Evolution was defined by Darwin as ‘Descent with modification’ the idea that is explained as ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, It is the one that is the most adaptable to change’.
Dussehra or Vijayadashami, in Hinduism, marking the triumph of Rama, over the 10-headed demon king Ravan. The festival’s name is derived from the Sanskrit words Dasha (“ten”) and Hara (“defeat”). Our religious belief is that nobody is ever completely evil.
Ravan with qualities i.e. Buddhi (Intellect), Manas (Mind), Chitta (Will), Matsarya (Envy), Ahamkar (Ego), Krodh (Anger), Madh (Pride), Moha (Delusion), Kama (Lust), Lobh (Greed), was son of a sage with no wealth, grew to become a King and possessed a lot of wealth. However he continued to destroy whatever he earned in his lifetime due to undesirable qualities overpowering the desirable one’s which dint let him adapt to the time and situation.
Rama, born in a royal family, possessing qualities i.e. Dhairya (Patience), Buddhi (Intellect), Shaurya (Courage), Satya (Truth), Karuna (Compassion), Kritaghna (Thankful), Maryada (Limit), Naitik (Moral), Aagyakari (Obedient) and many more, lost everything during his youth but reclaimed his kingdom again due to these qualities which helped him adapt and respond to the changes and challenges he faced during his exile and afterwards.
We all have Rama and Ravan both inside us but to survive, evolve and exist we need to be able to adapt to the changes.To do so “Let’s kill the Ravana within”.
The feature image is from internet doing rounds in last 3-4 years. Credit to the original creater.
What happened in 2020 is known to all. Markets tumbled, retail stores were shut, migrants returning, and unemployment rising across income segments. 1 out of 6 had ‘open to work’ tag on their FB, LinkedIn profile, and Job offers were being rescinded.
This took me 12 years down the memory lane. It was first week of February 2008 and a batch of 100 students were celebrating the successful placement season at a well-known institute of rural management in western part of India. While another 100 in the junior batch were also quite happy with the hiring trends as it led to sizeable shift in the average salaries and number of job offers and presence of companies from almost all the sectors of the economy. ICICI group emerged a largest recruiter, hiring almost 25% of the batch across Banking and Insurance domains.
While everything went well next couple of months, one fine day the cover page of all daily newspapers published news of Lehman Brothers’ fall with the bear photo. The charts with blood red colored trend lines were constant in daily editions, with names of many foreign and domestic banks also facing the heat of the meltdown. The economics and finance wizards of the batch used to be glued to Economic Times. Some of us were in marketing and weren’t much concerned about it at that point of time. However the drying number of project offers for internship segment started giving us indications about the upcoming placement season.
Many batch mates were more worried as they had left a job or job offer prior to joining the program and now staring at the bleak job market.
However one amongst 100 of us wasn’t worried with all this. Once I found him near cafeteria and could not stop myself from asking him about this, Dada does all this market condition not bother you? You are always calm and silently finish your cup of tea and go back to your room. How do you do manage so much of stress?
What he said at that point of time has kept me moving since last 13 years. He replied, dear friend, if “tomorrow” worries you, don’t let it spoil today. No matter how much you try to avoid it or think of wrong decisions you made which led you to this, you will have to live it at some point of time in future. While passing a cup of tea he said, let’s prepare ourselves for a tomorrow that may be different than what we may anticipate, it may need different skills than what many around us may suggest. The only constant would be you and this sip of future (tea) hence keep preparing yourself for the unknown and embrace the change.
All this sounded merely Gyan at that point of time, but every year in my professional career I found myself in similar situation where one or other person closer to me sounded as if it’s end of the World. One may feel down, depressed, frustrated and the reasons may be many i.e. not able to appear for board exam, not able to give their best in entrance, not getting a job or job of choice, not able to meet targets, not liking our job or boss, being jobless or someone having unreasonable expectations from you etc.
Do what Dada said back in 2008, have a sip of future and keep preparing yourself for tomorrow so that when you take off, nothing stops you. Every failure or setback would teach you how not to fail in next attempt.
As someone said, life is not sprint, its marathon, so prepare for marathon.
It was summer of 2009 when I joined Dairy Board at their project in Khammam, Telangana and started working with Farmers’ to setup New Generation Cooperative. Given I did not know Telugu well, I was tasked with managing, engineering activities, supply chain, manpower planning, etc.
