of disadvantaged children into private schools
·Do not try and get undue benefits by exploiting and engineering loopholes in this
·Encourage every child you know of to enroll into a school
·Watch-out, what our state governments are doing in terms of detailed provisions and rules
Weekend Politician Note:I hope this post is helpful to at least some of the readers. Please feel free to seek clarifications if you need any. Your suggestions and concerns on this can also be posted. I will definitely be making a few trips to the concerned authorities to ensure aam aadmi voice is heard and reflected in implementation.
