Vivek's Info

People without a crisis

Vivek Srinivasan — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:00:37 +0000

Some people are in a crisis and others are enjoying prosperity…who should the government help? A serious policy debate.

Image courtesy: http://urbz.net/urbztedx/

Each February, I tend to get absorbed with debates on India’s budget in English news channels. As usual, there was some diversity in opinion – but overall, there was consensus on the problems, prospects and policy directions. Here’s my summary of what I understood from these debates on economic policy options for India.

First of all, it is important to understand that things are bad – really bad. Despite being the third fastest growing economy in the world, India’s economy is in a recession. Large industrial houses like the Tatas are finding it impossible to conduct business in India any more. Foreign investors are scared, large petro-gas companies are facing huge losses and telecom companies are deeply in debt thanks to the 2G saga. The corruption charges have also created tremendous uncertainty. Kapil Sibbal summed up the rather terrible circumstance of telecom companies when he said, “the golden goose won’t lay the golden egg anymore…at least for a little while”.

It’s not just the industrialists and investors who are in a crisis. The government too is in some crisis every now and then. Most importantly, the Supreme Court, which has no business in policy matters, has been interfering with policy every now and then. What business does it have in questioning the freebies incentives that government chooses to give to the hard working people? It’s true that a lot of the people receiving the incentives are relatives of politicians, but how does that matter? It’s reform after all – and reforms are awesome.

There have also been periodic problems with the so-called civil society that takes up extremely coercive and un-democratic steps like going on hunger-fasts and questioning the wisdom of elected governments. These protests have led to the UPA government’s ineffectiveness in forcibly acquiring land, which is the most important stumbling block in pro-market reforms. I guess one does not have to mention the Ministers who are facing jail time due to these undemocratic protestors. Thankfully, there are the opposition parties that trouble each other over minor issues but offer their support over what matters most. But for them, the crisis would be complete.

Amidst all this gloom and doom, the good news is that there are people in the country who do not have a crisis. Contrary to the troubled investors and industrial houses, these people have been consistently growing prosperous, and there has been no serious talk of any crisis among them - They are India’s agricultural labourers. This is the only community where the news is almost all good. Poverty is declining fast, and they are the only beneficiaries of it. After all, do we know even one case of a large investor or an industrialist who crossed the poverty-line in the recent years? Not one, I bet.

It is unfortunate that many of them do not realize that they are not poor any more – but that is a fact, and we know that. It is also true that they often don’t know how to eat properly or manage their finances well. If they did, they will all be well nourished, educated, healthy and prosperous. Such minor blemishes apart, they are doing extremely well as a group. In fact, they are doing so well that their prosperity is now becoming a cause of concern. Their wages have gone up so much that labourers are not available any more at a reasonable prices. This is contributing much to the industrial and farming crises.

Part of the problem is that their prosperity owes much to the freebies that the government has been generously squandering for sake of votes. These freebies have been making them lazy and make them so prosperous that they don’t want to work anymore. How are industrialists and landed farmers supposed to survive in this kind of a climate?

There is a thing to learn from the labourers though. We all know without doubt that the freebies actually do not reach them. That is why we have been asking for the freebies to be removed. But even without the freebies reaching them, the labourers somehow are getting rich and lazy – thanks to the freebies that they get. How they manage it, we don’t know. What we know are two well-established facts: one, the freebies have removed the incentive to work; and two, the freebies do not reach them and so they should be stopped.

So, it would be correct and just that we focus on the people who have a crisis and let those enjoying the unprecedented prosperity continue their good run by their own measures. In any case, we know that it is dangerous to do anything for the labourers since it will make them lazy. We also know that giving freebies such as coal, other people’s land, forests, rivers, lakes, oil, gas, spectrum, tax breaks, etc. to those suffering from the crisis will ultimately sustain the good run that the labourers are having. The options are clear, and we know what is right. It’s time that the damn government develop some political will and get on with what needs to be done.

It’s a…

Vivek Srinivasan — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:30:55 +0000

Hot News

I have been wondering for a while how I would announce to you the gender of the child once we got to know it. If it’s a girl, I’ll change my website to a pink theme and have balloons floating around was my first thought. I did not have an idea what I’d do with a boy. The thought lasted just a few seconds before I embarrassed myself with putting the child-to-be in gendered containers. I myself had been fond of pink for a long time. I remember a shopping trip during my primary school days when I demanded pink undergarments from the sales woman. “Are you a Muslim”, she asked. I still don’t know how she made that association.