The term “Progressive Farmer” was new to me and it was very commonly used by officers and operators at milk collection centers. In their language Progressive Farmers were those, who used to supply not less than 30 to 40 liters of milk daily. These farmers used to travel from farthest corner of the catchment area or at times from outside the catchment area. As they were large suppliers, at times they used to stop supply of milk at Bulk Milk Collection centers and reason ascribed to it was hike required in milk prices as some or other pvt dairies increased the rates. At times they used to create ruckus at collection booths as well w.r.t. quality of machinery deployed, manpower issues etc. The root cause was rejection of thier milk on quality parameters or the rates that they are getting for the milk (due to dilution by addition of water). However unaware of the local language, I always tried understanding what farmers is saying from the tone of their language and facial expression or gesture.
For the benefit of people I would like to mention that milk price is linked to fat% in the milk with minimum acceptable range of other contents (minerals) called ‘solid not fat’ (SNF).
In 2010, I was transferred to Marathwada region in Maharashtra. It was a big respite to me as Marathi wasn’t a big challenge for me and I quickly started understanding/speaking it too. Given many farmers also knew Hindi, they were kind enough to choose language as per my comfort. However there was one similarity between Andhra and Maharashtra, this geography also had many Progressive Farmers. These farmers were very kind to us as they used to take all the pain to procure milk from a distant/outside hamlet/village from the catchment area and supply the same to dairy. They also used to maintain record of milk supplied by each farmer and payment due to them. Due to this we never set up a separate collection points in their villages.
A farmer pouring milk at Bulk Milk Collection Unit at Nanded, Maharashtra
As I knew the language by now and people were also comfortable in Hindi, I started conducting village meetings, which helped me in doing feasibility study for setting up Collection units in various villages. When incidents similar to Khammam started happening here as well, i.e. quality issues/ rejection of milk, no collection at center due to ruckus created by Progressive Farmers, I started investigating the issues. This is when I started understanding that these “Progressive Farmers” are in reality local milk dealers (aka Dudhiya). They just milk their cows/buffalo (If at all they have any) then collect milk from 10-20 small farmers and sell at collection point. They never let any pvt/govt dairy units enter in their villages by convincing them so that control of prices remains with them and they take away the healthy margins.
What happened afterwards just led to reduction in milk collection day by day and ultimately led to major setback to the dairy collection operation which took almost 4-5 year to recover.
I moved on in my career and joined a domestic Private Bank in Agribusiness vertical but learnt a lesson to be cautious from the so called Progressive Farmers.
If a true farmers’ cooperative is to be set, and the real farmer is to be benefited, then system has to ensure elimination of these Progressive Farmers from the supply chain rather than making them an integral part.
What’s happening around us due to Covid 19 is kinda unthinkable for our generation. While we’ve seen this lock down and kind of stuff in the movies but in real life it’s different and real different. The difference is in terms of working at home and that with your our kids around.
This is just 5th day of lock down and managing kids at home is a real challenge particularly if you have to work from home. The kids are full of energy and if they don’t go out to play, definitely we as a parent need to find a way to channelize this high energy in a positive manner.
I’ve been trying to engage my child in many games/activities in last couple of days and have been able to do channelize my daughter’s energy in a positive manner. So here are some ideas/games which one may try while being at home. These will not only engage and help in mental development of your kid but also remind parents of their childhood times for sure:
Ludo/Snake & Ladder
One of the most famous and basic game which can keep your kids engaged for the whole day. If you don’t have it at home you can download one from android/apple app store. The game made by Gametion is one of the most popular and engaging as well.
I am locked down in the game as well 🙁
For those staying alone the option of playing online with relatives is also available.
Chess
You can take this opportunity to teach your kid how chess is played. This game can be very engaging for long time and even introduce your kid to the world of strategy making.
You may say you don’t have it at home and can’t even buy from market or e-comm sites amid lock down. Don’t worry this is simple to make at home and a fun activity for the kids too. Just see how Maithili made it using her study table and a permanent marker:
Block Game (Jenga)
A game which can definitely be learnt with minimum efforts by the kids and help in understanding the concept of center of gravity to the kids.
Jenga/Block Game
Tic Tac Toe
A game which can be played with most basic requirement of pen/pencil/chalk and paper/black board.
