Dec 7, 1998

The people want action Mr Vajpayee. What next after insurance?

In the eight months he has been prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been to assertive action what Kumbhakarn was to insomnia. Pokhran apart, he has carefully smothered any urge he may have had towards decision-making. Compromise is a wonderful virtue in interpersonal relations. If it becomes the guiding principle of governance though, it can only lead to disaster: the fallout of the recent assembly elections is there for Vajpayee to bear. Ironically, in the very week of the polls, the BJP-led coalition lumbered its way into liberalising the insurance sector and throwing it open to foreign equity. Despite the opposition from luddite trade unions, the unshackling of the insurance business is a necessity. Rational economists will hope that this is only the beginning of reforms, phase II.

It will also be politically judicious for the BJP to make more such dramatic gestures -- and not just in the area of economic policy. The underlying message of the past week's elections is that the Vajpayee regime is on notice. Only the foolhardy believe this Government -- indeed, this Lok Sabha -- can survive five years. To borrow a cricketing analogy, Vajpayee is in the last 10 overs of a limited overs match. It is a time to hit out or get out; only the truly cretinous will try and build an innings. Whatever emotive issues it may bring up -- or resurrect -- the BJP's fortunes in a possible mid-term election will substantially depend on its performance in office. Excuses about obstructionist allies will not wash. Vajpayee's doctrine of "do nothing, anger nobody" is guaranteed to leave the BJP bereft of an agenda. Personally, it will result in him competing with I.K. Gujral for the title of India's most ineffectual prime minister. The option before Vajpayee is therefore to take tough decisions even at the risk of angering any (fairweather) friends and attempt to recapture the popular imagination. Alternatively he can continue to sleepwalk, perhaps survive a few months longer -- and buy himself a ticket to the dustbin of history.

Techno-Democracy

Electronic voting will make elections cheaper, quicker and better

Though limited to a few constituencies, the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the recent round of assembly elections is a good augury. India's relationship with technology-friendly democracy is as old as it is tempestuous. It began in 1982 with the deployment of evms during the Kerala assembly elections. In 1989, 1.5 lakh machines were ordered -- cost: Rs 7,000 each at current rates -- for widespread use in the Lok Sabha elections. A somewhat highly strung Opposition protested that the ruling Congress would pre-program the EVMs and rig the polls. That was the end of the experiment -- till November 25, 1998. By all accounts, the EVMs have been well-received by voters and have not evoked alarmed responses from candidates. It would be appropriate to persist with their use and even work towards the abolition of manual voting in, say, 10 years. It has been calculated that Rs 200 crore worth of ballot paper will be saved during a general election if EVMs were to be made mandatory. In times of deforestation as well as tight budgets this is a godsend.

A well-managed democracy is not simply one which holds elections at regular intervals. Another test is the ability to safeguard each voter's right and do so efficiently. The use of EVMs is one method; photo identity cards are another. T.N. Seshan launched a scheme to this effect when he was chief election commissioner. In the end, Seshan spent Rs 100 crore, won himself a million headlines but gave less than half the voters usable I-cards. Now the voter I-card programme has been subsumed under the home minister's "citizen's card" project. This second incarnation too cannot be allowed to fail. I-cards will also take care of imperfect electoral rolls -- whereby a citizen is cheated of his franchise due to tampering or plain error. Between them electronic voting and I-cards are India's route to total democracy.

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