Saturday, 20 May 2017

Anniversary of Delhi-Haryana Water War :: how AAP did this year, can we do better next?



After I started following the work done by AAP in Delhi, I saw this problem occurred at least once in every year. While this problem is not new to Delhi, but this is third consecutive year when I heard about it. Following are some news articles from 2015 and 2016. You can find more coverage on this by searching on internet. 



Water shortage due to Jat protest in Feb 2016 was a man made disaster, but other than that, who is responsible for? It took weeks of time for government to negotiate and a year later, same issue. If this problem occurs every year, I’m doubtful if both the parties have a proper plan A, B and C. After seeing the tussle between AAP govt in Delhi and BJP govt in Haryana, we can’t deny that it can also be politically motivated. In both the years, it took at least 2 weeks for the governments to solve the issue, even Delhi govt they had to threaten to cut water supply to VIP areas for equal distribution; and this announcement accelerated and solved the problem. So, if our loved politicians were worried about their low priority citizen, they would have taken necessary steps at beginning. 

Year 2017 is here so the summer. As usual, it happened again. But story was different this time, AAP was ready to face it with two previous year shocks. They immediately wrote to LG Delhi, Haryana govt, central govt and took necessary steps with a precautionary threat to our loved ones. This prompt and proper actions by Delhi govt with Haryana govt solved this dispute in 2 days and water got released on third day (link). So, if problem is solved without extra rain/season then what was motto at the first place? politics? 

The 2017 water crisis has not been much into debates because it did not last long. Another issue was Kapil Mishra issue because media houses were busy in debating crisis in AAP. As Kapil Mishra allegations were proving to be wrong, we can’t deny the possibility that BJP ruled Haryana govt knowingly stopped the water supply to bring back the AAP in the criticism. Either there was genuine reason that Haryana govt saved its lifeline water in 2 days or opposition didn't expect to solve this so quickly. Here they forgot that this new party is hungry to learn lessons from their mistakes and decisions. 

Delhi AAP govt is making the difference in education (because they have complete control). I believe, at the same time, they are also learning from previous mistakes and incidents. The solution of water crisis in 2 days can be perfect example of this learning process. 

We can continue discussing if AAP will survive or not. Even if it dies after two years from now, I may not care. But when it comes to its citizens, both state governments should find a permanent solution. Haryana govt agreed in Dec 2014 to find a solution (means there was water crisis in and before Dec 2014) and stop playing politics over this. Our fourth pillar should also stand up together and provide a platform for discussion among different parties including not only politicians, but also experts/analytics who can provide best solution under such crisis. Some of our fellow citizens had already proposed some suggestions (e.g. Suggestion 2014, Suggestion 2011, some of them might be irrelevant by now). If such yearly dispute do not happen in future, it's same govt, courts and staff; they can be useful to work on another project for better India. 


Monday, 15 May 2017

Status report on EVM and its reality check


Screenshot from ECI status report on EVM published on May 9, 2017 
The above screenshot taken from recently published Status Report on EVM from Election Commission of India (ECI). The full report can be found by clicking here. The paragraph stating that "Currently, in the USA, the Direct Recording Machines are used in 27 states, among which paper audit trails are used in 15 states"  seems partially true. Yes, EVMs are used in USA according to respective provincial legislation. More details about EVMs, the province use them, how many constituency use them, where the VVPAT is used; all this information can be found by visiting by www.verifiedvoting.org. In the description of website it states that "VerifiedVoting.org is a non-partisan non-profit organization that advocates for legislation and regulation that promotes accuracy, transparency and verifiability of elections" which seems promising that this organization consist of technical and social experts from different institution and organizations. 

In India, we are lacking of this kind of institution which can give independent opinion and analysis about the challenges we face in politics vendetta. This can be because of political pressure/influence, less social awareness, work culture or whatever you can name it of. We can ignore all these threats and enjoy the holiness thrown at us from political parties, and be happy with the filtered government policy implementation. 

The status report was prepared before (on May 9, 2017) all political party meeting (on May 12, 2017) and ECI had already decided the path they will be going for. The report mentioned some examples of countries where EVMs were used and most of them have discontinued except for USA as discussed in above screenshot. After visiting verifiedvoting.org, I found following map about usage of EVMs across various states in USA. 


Map of voting mechanism across different province in USA. Source: www.verifiedvoting.org 
Interestingly, Massachusetts switched to paper ballot for 2016 election where DREs without VVPAT were used in 2014. After going through the map and the list, there are 29 provinces which use DREs partially or completely or with other combinations. NOT all of 29 provinces used DREs solely. 

Out of 51 province in USA: 

  • 5 use DREs without VVPAT (similar to we use in all across India) 
  • 7 use mix of paper ballot and DREs without VVPAT 
  • 3 use mix of paper ballot, DREs with and without VVPAT 
  • 12 use mix of paper ballot and DREs with VVPAT 
  • 1 use DREs with VVPAT only 
  • 1 use mix of vote by mail and DREs with VVPAT 
  • 3 vote by mail only 
  • 19 use paper ballot only 
After reading the text "VVPATs are used in 15 states" on status report, it made me feel like these provinces use DREs with VVPAT only so I decided to dig into it. There is only one province in USA use only DREs with VVPAT across province. After looking at the detailed map of a province and constituency where combination of voting methods are used, it is distributed across province which varies from province to province e.g. Utah uses DREs with VVPAT in about 2/3 of province and vote by mail in rest. 

While writing the status report, ECI made sure that all the positiveness about EVM are included. They also mentioned that how EVMs had been used in The Netherlands, Germany and Ireland but left to us find out that why they discontinued. Report included incomplete data about usage  EVMs in USA, a normal user can perceive that 27 (instead of 29) province in USA use EVMs while 15 of them use EVM with VVPAT. At present in India, we use EVMs without VVPAT and comparing it with USA (another country in World to use EVM) where only 5 province use the same is not comparable. 

Tuesday, 9 May 2017

this is how users said #iBribedKejriwal

It wasn't first time when people supported a political party with such an enthusiasm. Indians around the world bribed #ArvindKejriwal's #AamAadmiParty in response to 2 crore bribe allegation on party convener. 

At the end everyone need money and they work hard to earn it, but when they start donating it for a political party (which most of us including me used to hate), means there is something which needs to be fixed. Although I have seen paid trends where users are paid to tweet #hashtags from their account but a #hashtag where people donate money to a political party, never!!! 

Some sample screen-shots of how people reached to #iBribedKejriwal. Love to see such an unique support. 



































I'm still looking forward for the time, when I will see a similar wave/trend from supporters of other parties. And I promise, I'll write a better blog about that.