Can the MyGov platform launched yesterday really improve governance and bring citizens into decision-making? I doubt it. At the most it can do a few technical and administrative things. But the real changes we need are in the quality and trustworthiness of government. Is NaMo willing to take those suggestions from the public? Here are a few examples ... (a) Every state must have a Lokayukta Act, or else the national Lokpal Bill will automatically apply to it. (b) Only 50% of members of Information Commissions in the states and Centre can be retired bureaucrats, and at least one member must be from RTI background. (c) The Gazette of every state and the Centre must be online, queriable. No notification of the government can be considered official until it is published in the online version of the gazette as well. (d) All land records must be put online, and made queriable, including on maps. (e) A full list of government-owned buildings, and the basis on which they have been given to private entities, must be put online. (f) MPs and MLAs accused of serious crimes cannot be ministers until their cases are concluded. When suggestions like these find a channel into government, then we can expect things to improve. However, a government that is willing to make such fundamental changes will not need citizens to point these out.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 02:38:44 +0000
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