I should confess that I have been struggling with the gender business. While I was at D.School doing my Masters I had a few feminist friends who did not hesitate to call my remarks sexist every now and then. Thankfully they did that with a smile and my reaction to that changed over time from ‘what on earth is she talking about’ to ‘oh my lord, did I say that’. Schooling on gender started in concrete terms from those years.

Much before getting to D.School, I had resisted well defined notions of who should do what. My father had encouraged me not to be afraid of being different, and in high school I had become fond of JK who helped me understand that well defined ideas of who should do what is a great source of unhappiness. My feminist friends helped me appreciate the lines drawn around women’s lives, circumscribing their freedom and happiness. And here I was thinking of painting my website pink for an unborn child.

My sociological training since has led me to question gender stereotypes. And then I got married.

Marriage does many strange things and one of it was to mess with my sociological training thus far. There were many strong differences between Dr. K and I, many of which were gendered in the conventional sense. It is true that she contradicts most stereotypes of women, but the gendered differences between us were too much to ignore. If that were not enough she started introducing me to new stereotypes but with the difference that women were right on top in all of these. Men just cannot multi-task and women are just superior in it. Where do you think humanity would be if we did not manage our work and taking care of children at the same time? We would all be dead. I have not yet figured out how to accept the strong portrayal of women and yet reject the stereotyping involved?

Every now and then a Porsche would pass by us and Dr. K would say, it must be a man, perhaps suffering a mid-life crisis. Why on earth would you buy such a costly car that breaks down all the time? It just does not make any sense. Every now I then I would silently smile with the knowledge that the driver of the car was indeed a woman. If you’re a little boy out there, not all is doomed!

I have noticed that many of my sweetheart’s new stereotypes too have their flaws. On one occasion we were behind a Porsche with a male driver that was just ahead of us when the signal turned red. She was arguing that women are more patient and this helps them accomplish more. The signal had turned green and the Porsche did not move in 1.5 seconds. What are you waiting for? A signal from God? She yelled. I guess my sweetheart too is struggling with stereotypes.

The good news is that we both agree that our child should grow up with the courage to engage in things that he or she values and not be bound by crushing boundaries. And we want the child to make these choices thoughtfully and with kindness for others. Hopefully, we will do our job as responsible parents in exposing the child to many daily wonders that surround us and help the child find happiness in many an activity.

I should add that I am fairly conservative when it comes to certain things. I would prefer a girl’s name for a girl and a boy’s name for a boy. I would be uncomfortable with calling a boy ‘Rachel’. There is no logic to it, but I accept my conservatism on that account. Having learned the gender of the child, I have devised some names for the child. I asked Dr. K what qualities she desires in a name and she said that it has to be less than nine letters long and easy to pronounce. I told her that I have a name that is less than 9 letters and everyone in the world can pronounce it. Instead of being happy or curious she became nervous, I don’t want our child to be called Apple or Google she said. I guess we are jumping ahead in talking of a name, I have not yet told you if it’s a boy or a girl.

Talking of jumping ahead, my wife who wishes to plan for everything well in advance has been planning things for the child. She is already working on a school, setting up college funds, drafting our will among other things. At this rate she would finish planning all that have to be planned for our child’s life and our own lives in the next few years. My theory is that by the time we are both 40 she will start planning for our afterlives, for there will be nothing else left to plan by that time. In the meanwhile there are things like clothing the child. She learned of a sale of children’s clothing two weeks ago when we did not yet know the gender of the child and decided to use the occasion.

We had our conversation about stereotypes on our way when she declared that she does not believe that boys should not play with Barbie dolls. We reached the store and she instructed me to look for neutral clothes since we did not know the gender yet. I picked a pretty pink Onsie and a beautiful red Christmas-y coat. I told her that I don’t mind boys wearing pink and she was embarrassed that others could hear it. She does believe in boys’ clothes for boys’ and girls’ clothes for girls. We have since learned the gender and shopping has continued. I will leave you with a picture of one piece that my sweetheart bought for our yet to be born child, and that shall finally let you know what you came here for.