Tic Tac Toe
Painting/Drawing: We can try giving colors/papers to the kids and let their imagination flow and let them draw whatever they feel like.
Drawing/Painting can be super engaging and allows the child to be creative and experimental
Story: Every day at night one can tell a short story to the kids and believe me this is not very difficult. We all have been cooking up stories from our childhood whether in fron tof techer, our parents or our spouse. Ain’t we?
Kids form an opinion basis what they see around them, listen from people, watch on the channel. I was shocked when my daughter asked me, Papa how can Kiran Bedi be a Police? she is a girl. Another question from her was on Sajeev Kapoor as how can he be chef? he is a boy. I could not believe that my daughter may also have such narrative of work that can be done by a male or a female.
This is the time which we can use to focus on their overall development. We should recite stories of male/female achievers in different fields. One of the book that I have been reading for my daughter is “Good Night stories of Rebel Girls” for last couple of months. The book has short stories of the girls which broke free of social boundaries and stigmas and became achievers in their life.
Story/Knowledge books for Kids
Have you considered gifting books to kids on birthdays?Maithili enjoys reading books gifted by my elder brother and my friends.
Carom Board: While for this game you need to have a board, Carom Men & Stricker at home. The game is super engaging and kids can actually learn how to aim, sense of direction, force etc.
Carom board of latest designs are also available now a days
Game of Kauri(Cawrie shells): To play this game you need 4 cowrie shells.The game can be played with minimum 2 or more players sitting in a circle. The game is usually played by people of 7-8 years and above. I remember playing this game with my mother when we used to go to village. While there are many variants of the game that even I may not be aware of but you can check the same on you tube. With changing times this game is now an endangered game. Last I’ve seen cowrie shells being used in a games played between newly married couple as a ritual once bride goes to groom’s place.
Kauri/Cawrie Shell
Pick any 5 of any shape, color
Gutte
This is quite a very simple game and only 5 small sized stones (see image above) are required to play this. Even if you don’t have it at home it’s not difficult to find stones near by as India is an under construction country. You need to spin 1 stone in the air and pick remaining from the ground and catch the one in the air without dropping it. The first level can be done with picking 1 stone at a time from ground, then 2, 3 and 4. There other levels/varients as well which can be easily found on the web. Though the game is quite loved by girls, I used to play with my elder sister a lot. In Rajasthan, Guajarat, UP, Haryana & Punjab this game is quite popular.
So guys here are the games that can be comfortably played with minimum efforts and with maximum engagement. All the best. Stay at home and stay safe.
“Janata Curfew” has become a buzz word after India’s Prime Minister announced it as a public initiated moment to curb the spread of Corona virus which has taken 20,000+ lives till 25th March 2020.
Almost every residents in India, officials of global
agencies involved in managing the pandemic and many global leader are lauding
the way social distancing being initiated in India. While the world is yet to
see the way situation unfolds in India and how we tackle it, some of the
biggest challenge in India is 2nd largest population in the world
and not having the best of healthcare infrastructure.
We live in a country which is home to people from all religions, belief, culture, eating habits. Everyone has their own opinion and not to forget a very strong one. We are also have one the largest smartphone and internet user base in India. You can just make any video and send it to few people on Watsapp. In few days this becomes a reality for people. People don’t even bother to check the facts of the messages received. In our country implementing a simple decision for good of people is criticized, opposed or not followed just because of different political party’s affiliation or belief system of people. In such scenario without involvement of people nothings can be done.
Human behavior is very unpredictable, if choices are imposed upon, people tend to not like it however if they choose anything willingly, however bad it may be, we are happy with it.
“Janata Curfew” the effort of PM in stoking national feeling in enforcing unofficial lock down by requesting people to stay at home that too without issuing a Govt order has been innovative. PM has also requested all the residents to clap or use a gesture to thank all the people who are away from their family, trying to service us in the best manner possible and helping us in fighting with the deadly virus. While doing it not only me but many of you would have realized that this activity boosts morale of all the people away from their home to ensure that we are all safe. Everyone clapping or making sound using plates/spoon has given feeling of being united as one in fighting against COVID 19.
This is not the first time when Modi has done this for most of the societal changes i.e. Swatcha Bharat, Beti Padhao, Fit India, Khelo India and Giving up subsidy have been similar examples he has set in the past. These movements have been definitely some the largest public movement around the world with minimal involvement of Government. The most critical aspect has been change in behavior of people, involving common man and motivating them to be a part of movement. Fit India has also made Yoga globally accepted fitness exercise, Swatcha Bharat has ensured that streets of India are not only clean but hygienic as well.
