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Governance Archive
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Creating a Yelp for the government
Posted on October 13, 2010 | No CommentsIn 2004 website called yelp.com was created to help people find local businesses such as small restaurants, salons, etc. The idea of the website was simple. Any user or a business can locate itself on the map and provide basic information about itself. For example, a restaurant could describe itself and provide its menu and other details, and any user could review the organisation. Someone who is looking for a service, e.g. salon in a particular area, can now search easily for all salons by the price, services and reviews. What yelp does is to enable people anyone to find... -
Will trained workers in Panchayats improve the quality of NREGA?
Posted on August 15, 2009 | 3 CommentsMihir Shah argued in a recent article that trained workers should be appointed in each Panchayat if NREGA has to fulfill its promises. While Panchayats need personnel to implement NREGA, I argue that for the purpose of planning it would be better to create nodal agencies that take up planning sound works in a campaign mode. -
Politics, technology & accountability II
Posted on July 27, 2009 | No Comments“To be ruled is to be kept an eye on, inspected, spied on, regulated, indoctrinated, sermonized, listed and checked off, estimated, appraised, censured, ordered about…to be ruled is at every operation, transaction, movement, to be noted, registered, counted, priced, admonished, prevented, reformed, redressed, corrected”. Proudhon quoted by James Scott in Seeing like a state. The power of information is often used by those in powerful positions to control others. The right to information movement inverts this principle and turns the gaze on those in positions of power by making their actions visible and thus amenable to democratic control. Sharing information... -
Politics, technology & accountability I
Posted on July 26, 2009 | No CommentsIs accountability a political problem on which technology cannot have an impact? Some thoughts. -
Usability: Giving information is not enough
Posted on July 16, 2009 | No CommentsData, data everywhere, not a bit to use: Why the Budget website is informative but nearly useless, and how to make it usable The Government of India (GoI) has an informative website with all budget speeches and the complete set of budget proposals. Consider these simple questions: 1. Which department got the highest outlay? 2. What has happened to expenditure on child-related schemes over the last 10 years? 3. Which states are getting money for laying roads? 4. Which states have not used allotted money for primary education? 5. Do reserved constituencies get less allocation? These are reasonable questions people... -
8 Principles for open government data & beyond
Posted on July 16, 2009 | No CommentsIn an age of digital information, how should government publish electronic data in keeping with high standards of right to information. -
Will the Unique ID project improve accountability?
Posted on July 5, 2009 | 3 CommentsImproving accountability depends on political and social initiatives, and not technological solutions. But technology can shape society and politics in limited ways. This article looks briefly at how the Unique id project can help in improving accountability of the government to people in India. -
Overview of institutional change in Tamil Nadu & Governance
Posted on November 23, 2008 | No CommentsAn overview of institutional changes in Tamil Nadu over two centuries that explains the state’s relatively good governance Myron Weiner argued that India’s failure in providing universal education was due to the hierarchical mindset of the elite politicians and bureaucrats who did not consider it essential for children from the lower castes to be educated. Similarly in the Western world, there is evidence that evidence that relatively equal societies created provisions for universal primary education earlier. In other words, there is a strong relationship between social relations in a society and the role the government plays therein. I argue that... -
Murder of Lalit Kumar, NREGA activist in Palamu, Jharkhand
Posted on May 23, 2008 | 2 CommentsIn one of the worst cases of attack on an NREGA activist, Lalit Kumar was murdered this week in Palamu Right from the word go combating corruption in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has been a major agenda of activists of the Right to Food Campaign. Needless to say, it brings activists into conflict with the vested interests that are deeply rooted in India today. This week in Palamu, a young and committed activist – Lalit Kumar – was murdered, perhaps a result of his actions to secure the poorest of people their rights. I am reproducing an... -
India: Union & State budgets search engine
Posted on February 21, 2008 | No CommentsA search engine to search India’s Union budgets and State budgets (available) in one click A wealth of materials is available online today about budgets in India. Unfortunately they are dispersed across dozens of websites that take time to find. This search engine will enable to to search official budget websites of Government of India and most state governments in one click. It is periodically updated. The results are not perfect, but it is the best that I was able to produce given the clutter and the constant changes in the budget websites of various states. Loading