The start of a long journey

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 21:39:28 +0000

Joy, fear, pride, panic, love, relief and a range of other nouns could have explained my emotions when I heard the news from Dr. K. To be honest, my dominant reaction was ‘eh, ok’. After all, it’s not a new release of an iPad or some other cool gadget on which you start getting excited nine months in advance, right? We were merely dealing with an organism that was then just a set of twenty or so cells, dividing itself like bacteria and fighting its way to a temporary shelter. Not something to be excited about so much in advance.

As far as I was concerned, you did things and babies popped out, and in between there were some visits to the doctor – the rest, if any, were boring details. My wife who is a medical doctor believed that there was more to it, and she went about with great zeal to educate me of the process with videos, newsletters, ultrasound pictures and other educational materials. With these, we traced the development of that undistinguished organism as it rapidly developed a shape, and before I realized, that little kidney bean had a throbbing heart.

It was merely a few weeks ago that my little swimmer met her little egg to become a microscopic cell…and it now had a heart. It was kind of wonderful. I am told that the little bean with a heart will grow rapidly and before I know, it will have a personality. The thought of that scares me. A wrinkly little human being will pop out in a few months and I am inevitably going to influence its personality for at least a dozen years. The thought of it is overwhelming, and the irony is that as a young teacher my frustrations so far have been about my inability to influence the young ones!

Since the closest model of fatherhood I know is of my own father, I tried recalling how he went about this business. I was scared before and the recall freaked me out. Perhaps, because my ideas of parenthood were deeply influenced by him, I think that he played a rather perfect role himself, and I don’t like the idea of starting such a challenging journey with such benchmarks. (BTW, I know what you are thinking, and let me put some of your thoughts to rest). In saying that my father set rather high standards, I am not trying to give myself a character certificate. I think of parenting as a process that influences but does not determine the outcomes – and that is a part of what makes it so scary. The process can be driven by very different principles, values and understandings – and my ideas about it come directly from my father, and naturally, I have high regards for his approach. The problem with his approach is that it was based on a lot of trust on me and on the society at large. Unlike a lot of children around me, I was given a lot of freedom to try things and to take risks, and I owe much of my happiness to it. It is very ideal and very scary.

Useful links on Open data

Vivek Srinivasan — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:14:41 +0000

My bookmarks on open data movement. Constantly updated.

Understanding Tamil Nadu’s commitment to public services

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 19:03:31 +0000

My doctoral dissertation at Syracuse University

Compared to most other states in India, Tamil Nadu is noted for widespread provision of education, primary health care, nutrition support, rural roads, electricity, water and other public services. These services are typically well planned and tend to work well. I examine what determines Tamil Nadu’s performance. I argue that widespread and decentralized collective action for public services plays a critical role in it but such collective action is a new phenomenon, dating back to the seventies. I also argue that normative challenges by major social movements, changing influences of various social groups and raising individual capabilities among common people played an instrumental role in enabling such collective action that ultimately had an impact on public services.

Download, read, annotate, share

You can download the commentable version of the dissertation here. Apart from reading the PDF document, you can easily insert comments using your PDF reader, and if you choose to, you can share them with me or with others to enable a social reading experience. We can thus gain from collective knowledge, understanding and critique. All you need for this is Adobe Reader 9, or later, to review this document. Open the document in Acrobat or Adobe Reader and make your comments using the Comment & Markup tools. When you are finished, click Publish Comments to automatically return your comments to the author and all other reviewers. Your comments will be private unless you click on the publish button. I hope you will share your comments, and enjoy the social reading experience. Click here to download the dissertation.

Coupons and cash transfers give people a choice unlike the PDS

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:25:34 +0000

This is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction, click here.

Another strong argument for coupons or cash is that the recipients will have the choice to spend it on what matters most to them. Proponents of reform have argued that the Indian policymakers tend to be paternalistic, and often argue that if the government gives cash instead of grains, poor people may misuse it, including by drinking it away. They have argued that it’s important to trust poor people to make choices that matter most to them. I fully subscribe to that argument. Even if there is a condition that beneficiaries should only buy food using the cash transfer, having the option of buying cheaper grains instead of rice or wheat offered in the PDS could be attractive to many a poor family. Ashok Gulati argued that such choice could also bring about diversity in diet, which is a desirable goal. If choice is something that we really care about, it is possible to introduce it in a limited extent in the ration shop itself. Beneficiaries often have the choice of getting rice or wheat, choosing kerosene over other alternatives, et cetera. The range of goods that are sold through the PDS could be increased, and a limited set of choice could be easily introduced within that system. PDS reformers of a different brand have argued for a long time that the range of goods available through the PDS should be expanded, some of which should be sold commercially, in order to make the ration shop the more viable. Such a system exists in Kerala. While the range of choices may be increased at the ration shop, cash transfers are clearly superior alternative from the perspective of choice.

Poor people will use the cash transfer for the intended purpose

In response to the argument that men in poor families may use the cash for alcohol instead of food some have pointed out that 92% of the people who received cash to buy bicycles bought them in Bihar. This was given as an incentive to send girl children to higher secondary school. The assessment that money was used to buy-cycles as intended seems to be correct. That said, it is a poor analogy to how cash transfers for food will be used. In the example, girl children were expected to buy bicycles and provide proof of the purchase to the school teachers. Such a mechanism would be totally infeasible in the case of monthly quota of food grains. Kaushik Basu among others have argued that cash transfers should be made to adult women in the household, and this has proved around the world to result in higher spending by the families on food, education, health and other desirable ends. I feel that this is a much more serious basis of arguing for cash transfers than the bicycle example. Similarly, I am sympathetic to the argument that we have to trust the beneficiaries to use it for what they consider are the best reasons, even though it will result in some cases of what the society can judge reasonably to be a misuse of such benefits.

Coupons give a choice of shops

Another choice argument made by the proponents of reform is that cash transfers and coupons make it possible for the beneficiaries to go to an alternative shop in case the one that they’re dealing with is corrupt. Today people are tied to a particular ration shop, and if the shop does not deliver they cannot do much about it. The idea that people should be allowed to take their entitlements to a different place is powerful, and that can actually put a lot of pressure on corruption. While that idea is powerful, it has strong limitations in a lot of rural areas that are serviced by very few shops. The coupon system in particular will be vulnerable because of the fact that a private shopkeeper will have to recover her money from the government by providing the coupons, which could involve delays, corruption, et cetera. This may prevent most shopkeepers from taking coupons, while the rest can merrily charge what they want without any accountability to the holders of the coupons. Shopkeepers can cite this as an excuse and charge what they want from the coupon holders. Since there will be no obligation for the shopkeepers to sell the goods at a particular price, they can hold the coupon holders to ransom without any legal accountability . In other words, they can do exactly what a ration shop dealer would do in terms of charging excess price but the act will be totally legal. It would be a case of eliminating a crime by eliminating the law. The coupon system makes corruption a very attractive proposition since legal accountability is considerably reduced in public-private partnerships. The argument of choice of shops hinges on the idea that there will be unrestrained competition between shops. In most areas the choice of shops will be limited and the possibility of collusion is large. Further, officials can easily ensure that honest shopkeepers do not get reimbursed on time and thus keep them away from the system. If the profit motive of a shopkeeper will drive competition, it can also drive collusion and corruption to the last penny that can be extracted. The removal of legal accountability, accounting norms and other features that now govern ration shops will only increase the attractiveness of corruption with the coupon arrangement. Such a risk will be lower in the case of cash transfers, though it is possible that beneficiaries will be tied to either a bank or some intermediary from where they will have to collect the benefits; instead of paying a bribe at the ration shop, they will pay this at a different place. The idea of giving a choice of shops could be done in a limited fashion within the PDS without compromising on accountability mechanisms. In urban areas, users can be given the choice of going to any ration shop, and this can be made possible easily with the use of smart cards. An official in Tamil Nadu told me that they consider such a proposal within the current PDS with respect to Kerosene, where the subsidy is high. They proposed to open kerosene bunks that can provide an alternative to ration shops, and under measurement could be controlled more easily in mechanised kerosene bunks. Running ration shop involves overheads, and the possibility that people may go to some other ration shop to collect their entitlements will threaten excessively corrupt ration dealers, and create a similar kind of pressure that coupons and cash transfers will accomplish.

