Respected Shree Modi Saheb,
Namaskar…!
I congratulate you on becoming the Prime Minister Of India for the third consecutive term. I wish you all the very best. I strongly believe that you are the blessing India has received from God. In the past 10 years, you have done much more than the earlier 67 years of Independence could do. I am grateful to you for that.
I, a humble citizen of India, put forward some of my expectations which I believe can be fulfilled by you.
Overhaul the Election Process
Even though the Election Commission Of India does a commendable job of organizing the elections in our largest democracy, the process is extremely inefficient, slow and old. It badly needs an overhaul. All the manual processes need to be automated. The inefficiency of the election process was evident in the huge queues people had to stand in for hours across the country this time. Today, if 90-100% of people come to vote, the entire system will certainly collapse.
Yes, we strongly advocate for “One nation, one election “, but we also expect the election process to be more efficient, fast and flexible. Indian citizens should be able to vote from anywhere, after reaching the eligibility age. It should be paperless. Aadhaar card should be made a basis for identification and control. This will make it much more reliable, flexible and fast.
Abolish Corruption
During your regime, top-level corruption has almost vanished. But, on the ground, there is not much change. All Sarkari offices everywhere still have corrupt officers. There is a widely held perception among people that most of the MPs , MLAs, municipal corporators, and Panchayat functionaries engage in corruption of all kinds. That perception does not appear baseless.
Almost all MPs, MLAs and other political persons of all parties seem to enter politics as a business to make disproportionate money faster. They “invest” money to win elections and then they want to recover that money manyfold. Hence, they indulge in corruption. We expect that this changes and our only hope is you. People using politics as a money-making machine must be stopped doing so. We believe you can do something about this. We hope your “Main khaata nahi, khaane deta nahi…” really applies nationwide in this hungry country of ours.
Increase the Accountability of Elected Representatives
Unfortunately, every MP other than you is not as hard-working, sincere and honest as you are. The same applies to MLAs and other elected representatives. Even the MPs and MLAs of your party also do not work for their constituencies as sincerely and hence in the end, you have to shoulder the burden to help them get elected. We believe that if each representative works sincerely, then they will win elections on their own. Devise some mechanism such that each MP/MLA is 100% accountable and it is visible to the nation. Set up some publicly visible dashboards for each one of them which captures their performance across some performance parameters.
Increase the Accountability of Citizens
Indian polity is truncated because about 35-40% of people do not exercise their vote. Some may have valid reasons for not voting, but most of these are just lazy and irresponsible. We suggest you should provide some incentives to people who vote and deprive others who don’t.
Reward Taxpayers
Even though the Indian economy is soaring high, the number of people who pay taxes is very low. These are the people, who contribute towards nation-building. They must be recognized and rewarded in some manner. This will incentivize others to participate in nation-building by paying taxes. Earlier, people were unwilling to pay taxes because they saw that their hard-earned money was being usurped by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. As it was famously said by one of your predecessors, only 10% of the money reached its intended purpose. Now, under your leadership, things have improved significantly. Now people know that there is an all-round development and hence they do not mind chipping in their own contribution. Do something to increase the number of taxpayers. Here also I suggest you should incentivize them.
Speed Up Justice
Indian Judiciary is almost broken and needs to be overhauled. Today, it takes ages to get a judgment. There are layers and layers of processes. It is a dying arrangement. Some drastic steps are required to end the inordinate delay and harassment in the legal process. Some types of cases must be handled immediately.
Privatize Public Transport
The government has no business in being in business. We have seen that privatized businesses provide better and cheaper service, which their Sarkari counterparts can never do. Private airlines provide better service at cheaper rates than government-sponsored Air India or Indian Airlines did before their takeover by Tatas. In the same way, private telecom operators provide better and cheaper service than BSNL or MTNL. Nationalized banks complain about “Server bandh hai” frequently. We rarely hear these words in any private banks.
Transportation is a daily challenge for most Indians. I believe privatized railways will be a game-changer and will provide much better service at cheaper rates. Similarly, most of the state transport services are known for being unreliable, inefficient and pathetic. All this can change if you give them to private companies.
End Politics of Freebies
All those who promise to offer free cash, water and electricity during elections must be forced to first declare the means to finance this largesse without disturbing the ongoing projects, initiatives and schemes. Without that, they will empty Sarkari coffers for their personal gains and will render the state bankrupt. They do not see anything beyond five years. They know they will not be re-elected, so they want to gather as much as they can during these five years for the rest of their life. We hope such elements do not get away with plundering our money.
Make Digital Tools More User-Friendly
Yes, your government has digitized a lot of services. But, unfortunately, most of the Sarkari websites and apps suck. Widely used apps like BHIM, UTS, IRCTC and websites of Income tax, Parivahan, GST, Municipal services, and banks can be made much more efficient if designed in a user-friendly manner.
I suggest you get reviews of all the websites, apps and other Sarkari digital services from actual users. They are extremely user-unfriendly. This is a reflection of our infamous bureaucracy. We expect that those who release such digital tools, use those tools themselves before subjecting gullible citizens to their inefficient design and making them suffer. They must be made accountable for ensuring the user-friendliness of the digital tools.
Stop Unsolicited Calls, SMSs
Almost everyone gets more than one unsolicited call or SMS every day. Many of such calls are robo-calls. It has become too rampant and it wastes a lot of National time. Many of these communications are scams also, which trap innocent people. These can be curbed by collective effort coordinated by the government. The government can inform citizens to declare spam numbers in their phone app and block them. With the help of telecom operators, all such numbers which are blocked by hundreds or thousands of users can be easily identified and dealt with. If there is a strong will, this nuisance can be curbed easily and it must be.
Revitalize Indian Post
Indian Post has become a wasteful enterprise. It has lost relevance. It is completely unfriendly. Their timings are inappropriate. Their personnel are incompetent. Their processes are age-old, completely disconnected from the current digital era. Their infrastructure is obsolete.
Today, when the Indian economy is thriving and logistics businesses are booming, Indian Post is wasting its resources. All businesses use courier services for dispatching their parcels and documents because the Speed Post service of Indian Post has impractical timings and rules! I request you to revitalize Indian Post to derive the maximum benefit of its huge potential.
I hope you will continue the good work you have been doing for the last 10 years. I wish to draw your attention to the above points.
Thanking you,
-Sanjay Shah
SME Business Coach