The biggest success was seen in giving up cooking gas subsidy by people of India who don’t need it. Historically this subsidy has been available to every person in the country. The Government announced ‘Ujjawala Scheme’ under which cooking gas was provided to rural population without any cost. There were questions w.r.t. this expense damaging exchequer in big way. This to was also managed by Modi by just asking people to give up subsidy who can afford it otherwise as well. People not only in urban but in semi-urban/rural area gave up subsidy so that those who can not afford get it for free from Govt. This is the strength of PM’s appeal. This is a lesson to most of the global leaders that one needs to connect with it’s people if they want to be a true leader.
While our Prime Minister Modi has been able to involve
citizens in taking this first step of this genomic war against Covid 19 virus,
the time will only tell how it unfolds in coming days.
It is said that human brain is
capable of doing and achieving whatever it can think or imagine of. So what
stops it from doing it? There are just two factors, access/availability of
resources and time available in one’s life span in completing what can be
imagined. AI is an attempt to finish tasks in a shorter span which brain may
take longer to complete. This is possible by teaching machines over a period of
time because life of a human is finite while of a machine is infinite hence
continuity can be achieved by making machines learn.
Stephen Hawking once said that AI
(Artificial Intelligence) could be the biggest event in the history of our
civilization. We hear everywhere about work being done on artificial intelligence
but is our understanding of the same is right?
Artificial Intelligence can be simply
understood as:
A method which can help machines & its
creators to function in an intelligent manner
Making machines intelligent so that they can
think which is not natural hence artificial
Analyse data and share information for the
decision makers to save take and take informed decisions
As some of the explanations
suggest AI is typically any process/method which helps humans in acting
efficiently and saves on time by eliminating mundane/routine job. Each one of
us knowingly or unknowingly has adapted Artificial Intelligence in daily life.
Understanding AI
Let us understand in detail about
AI and its layers:
Machine Learning provides
system the ability to learn from data, automates the process of building
analytical models. The learning from data could be of supervised,
semi-supervised or unsupervised. So what does it mean? It means that machines
categories the data into various sets (having some correlation, pattern,
similar nature etc.). Supervised machine learning always has an end objective
and it is suggestive in nature i.e. typical prices of a commodity may be used
as raw data to predict the future prices basis historical trends and events.
Deep Learning may be
called is a subset or next steps of machine learning which may be based on
neural networks. Deep learning is capable of learning in unsupervised manner
the data which may be unstructured or unlabelled.
The fundamental difference
between machine learning and deep learning is the manner in which data is
presented to the system. Machine learning algorithm always needs structured
data while deep learning can handle unstructured data which relies on neural
networks.
If you are still not clear the below
diagram shall clarify it:
Machine learning can make decisions
bases on what it has learned. Deep learning has capability to create artificial
networks to make decisions on its own without any past learning.
Natural Language Processing as the name suggest is capability of a
computer program to understand languages spoken by humans as it is.
Computer Vision is a science field and integral part of AI which
deals with dealing of computers with digital images and videos. This fields
extracts all existing information from any image or videos and correlates it
with real world situations. A typical example of the same is LBW decision
making by third umpire in cricket where the projection of the ball helps in
determining whether ball was to hit stumps or not. A 3D imaging from a 2D
image, completion of a torn picture/scene recreation are other most used
applications of this field.
Neural Network is series of algorithm to identify, analyse find out
relationship between data in the manner human brain operates. The brain has
neurons which have and transmit information to next neuron. Neural networks are
mostly used in pattern recognition due to inherent ability respond unexpected
inputs.
What’s happening today?
Most of the business across the industries i.e.
retail, energy, financial service, automobile, technology, marketing &
manufacturing have already started adopting AI in one or other business
functions. AI today is critical function to stay ahead of competition and
succeed in business. This is evident from a research data published by Statista
in 2017 enquiring businesses about the reasons they adapt AI. As per their survey
84% of the respondents answered that they are adopting AI to stay ahead or have
competitive advantage.
Source: Statista
The large corporates are investing heavily in
AI across the world. The underlying assumption is that it shall help in various
tasks which shall help in reducing costs, provide humans and machines the
efficiency, boost customer experience, boost returns from the business.
According to the market research firm Tractica,
the global artificial intelligence software market is expected to experience
massive growth in the coming years, with revenues increasing from around 9.5
billion U.S. dollars in 2018 to an expected 118.6 billion by 2025. Between 2018
and 2019, the artificial intelligence market is expected to grow by 154
percent, reaching a $14.7 billion market size.
While all the countries are focusing on AI,
China and US are leading the terms of number of AI companies present and
working of research and development in this sector. China is leading in deep
learning reach as per a report published by White House, National Artificial
Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan.
In terms of investment in the sector from 2013
to the first quarter of 2018, the amount of investment and financing in AI technology
in China itself accounts for 60% in the world, valued at $27 billion in 2017.
The numbers are as per a report published by Tsinghua University in September
2018.
In terms of investment in the sector from 2013
to the first quarter of 2018, the amount of investment and financing in AI
technology in China itself accounts for 60% in the world, valued at $27 billion
in 2017. The numbers are as per a report published by Tsinghua University in
September 2018.
As per the study by EY and Nasscom it is predicted
that around 46% of the workforce will be engaged in entirely new jobs that do
not exist today, or will be deployed in jobs that have radically-changed skill
sets by 2022.
In February 2019, it was announced by a
minister that Indian Government is taking investment in AI seriously and
planning to launch a national program on AI soon.
The critical factors:
All efforts being put in AI is dependent on
data. A confidence level of an outcome of artificial engine is completely
dependent on integrity and accuracy of the data used by the engine.
Adaptability of AI is also completely dependent on availability of big data.
Hence collection of data by all the business is priority today. The firms also
need to focus equally on quality and integrity of data.
Apart from data the availability of skill set
amongst people to develop, supervise and control AI research and development is
essential. Large corporates are making it possible by hiring the best of talent
in the market, re-skilling their existing employees.
How the future looks like?
While answer of the same is whatever can be
thought be achieved as well. The movies have even shown extremes of AI where
machines start controlling humans. While the same cannot be denied but at the
same time cannot be digested so easily.
In today’s life we see usage of AI mobile
assist, voice assist, auto computation of distance vehicle can run on fuel etc.
These application with continuous development may take user
experience/interaction from initial search levels to the next level in future.
Some of the typical examples may be as below:
Smart home devices may soon
become integral part of our daily life. It is capable of monitoring our
routine, respond to our queries and even integrate with our shopping needs. Recent
generations (including mine) have already adapted smart watches, google home,
Alexa which are tracking us 24×7. Amazon has already started the above
application of AI through Alexa, where an item can be added to e-shopping cart
by just telling Alexa. Though order placement is limited to adding orders in an
app managed within Amazon’s ecosystem, it may soon integrate with popular local
application for shopping.
Smart automobile can respond to riders on their
queries. It can also connect with users emotionally basis historical
behaviours. The precautionary measures can also be suggested by the devices.
The devises may be able to run diagnostic tests
on itself and report malfunction in a particular component/part.
The above represents application of AI, where
chat bots are able to understand language, interact with customer, accept
applications, process basis client profile, accept/reject basis assessment
result and adhere to policy requirement. It can also reduce lot of back end
operations by completing routine tasks and also pitch for next level of
relationship by assessing client profile more than what’s required for the
product to be processed.
In financial sector application of AI has huge
scope. Already many Banks, Insurance firms are deploying AI methods across
compliance, operations, customer acquisition, fraud management etc.
AI in financial sector frees up humans from
robotic tasks and enables them in focusing on better valued, complex and creative
work.
Growth & the Control
Success of all the efforts in AI is possible
when Governments, Corporate, Social Institutions focus on long term investment
of data, develop a common understanding for data which is essential for
development of AI. The future looking organizations need to promote skill
development needed for them to grow. The re-skilling of existing human capital is
critical for growth and to say competitive but knowing potential risk and its
mitigation are equally important.
Majority AI programs suffer with a bias of
their source who is developing them. These biases can be specific to
individual, culture, organizations. All for profit firm shall always focus
investment in AI which shall ultimately results in higher returns.