Gift of the Magi 2.0

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:17:06 +0000

“Don’t forget to take sweets when you go to meet your uncle and aunt. Both of them have diabetes, and they are not supposed to eat it; but that does not matter, you will take sweets with you when you meet them”, Prem remembered his mother telling him. It was that practice that had made him unprepared for his current reality. He came from a world where there were only occasions, and there were prescribed gifts for prescribed occasions. Recipients did not matter, and a gift as inappropriate as sweets for the diabetic was deemed appropriate. In his current place and time, people take themselves seriously, and there is every chance of offending someone by not respecting their individuality. Choosing the gift is the ultimate act of recognising and respecting such individuality, and the perfect gift reflects that. You are expected to give the perfect gift. It will soon be March 24, and he had to get a gift. “I hate the fact that they keep adding these special days. We already have special days for love, friendship, fathers, mothers, human rights and whatnot! Why this new one?” He felt a special kind of tiredness that one gets when one searches online in vain. The eyes became hot, the body stiff and the mind, empty. He flipped from one webpage to another in search of the perfect gift. “March 24 is it”, asked his colleague sensing his anxiety. “Yeah. I just don’t seem to be able to find the perfect gift” “What are some things that she likes?” “umm… stuff she can wear…”, said Prem sounding unconvinced. He had been rather preoccupied with his work and himself, and had not managed to watch out for the things that she would love to have as a gift. “I have to get her the perfect gift though”, he said as an afterthought. “I have to show her that I understand. It’s March 24 of all days”. It has been declared as the day for cross-cultural couples, and it is expected that you demonstrate understanding. It all started two years ago, or perhaps one could say that it started 10 years ago. That depends on one’s perspective. Peace activists worried by the prospect of wars in an era of growing cultural misunderstanding had started a day of understanding for people across cultures. That was 10 years ago. Enterprising marketers discovered that they could sell a thing or two if they focused on the growing market of cross-cultural couples. The relentless advertisements began two years ago, and that is when March 24 became significant for most people. Show her that you care said the first ad and he ignored it. The next picture was of a dejected woman who had just learned that he does not care. He tried to ignore that as well. The advertisements then started following him everywhere. It was in his inbox, his newspaper, phone, GPS, radio, TV, road and everywhere he went. Respect. Care. Love. Despair. Joy. Dejection. Oneness. Abandonment. Words kept tumbling onto the screen, and his anxiety increased with every word. “Did you try AGiftWithInsight.com”, asked his colleague. “What is that” “Dude! It’s the coolest new app in town. Can’t believe that you do know it.” “What is it?” “These guys, they track everything you do. Based on that they can suggest you the top three gifts for anyone. It’s amazing. They will be bigger than eBay. Trust me”. The website sounded impressive. We track every product that appears on your screen, the website announced.We analyse the products that you browse most and you spend the longest time looking at. Based on this, we get unprecedented insights into just the thing that your special one wants to have, but feels like she does not deserve it i.e. the perfect gift. “That is convincing… but does it work?” “Do you know your girlfriend better or does your computer?” “I guess, the computer” “Of course, that is a no-brainer. It gets to spend more time with her, it gets to know her most intimate thoughts, and it gets to know things about her that she will not allow anyone else know”. Somewhat unconvinced, he searched for the perfect gift coupon instead. An advertisement appeared on the search screen: Gift coupon: the perfect way to show that you do NOT care. AGiftWithInsight.com. It was watching him. There was no escape. Della in the meanwhile was looking for insightful gifts as well, and from the same source. It recommended three gifts for him, and the top of the list was an earring. “That is one terrible piece not worth wearing”, she thought to herself. “Why would he want an earring…he does not wear one”. “Could it be that he was reading about it to buy one for me, and perhaps the silly computer imagined that he wanted it for himself?” “Is he seeing someone else?” She glanced at the second option, and it was a service to send money to India to the ones you love. “I am not the only one, am I?” The third suggestion was a subscription for a dating website. She was now ready to break down. “I never really thought that it would come to this”, she said to herself. I really want to spend my life with him, she thought. “I have somehow have to convince him not to leave”. Unknown to him, a gift with insight was tracking everything he did. The earring had become the talk of the town when a well-known socialite appeared on camera wearing that. Just that. It was too special a news to ignore. Prem indulged himself in it between the boredom of his work, till he indulged in the boredom of his work in between the news. A gift with insight faithfully recorded his interest in the product. “There is just one way for me to find out if he really cares”, she thought. “I will see if he buys me the perfect gift”. She had always wanted a book series on mediaeval English history that she never dared to buy for herself. It was too costly to indulge in. “Will he buy that for me? Or perhaps, he will buy me the earring… Oh God, I wish he buys me the earring”. I should tell you at this point, my dear reader, that our protagonist had not realised her interest in mediaeval history, whereas A Gift With Insight had accurately recognised it. But like any good web service, it had a revenue model. It would identify the top 10 products that someone wanted badly and allow the manufacturers of these products to bid to be among the top three suggestions displayed to the seekers. It was a win-win. Surprisingly, publishers of mediaeval history were not among the highest bidders. Prem would never get to realise her greatest wish. While we are at it, let me add that the only enthusiastic bidders for an Indian male age 28 were companies that transferred money and dating websites that Della was suggested. Della started probing online to see if she could establish any connection between him and the diamond earring. A gift with insight faithfully recorded that she was reading about the earring, while she bordered on a nervous breakdown not knowing what he was up to. “I really wish that he will give me the earring”. March 24 came and Prem gave her the diamond earring. Kisses rained on his cheeks, while tears rained on hers. “She seems happy, the website does work”, he thought to himself. “Sweetness”, she said, “I thought about what I should give you for a very long time. I wanted to give you something that you would love, but more importantly I want to show you that I will stand by you no matter what you decide to do. I have sent the gift to your place, you will find it waiting for you there”. Prem went home to find an envelope waiting for him. He opened it with a sense of accomplishment that he has finally found her the right gift. He was curious to know if she met his standards. The envelope was opened and he found a membership coupon for a popular dating website. “Why has she sent me this? Is this a signal that she’s moving on? She even said the she will stand by me no matter what I do… Was that to prepare me? Did she cry out of joy or did she cry knowing that she’s going to hurt me soon…” There was no end to his questions. The Magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the baby in the manager. O. Henri believed that they invented the art of giving Christmas presents. They are said to have brought gold and delicacies to the one who went on to become the greatest apostle of voluntary poverty. I guess they invented the art of inappropriate gifts as well. And here I have related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children who unwisely sacrificed for each other. But in a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

