#TransformingIndia

How  come  “  E Mail , E Mail – No  Reply “ ?

Business Line ( 05 Oct ) carries following news report :

“ Social Media puts positive pressure on govt : Jayant Sinha “

Interaction with students through social media creates a tremendous positive pressure on the government

If a school lacks in providing basic facility, people tweet about it . So , now there is a platform through which the issues can be addressed , said Jayant Sinha , Minister of Civil Aviation , at the India Economic Summit 2017 , which began here on Wednesday

Talking about the education system at a seminar, Smriti Irani , the Minister of Textiles and Information and Broadcasting , said :

“ for the first time we are discussing on how to make our education system better “, adding that ,

 “ now if a person has a view on policy decision that the government is working on , then their views can be taken into consideration . Interaction is something which the government is focussing on and it’s not restricted to education but to other segments also “

I am not doubting the good intentions of Shri Jayant Sinha or Smt Smriti Irani or any other NDA Minister

Nor have I any illusion that the Ministers would ever find time ( from their very busy schedules ) to read those hundreds of E Mails re “ Policy Reform Suggestions “ that they must be receiving daily

But if there is a genuine desire for encouraging ordinary citizens to come forward with their suggestions , then I urge the Ministers for implementing the following procedure :

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·         A computer generated acknowledgement  must go out against each email received . This will assure the sender that his suggestion has been delivered

·         The response must allot a unique “ Your Suggestion Number “ to each email

·         All emailed suggestions must be uploaded on the web site of the concerned Ministry and be searchable by the public in different ways , such as :

#   Suggestion Number

#   Suggestion Category

#   Keywords / hash tags etc

·         After log-in ( using Aadhar Number ) , citizens be allowed to “ Rate “ any suggestion ( of course , only once ) , on the following scale :

#   1   =   Irrelevant  /  Do not waste time

#   2   =   Useful /  To be evaluated by Policy Makers

#   3   =   Excellent  /  Must be implemented ( with changes , if required )

Any citizen-rater , should be able to see the CUMULATIVE  OVERALL  AVERAGE  RATING SCORE , but only after he / she has rated that suggestion – never before , to eliminate getting biased by earlier scores

·         Within a specified period ( say , 12  weeks from the date received ? ) , one of the following remarks , must be mentioned against each suggestion :

“ Based on the public rating and internal evaluation by the Ministry ,

#   Regret , your suggestion is not possible to implement

#   A similar / identical suggestion was received / evaluated earlier and rejected

#   Your suggestion is kept pending for future consideration . Keep watching !

#   Your suggestion is under active consideration by the Ministry for incorporating

     in its  future policy-revision / regulation / parliamentary action

  

Once the Ministry has published its decision as mentioned above , the suggestion will be “ CLOSED  for  RATING  “

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Dear  Policy  Makers  :

Like in the case of ancient Roman Forum or in case of some of our very own kings , it is not possible for the Ministers to hold public DURBARS to obtain suggestions from public

Since you are aware of the influence of the Social Media , I urge you to adopt the process outlined above . 

Such a process will be a genuine MANIFESTATION of a PARTICIPATIVE DEMOCRACY that goes beyond enabling its citizens to merely participate through ELECTIONS

15  Oct  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs