1. Role of Business
and Government
Enabling a Groundswell of Change
Rajesh Jain
NetCore Solutions
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2. We need to combine Information,
Participation, Regulation, and Tech
Information Participatory
Infrastructure Governance
Regulatory
and Tech
Framework
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3. An “InfoStructure” is needed to
aggregate and dissemination information
• Constituency-level
– Local data
– Social and Infrastructure Metrics, and changes
over time
• Election-time
– Candidates info availability in structured format
• “Political Bio”
– Track promises made
• Governance
– Actions, Results, Scorecards, Comparisons, Funds
flow 3

4. Citizens need to be given ways to
Participate in the Governance Process
• Two-way governance: Input and Involvement in
Decisions
– Engagement
– Feedback
– Response
• Businesses also needs to be involved in a positive,
pro-active manner
• We, the People, need to be more-proactive
– Will need Time from each one of us
– Real Reform will come when candidate quality
improves
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5. This needs to be supported by a
Regulatory and Tech Framework
• Regulation
– Transparent Government Act
– Mandatory declaration of info
– Internet / Mobile voting?
– Sharing across government agencies!
• Technology
– Internet
– Mobile
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6. Experiment: Use of SMS to disseminate
info in recent Assembly Elections
• Chattisgarh, Delhi, MP, Rajasthan Elections
• 4 free, opt-in, multi-lingual SMS channels for updates
on candidates and their criminal records
– eg. To subscribe: sms START ELECTIONDEL to 575758
– Promotion: via ads on MyToday and ADR website
• 1,500+ citizens subscribed
• 15+ SMSes sent to each subscriber
– There are 24 MLAs in current Delhi Vidhan Sabha with
pending criminal cases. Vote for clean candidates this time.
– The present Delhi Vidhan Sabha has 70 MLA’s out of which
6 MLA’s are women (Src: Delhi Govt website). 6

7. Ideas for “InfoStructure” in
National Elections 2008
• Internet + Mobile combo
– Constituency-wise info availability
– Candidate comparison
– Political party info
• Opt-in SMS service to drive voter education
– Voter Registration
– Candidate info
– Alert on Election day
– Feedback on ‘Mischief’ (SMS, Photos, Videos)
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