The sectors where governments may need to focus
more are on healthcare, education, defence. Whether private or public whatever
is the source of investment in AI, critical role here is to be played by
Government in developing a culture, developing enabling policies which is
conducive as well as adaptive. Stringent laws related to application of
researches is needed. From time to time it is required that Government keeps assessing
the existing policies to gain from the true potential of AI while keeping
humans and humanity at the centre of decision-making.
In India elections are no less than a grand festival. People may be different by religion, caste, class or origin of different states but elections make them one and the same. It does not differentiate a voter basis the factors as mentioned here. This great Indian festival is celebrated many a times even in a year due to multi-layer governance system. In between Lok Sabha (National Level) also known as House of People or Lower House and Panchayat (Grass Root Level) we have additional layers of Vidhan Sabha/ Parishads (State Level Governments) and Municipal Corporations/Councils (City Level). We the people of India keep voting to elect representatives for one or another layer of Governance. These is are the times when one may encounter an intense discussion between two people from two completely different economic class. At road side tea junction, you may find a rickshaw driver, a plumber, a marketing executive, an investment banker, discussing about who shall win. If you encounter such incidents please be sure it’s time for elections in the country.
Those who may not be aware of the electoral scenario in India may find it unique in many manners. We’ve a multi-party system and practically there cannot be any control on number of candidates/contestants. Anyone even not belonging to a party can also contest independently and even win elections. Here election are not won basis candidates’ capability or education level, it’s won basis caste, religion, locality, or any other agenda on which people may be misguided easily. The irony of the system is that even if a candidate getting only 10% votes can win the election and represents 100% of the population even after being rejected by 90% who did not vote in his/her favor. Let the left or right wing supporter’s debate and decide whether it’s right or wrong. For me whatever be the case, we are guided by our constitution and as per same it is right and law of the land.
For many voters like me the most
important aspect is fairness of the method. Even if it comes at a huge cost to
the exchequer, we are not bothered, but should we not think about the cost? The
spends by Government on elections is increasing every time given the challenge
of conducting election in a manner that each and every voter can cast their
votes and the parties not winning elections are also satisfied that the
elections are conducted in the fairest manner possible.
To understand the electoral
system and Government spends to keep it live and running let’s look at
published figures for Lok Sabha with respect to money spent on conducting
election.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election ~
INR 3,500 Cr was spent for conducting elections which includes Electronic
Voting Machines (EVMs), travelling and lodging expenses of security personnel,
election staff, usage of infrastructure and many more. With conservative
inflation figure of just 6% p.a. also, spends are estimated at ~ INR 4,700 Cr.
For those who may not be aware of
geographical spreads and people representation in the largest democracy of the
world, summary of the constituency wise spread across states is presented here.
We’ve a total of 552 seats in Lok Sabha, which comprises of 530 seats in states, 20 seats in UTs and 2 seats (Anglo-Indian) are nominated by the President. The states contributing to large representation to the house are Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48), West Bengal (42), Bihar (40), Tamil Nadu (39), Madhya Pradesh (29), Karnataka (28), Gujarat (26) and Rajasthan (25). While earlier Andhra Pradesh had 35 seats but after split 15 seats went to Telangana. The sum total of seats in above 9 states is 392, clearly representing that a party getting majority in above states can comfortably form a Government. The detailed statistics state wise can be found on https://loksabha.nic.in/members/StateWiseStatisticalList.aspx
The details about profession of the elected members is also available in Government database. Out of 550 elected members the profession details of only 246 candidates are available on Lok Sabha database, I assume remaining had no profession or politics was the profession. We had 77 political/social workers, 44 agriculturists/farmers, 28 business person, 12 industrialists, 18 educationists/teachers/professors, 10 advocates, 6 engineers, 5 teachers, 4 builders and 1 or 2 from each profession i.e. sports, artist, poet, civil servant, scientist, film producer etc. etc. etc. Such a varied representation but in a skewed manner, but we’ve ~ 305 members with no other profession/ politics only as profession. It may also mean that they have almost no connect or experience of job, business or public life. A total of 8251 candidates fought the election which essentially means that in each constituency ~ 15 candidates were contesting.
The above was numerical aspect of
how seats are split across states, let’s now look at the economic aspect (on
paper) of the elections as well. As per election commission’s rule a candidate
cannot have unlimited spends for contesting election and a limit has been fixed
for all expenses such as posters, banners, vehicles, prints and electronic
advertisements, public meetings, tents etc. etc. etc. It is mandatory for all
candidates to open an account in bank for the expenses, the payment of which should
be made through cheque. For the election in 2019 it is decided that each
candidate can spend up to INR 7,000,000/-.
