An accountable political system

For once the French president has gone beyond Carla Bruni in making a statement about Dollar loosing its sheen as a global currency.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Forex/Dollar_is_no_longer_the_worlds_king_pin_currency_Sarkozy/rssarticleshow/3710105.cms

Only some time back i came across this feed as well on India and China. the asian super power economies also failing to bail out the world economy. (The fairy tale thought that India and China will undo the evils of a banking disorder worldwide is a chimeric one. Feels good as an Indian though.)

Then there is a also the clamor from the Indian contingent to honour it with greater status than the Bretton Woods accorded it. This was a part of the G 20 meet and it seeks to undo the historical mistake of under rating India's role in the world economy.

On The home turf, there is also Nandan Nilekani who is writing about how India is climbing on its world superpower status. All this makes me proud. Feels good that a nation which had lost some of its stature in the world after the 1800s is gaining it back in 2000s! The Indian Business Community and the Indian Intellect has a healthy contribution to this achievement. While the governance has made some contribution to all of this, yet it is far from being an active agent ringing the change in.

Governance in India is still a far cry from a Obama-esque "change" philosophy to turn the country into a better place and the citizens a better lot. It is governed by the politics of religion and regionalism. A 123 agreement which was the only natural way forward tok an year to get through the parliament. Hygiene and Healthcare are stil tottering way behind the world living indexes. We dont have enough doctirs, enough medicals, enough health centres to impart a basic level of hygiene to our citizenry. Our country is electrified only on paper. Education and literacy levels are moving upwards but most of it is not even basic. We dont have roads, we dont have drains, we dont have drinking water, we dont have a sound irrgation system. At the end of it all, the representatives in the democratic government are a corrupt lot with no accountability to his people and the system.

Can this change? Yes it can. WIth the advent of IT as a media, there is no beter way to ask for systems of accountability. Can ministers be answerable to media and the public on questions answered in open forums on the net? Can there be an independent assessment of developmental projects and efforts of these lot of ministers? You may need to create provisions in the constitution but it can be done.

So why does it not happen that way? Lack of political consenses. When a corrupt party judges another corrupt party, it is basically collusion to fake it before the Junta.

Media has been playing a role in establishing such systems but the efforts have not been concerted and probably few and far between. It is time to ask for such accountabilities to be mandated from the representatives of the people in the parliament.

Without that, we shall always be "just short" in terms of realising our potential ever and always.