Poverty as a choice: Response to a friend

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:11:42 +0000

This is a response to a long and rambling comment by a dear friend. Dear Venki: thank you for being an avid reader, even if it is against your best instincts J I can always take some words of encouragement from a "senior" of my high-school days. Your words were encouraging and I am keen to accept the personal remarks. That said, I will have to respond to your worldly wise(?) comment about poverty being purely a choice. That is a little too tempting, considering that much of our relationship is built on arguments. Let's get an argument out of the way. If you were to say that every individual - rich or poor, Ph.D. or barely literate - irrespective of her circumstance has the space to take initiative, to be enterprising and to advance her well-being - I will have no quarrel with it. If you were to extend that argument to say that space for personal improvement means that the context in which we live does not matter to our well-being, I will have to quarrel with you. Do young parents in our dear city line-up at midnight to get an admission form for Pre-KG because specific schools don't matter? Is it silly of people to pay a lot more to live in neighbourhoods with a good school in the US? After all, one can get a much bigger-better house for the same price in a "crappy neighbourhood" (to use a popular American term), if the neighbourhood does not matter. There are way too many things that we do for our children in preparing them, no matter what choices they would make in their lives later. Such preparation, investment and consistent support that we will provide will make them what they will be, and such things have made us what we are. While choices matter, we are also a product of the environment. The question I need to ask you is whether you recognise that the majority of people in India were raised under oppressive circumstances: from having to be hungry in childhood, to living amidst violence, and being curtailed of the most basic civil liberties imaginable. Even in our parent's generation bulk of the boys and girls of this country were chided for wanting to go to school. What good will education do to these children is a popular cultural phrase that millions of children had to hear growing up. Will our children grow up and make the 'same choices otherwise' if they hear it again and again? Will we let them hear such remarks? Will they choose to focus in school irrespective of whether they are well fed or starving? I have been stubbornly individualistic and protective of my realm of choices. This involved going against the things that are 'done' in our culture in matters including education, employment, choice of entertainment, fashion, and marriage – some of which, you would agree are of a consequence. I do tend to think that I have worked hard - not always – but quite often. I believe that thoughtful choices and hard work have mattered in keeping me happy, and I would vehemently disagree with anyone who would claim that they do not matter. But then, how can I ignore what a creature of privilege I have been? Wonderful parents, inspiring teachers, supportive friends, and incredible random strangers have lent a hand time and time again. Let us take you, for example. The discussions I have had with you and our other close friends in our formative years opened my world to all sorts of things. You guys inspired me to learn words voraciously and to play with them. We started a magazine together. Today, you appreciate my writing. I have struggled to improve it, but what would it be if it were not for all of you? We read, we debated, we engaged, and we were passionate about so many things under the sun. You mention the passion in the writing. Where would passion be if it were not nurtured in companionship? I have made choices, but not without encouragement, tips, support, teaching and affection. In making the rather abstract comment about poverty being a matter of choice, you mention in essence that others do not matter. In saying that, you are ignoring an essential aspect of human lives. In saying that, you are negating the good influence that you have been in the lives of others. I can't let you do that my friend. P.s. Ok, that was a little too much. Our common friends will recognize the rather partial representation of our engagements, but then extreme arguments do seem to help with my whacky friends. Hope you enjoyed the read!