The simple computation of total spends for similar number of candidates makes it to INR 5,776 Cr. In addition to this there is a widespread unaccounted money spent on various heads which are not allowed under the law i.e. distribution of money, liquor or any other item and bribe for the purpose of influencing voters etc which can’t be even counted and not easy to control. While we may not be an structural solutions to curb spends by candidates except by reducing the limits, but we can definitely have structural solution to reduce the spends by Government on conducting the future elections.
In terms of evolution, we’ve come long way from paper ballot to electronic voting (EVM based voting) but are we truly electronic? The straight answer is no. The way votes are recorded today may be electronic but not the way these are casted or communicated to ECI database for counting or storing. While the recent dissent of a section of parties started believing that Electronic Voting Machines are rigged and to the satisfaction of people Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was implemented.
Let’s look at our voting journey:
While all the database of voters
is digitized completely by ECI today but the way it’s recorded or verified is
also required to be digitized. This shall be able to fulfil the dreams of
digital India in true aspect. If the government of a country can be elected
electronically then digitalization shall not be a dream anymore. There are
school of thoughts about the country never be able to digitalize the election, usage
of the same isn’t possible by many voter who can’t read or write. What we need
to understand that not being able to read/write does not make people mentally
handicapped. If ECI can assume/decide that a voter can reach voting centres at
their own cost, irrespective of the distance of the same from their house and can
press a button to vote for their representative assumption of everyone casting
votes electronically isn’t wrong. People can caste the votes the way ECI asks
them to cast.
So to quote one of the simplest alternative can be asking voters to vote online. To do the same each user needs to cast their vote in a way so that the identity isn’t compromised, authentication of the user is done as per the database, the votes are recorded and voter is marked having casted their votes. The whole system also needs to be a fool proof system to avoid any failure during any process. The electoral system and election commission has evolved over a period of time and empowered to conduct the election in the manner they want to. A potential system of fully electronic voting can only start from registration stage. Let’s look at the way voters are registered today and the physical methods may be done away with:
Once voter is registered through
the above method, one of the unique authentication method shall always be
available with ECI for voter identification/authentication. Once authentication
method is registered, an authentic and worth e-voting system is needed. An
e-voting system should be able to perform all the activities in compliance with
set of standards established by regulators, and should be capable of dealing
successfully with requirements associated with security, accuracy, integrity,
speed, privacy, auditability, accessibility, cost-effectiveness, scalability
and sustainability.
The electronic voting technology may be including punched cards, optical scans and specialized voting kiosks (including self-contained direct-recording electronic voting systems). It can also involve transmission of votes via telephones, computer networks, ATM servers or the Internet.
With the unique authentication
method recorded, one of the below mentioned methods can be used for voting:
The typical doubt or question
anyone can raise is w.r.t. above methods could be related to confidence level
in the whole process, privacy of the vote having an idiot proof and fraud proof
system. All this is possible by replicating connectivity/communication methods
used in e-commerce, financial transactions etc. The methodologies used are
amongst the most secure ones. Let’s look at a simple method of API (Application
Programming Interface) based connectivity. The classic example of API usage are
fetching the travel routes from Google or fetching/debiting of balance from
wallets by online cab aggregators. Let’s look at the method from voting
perspective:
The three layer API connectivity method may help keep customer interface simple and customizable. The same can work on a desktop web app, mobile app, ATM Kiosk, third party utility app or SSID based input & response. The process layer may process the information being pulled and pushed basis authentication method and system layer can act and respond to the instructions. Multi-layer architecture can also be built up depending upon level & complexity of processes and connecting ports of intermediaries.
With every technology replacing manual intervention has proved that it saves cost & time. As per fundamentals of economics people and material are two critical resources. Adoption of latest technology helps in saving costs on both the heads. The money save in the above process is the hard earned money of people collected by Government. Even if government starts working on this in 2019, they can save ~ INR 7,000 Cr in 2024. A better use of the same is need of the hour for a country like India which is developing at the fastest pace, hence efficiency and productivity in each and every process is must. While there are very few countries which took steps to make Government elections completely online, the day is not far when all the countries would be adapting the same.
Would highly appreciate your critical feedback on my thoughts.
