Never Forget, the Vision

[An earlier version of the vision document can be downloaded here]

The Vision:
After the heinous terror attacks in Mumbai on Nov. 26, 2008, everyone in India has been wanting to "do something about it". However, there is much to be said about what exactly can be done by the Indian masses. The idea described below is an attempt to provide an avenue for the energies of the masses today.

At the heart of our effort is the idea of promises that can be evaluated. We want to find out whether our elected leaders are implementing what they promised to do in their common minimum program/manifestos , and that can be done by periodically monitoring the progress on each and every one of them. And this data can be used by the electorate to assess performance by way of our ballots.

The other core principle that we base our endeavor on is that of verifiable analysis. Each and every claim made in the course of our effort, without fail, will have to essentially be accompanied by a reference either documentation or factual press release. We believe that this will give our work the credibility that is seen lacking in several current editorials and articles about the state of the nation.

The System:
The system this effort visions to create will be one where anyone will have access to, and will be able to contribute to, the following information:
For each elected representative currently serving: (This can be an MP, MLA,Corporator or anyone who was "voted into power" at any level. This also extends to "entities" such as coalitions that are appointed to positions of power and make promises. E.g., state and central govts.)

The list of promises made by above elected representative, and
For each promise made:

1. A tag stating that the promise cannot be evaluated (e.g. "I will improve the condition of the girl child", as opposed to "I will make a school for 30 girls where they will be given free education upto higher secondary level". The latter promise can be evaluated , the former cannot)
2. The current status of delivery of said promise (e.g., "Currently the school building has been created and can seat 20 students. Enrolment has still not begun")
AND
3. The response of the elected representative on our claims of performance.

Note that each piece of information provided above has to have citations clearly stating where the information was obtained from, whether an RTI application to the Election Commission or the PWD, a newspaper report, or even a youtube video that a citizen reporter has shot.

Additionally, the system will also be accompanied by a website which will host articles based on the data in the system. This will make for the "easily palatable" capsules for those who are short on time but are still interested in the state of affairs in their constituency. Continuing our high-standards, each claim made by our authors in these analytical articles will have to be accompanied by a reference to the exact piece of data in our system that readers can go through if they are interested.

What we will NOT do:
There are some things that we have deliberately chose to NOT engage in during the course of our efforts. Specifically, we will:

• NOT provide a summary score of an elected representative's performance. We believe that it is not for us to decide whether you care more about education of the girlchild or better parks for our kids to play in. Therefore, we will provide you all the dataabout all the aspects of the elected representative's performance, but will not aim toprovide an overall grade.
• NOT comment on the potential of the opponent of the elected representative at election time. Our belief is that only verifiable claims should be made, and if we do not have performance data on the opponent of the current elected representative, we will choose to not make any claims about his/her potential as the next elected representative. This should not be assumed to mean that we are endorsing the incumbent, simply that we do not have enough data. If we do have data on the performance on the opponent, we will provide a link to his/her performance report page.
• NOT focus on the crimes committed if any (alleged or proven) by the elected representative. While we believe that the complete personality of the candidate should be taken into account while making your voting decision, we choose to keep this specific effort only about promises made by elected representatives, and their performance of the same. We expect the voters to refer to other sources of information to get data on the candidates' past acts unrelated to campaign promises.

What YOU can do:
The system, of course, will need you to work for it to be viable and successful. In case you are wondering, you can help out in the following capacities:

• for each constituency [one per elected representative]
  • People who will get the information [perhaps through RTI]
  • People who will upload the data on the web
  • People who will write easily understandable [and thoroughly cited] articles based on the data for the constituency
• Web designers [the art work is a big part of getting the message across]
• Backend designers [the idea is to build this system using freely available resources, so we depend on no one for funds. If you know what the google app engine and the google mashup editor/yahoo pipes are, you are in the right place :-) ]

The elections in Delhi and other states held immediately after the terror attacks on Mumbai, the voter turnout was between 55 and 63%, a high turnout by any standards. Many analysts have claimed that the focus of the electorate in deciding the outcome of these elections was on development [cite-needed]. This indeed marks a change in Indian politics that has so far been focused on communal issues such as religion, caste, or region. This gives one hope that a system such as the one described above can really be used by people. One constituency, one elected represented at a time.