Combatting corruption with mobile phones

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:09:19 +0000

During the 1980s, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), an NGO working in rural Rajasthan in India began to campaign for access to government records related to wage employment programs for the rural poor. In the course of their work, MKSS discovered that accessing official records and information was critical to exposing corrupt practices by officials at a local level. This soon became the central strategy in their fight against acts of corruption. MKSS rallied the support of other NGOs in Rajasthan, and started protests to make access to official records a legal right. The success of this movement in Rajasthan encouraged organizations in other parts of India to join hands with MKSS in lobbying for a powerful right to information law for the whole of India, which was passed in 2005. MKSS and other NGOs involved in India’s right to information movement realized that merely having access to government records was not enough given the sheer complexity of the records and peoples’ ability to understand them. Over the last 20 years, they have developed a system for collecting, processing, and verifying government records and information on the ground. This process, known as a social audit, has now become one of the most popular tools to combat corruption in India. Social auditing evolved in a rural setting in response to corruption that happens on a regular basis at the village level. This form of corruption is often referred to as corruption in the “last mile,” and it manifests in forms such as siphoning of pensions from the elderly, appropriating the wages of daily labourers, or diverting subsidized food grains from beneficiaries. The social audit approach allows India’s poor to play an active role in reducing corruption in their communities. Social audits are typically organized by NGOs that work closely with the community, though some state governments in India have institutionalized this method with official patronage. The process of an audit involves gathering official records about a particular government project or development work (for example, cash books, muster rolls, measurement books, supply lists) and verifying if the activities and projects on paper, actually exist in reality. For example, let’s say that a ration shop that distributes subsidized food grains has recorded that Ram came to the shop every month and received 10 KG of wheat each month for the last six months. A social audit cross verifies this information through a door-to-door survey, where Ram is asked if he actually received his entitlement. If the audit finds that Ram did not receive his fair share, the community has proof that the ration shop siphoned rations and thus the act of act of corruption is exposed. The power of this process is evident by the fact that even though very few convictions happen on the basis of the findings of a social audit, data shows that the levels of corruption have reduced appreciably in places where audits have been organized regularly. After the data has been compiled, a large public gathering is organised where the data and findings from the audit are presented to the public. Typically, government officials, administrators, and citizens are invited to participate in these gatherings. . The fundamental method of a social audit seems rather simple at first glance: access the official record and cross verify it with the person receiving the services or goods, such as the case with Ram. But, when you dig more deeply into the actual details of how the process takes place, there are many complexities and challenges. For example, one needs a lot of experience and expertise in order to understand which records to access, and whether they are complete and accurate. Once official records are obtained, it takes considerable skill and time to process the records before the door-to-door survey for verification of records can take place. These and other complexities make a social audit a costly affair requiring considerable human resources, skills, time, and organizational effort. As a result, social auditing has not been adopted on a wide scale throughout India, despite its promise. My hope is that with the right technology, the process can become more streamlined and efficient, and thus adopted more broadly. I am working on an initiative at Stanford University’s Program on Liberation Technology to explore ways that technology, and particularly mobile phones, can be used to combat corruption at the grassroots level, and enhance the existing social audit approach. Through basic mobile phone SMS technology, official records on basic individual entitlements such as pensions, subsidized food grain, and maternity entitlements could be delivered to individuals via monthly text messages. Individuals, such as Ram in the scenario mentioned above, would be able to compare the count provided in the text message with the amount of rice he actually received. This would help him identify if he received what is legally due to him, or if a part of his entitlement was swindled without his knowledge. We hope that this knowledge in itself would empower people who have been victims of corruption and would enable them to use this information to approach various grievance redressal mechanisms that they have access to. This might involve approaching senior officials, confronting the corrupt, or even taking up protests against the corrupt. At a later stage of the project, it may be possible to add other features that will enable the victims of corruption to take action using mobile phones. For example, the SMS could include the phone number of responsible officials, or an NGO could collect the complaints and initiate action on their behalf. While possibilities abound, we believe that the best initiative will come from the people themselves. The main benefit of using SMS technology is that it requires very limited skill, knowledge, or effort from the user. And, it eliminates costly, time-consuming in-person surveys and audits. By using this technology, official information can be disseminated on a regular basis, unlike in the current model where social audits are done sporadically. Like any technology tool, this of course has its limitations. One of the critical functions of social auditing in India has been its role in mobilizing the general public. The process of gathering people together face-to-face in a public meeting creates a collective energy, which can motivate people to fight corruption. By digitizing this system, these public gatherings will no longer be needed. That said, we believe that mobile technology brings the ability to more widely and regularly expose corruption that directly affects individuals, and as a result, has the power to ultimately lead to even greater collective anger that is often a precursor to mobilization. Further, it arms individuals with precise information – something they never had before — that officials cannot argue or ignore. The project has now received the commitment of officials in the states of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in India and a team that we helped organize is just starting to build the basic technology to store and disseminate public records. We will start with select programs such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India and expand the coverage over the next few years. Once the technology is ready, it will be implemented for two years in randomly selected villages, so that we can test if it has an impact on corruption compared to other villages where the system has not been introduced In the last 15 years, the number of countries with right to information laws has increased dramatically. Along with this, there is increasing digitization of public records, which will make this kind of exercise relatively cheap. This means that we now have the legal and technical infrastructure to enable millions, rather than a small number of well organized groups, to combat corruption. I would like to thank Alma Freema’s support in editing the article.

Need for public service mobile application foundation for India

Vivek Srinivasan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:05:29 +0000

During my last visit to India, I participated in a few meetings on questions such as strengthening the right information act, the role of the PDS, and other social issues. In all these meetings there was a vigorous debate on how mobile phones could be used on each of these issues given the rapid spread of mobiles in rural India. Despite periodic discussion about the use of technology, I did not hear viable ideas among my activist friends. I believe that this is in part because most of them are not advanced users of technology, and they have definitely not indulged in creating any application based on mobile phones. Consequently, they do not have the technical imagination on what could be done and what the limitations of technology are, even when there is a feeling that technology could be put to good use for the causes that they pursue. While that remains the case with seasoned activists, many new initiatives have come from those who are savvier with technology. These interesting initiatives including an online bulletin board that could be accessed via mobile phones, mobile phone interface between underserved groups and medical professionals, monitoring of elections, platforms for civic complaints, et cetera. While the applications per se are simple, the process of creating and deploying these applications is made a lot more complex by the fact that they have to deal with telephone operators to get short codes and other infrastructure, negotiate better deals with these operators for getting good rates, get servers (the location of the servers is sensitive since calls/SMS I typically initiated from these locations, and thus they have implications for cost), and deal with a lot of other technical issues that are in some sense peripheral to the project. In addition to these technical issues, there will now be legal issues including a recent law that permits a maximum of 100 SMSes per SIM card per day. Dealing with all these issues, along with the cost of commercial providers makes mobile based social projects a costly one to undertake, that can be demotivating for most people who wish to take it up. Given the context where a number of activists are thinking about the use of mobile phones for social causes, and the context in which a number of young people are taking imaginative initiatives, it would be useful to have a foundation that could offer basic mobile-based services on the cloud for public services applications. Such a foundation could accelerate innovations in mobile based applications by reducing the costs of creating such systems. I imagine that such a service will offer servers that could be used to send and receive SMS messages and voice messages, a set of phone numbers that could be used around India, built in modules for surveys, mass messaging and other common uses. Finally, it should also offer an API for those who wish to build applications based on their need. The foundation can also negotiate good rates with telephone companies and train users on the legal issues. Services such as Twillio in the US offer many of these capacities on ready-made basis, and services such as SMS-Gupshup have started providing some of these in the Indian context. These are mainly commercial providers, and so they costs are substantial. Public service websites like Kiirti.org provide some services for free, but they do not offer a facility for others to create applications using the website. Google’s SMS channel is a good resource, but it does not allow for customized messages. Thanks to these limitations, there remains the need for a platform with broad based capabilities; I believe that it will go a long way in fostering innovation in using mobile phones for social causes.