Universal and Global Manifesto for Governance

UNIVERSAL AND GLOBAL MANIFESTO

1. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO BE “UNITE AND SERVE” IN CONTRAST TO THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF “DIVIDE AND RULE”

Most of the models of governance across the world are based on the basic principle of divide and rule. People are first made to identify with a particular group in contrast to the other groups. The use of this technique or strategy is meant to empower the ruling class to control and exploit the masses. The ruled populations is made to believe that their interest is in conflict with other groups and therefore they need to resort to specific actions to protect and guard their interest by opposing and countering the activities and interest of the other groups. This often results in clashes between the different identity groups leading to the opportunity for exploitation and extortion by the vested interests. These vested interests would always keep on looking for opportunities to create groups with separate and distinct identity and would flare the emotions of the members of the group by giving rise to their sense of insecurity and fear that their group identity and interest is under serious threat. Unless there are different group identities with perceived interests which are in direct conflict and clash with each other, there would be no opportunity for anyone to exploit, rule and control the masses. Some of the most common examples which have been used to make people identify with different identity groups are in the name of nationality, religion, caste, language, state, physical features and other similar attributes. This is basically based on the concept of “I am I and you are you and therefore, I and you are different and since we are different, I am better than you”. The concept of jihad to spread a particular faith is a direct outcome of this thought process. This policy of “Divide and Rule” is one of the root cause of oppression and suffering of the mankind. In this model, instead of collaborating, human effort is directed towards pulling in different directions. As a result, humanity is not able to gain what it could gain otherwise if it decided to unite, collaborate and serve rather than being fooled by some vested interests who would continue to apply the policy of divide and rule. The divide and rule policy not only results in exploitation and perpetuation of the rule of a smaller number of people on a vast majority, it also leads to a lot of wastage of the resources and efforts which otherwise could be utilized for the positive developments and betterment of the mankind as a whole. Discarding the policy of divide and rule would mean that state would not recognize any division between the human being which could give rise to conflicting interest groups. It would mean that state would be completely neutral to the distinguishing attributes of the different identity groups and would endeavour to minimize the opportunities for people to indulge in identity politics leading to conflict amongst them. Wherever required, state would take control of any such situation by directly assuming the responsibility for management of any such affair which has a potential to develop into an identity politics in conflict with other identity groups.

2. Abolition of the concept of private ownership and sale/purchase of all natural resources including the land, water, air, space, forests, wild life and environment, minerals, energy or any other natural resources. Proclamation of common and collective ownership of all such resources by entire humanity and judicious utilization of all these resources for the common goal and welfare of the humanity as a whole.

Every human being, or for that matter, any living organism is dependent on the nature for its physical survival. Since every living organism needs the support of the nature and environment to sustain its body, it can be presumed that all living organisms, present and future, have equal right on all the natural resources available on this planet. It is, therefore, imperative that nobody is allowed to hoard these natural resources and these resources are preserved to the maximum extent possible so that the coming generations would not be deprived of these resources. Since all these natural resources are the common wealth of all the living organisms on this planet, it is crucial that nobody is allowed to control and hoard these resources beyond the immediate requirements to meet their needs as well as the needs of others for whom they may be working as an authorized agent. Some people may be better skilled and in a better position to utilize and manage these natural resources in comparison to the others and they may be given a reasonable and justified premium for their extra skills and extra efforts to make the natural resources available in the usable form for all others. However, this would not mean that people ought to be allowed to hoard and control these resources purely for their selfish interests depriving the rest of the people from enjoying the benefits of these resources. The state also needs to keep the needs of the coming generations in mind and therefore, instead of allowing the complete private ownership rights on the natural resources, people ought to be given only specific and controlled permission of its exploitation and use and that too with a specific condition that such exploitation should not be in conflict with the interest of those who are not directly involved in this deal between the private party and the state. It also needs to be ensured that the benefits accruing out of such utilizations are distributed amongst all in a reasonable and justified manner and the entrepreneur is not allowed to get more than what he would otherwise get as a common owner of this resource in addition to a reasonable premium for his investments, efforts and skills.

3. Provision of minimum and basic necessity to live for all
a. Food
b. Shelter
c. Clothes
d. Education
e. Healthcare
f. Travel
g. Entertainment

Since all the wealth and assets that anybody would create on this planet would be as a result of their interaction and interface with the environment and natural resources which would be proclaimed under the common ownership of the entire humanity, it can be deduced that all the wealth and assets that is created by anybody has a substantial part of it under common ownership. Therefore, the entrepreneur can be given a premium for his skills and efforts however that premium can be decided only after the minimum resources required by all to help them live a dignified and respectful life is set aside from the total pool of assets and resources. While it would be important to keep in mind that people would need incentives and motivation to put in extra efforts and take extra pains to convert the raw natural resources into usable assets, the state need not forget that the basic ingredient for all such finished assets and resources are under common and collective ownership. It would, therefore, be an onus on the state to provide the basic food, shelter, clothes, education, healthcare, travel and entertainment services to all as they happen to be the owner of the raw material for the finished products and services. Once these basic needs of all are taken care of, the rest of the resources can be distributed amongst the entrepreneurs in proportion to their skills, efforts and investments. There need not be any fixed idea about what are the basic needs and requirements of the masses. It can be a dynamic consideration which could be a function of the advancement in science and technology, availability of the resources and the maximum premium that can be considered justified for an entrepreneur for his efforts and investments. A guiding principle could be that the ratio of recurring income between the most inefficient and unproductive person and the most efficient, skillful and enterprising person in the society need not be more than say 1:50. This ratio can be arrived at by a detailed debate and discussion between the economists and the technologists in terms of calculating the value component of the unfinished natural resources under the common ownership and the value component of the input contributed by the entrepreneur.

4. Equal Opportunity for all in all areas of life without any discrimination whatsoever in the name of caste, creed, religion, social status, education, economic status or any other attribute which is not natural but manmade.

Once the divide and rule strategy is done away with, the state can afford not to recognize the individual distinguishing factors like caste, creed, religion and other such attributes which give rise to identity politics and social conflict. State can be completely neutral in its approach in terms of providing equal opportunity to all its citizen in all areas of life without any discrimination whatsoever. The state’s endeavour would be to be as objective and impartial as practically possible. In such a state, there would be no scope for a religion based personal law or caste based reservations. Universal and unified rules and laws shall be applicable to all the citizens without allowing any scope for separate and personal laws for individual groups. While people may be allowed to do whatever they prefer to do in the individual private life, any collective and common affair and activity shall need to adhere to the state rules and laws.

5. Rewriting of the constitution and all other laws keeping the current and future trends and advancements in technology in mind with emphasis on the model of self governance and administration.

The constitution was written between 1947 and 1949. In the last 66 years while the constitution has been the authority behind the governance and administration, the world has undergone an unimaginable change. With due respect to the founding fathers of the constitution, it was simply beyond their comprehension, while they were drafting the constitution, that the constitution shall be required to serve a society wherein internet and information and communication technology would be an integral part of everyone’s life. They could not have imagined of technological advancements like human organ transplants, artificial intelligence, electronic fund transfer, nuclear power plants, space flights, personal computers, genetic engineering, digital media, mobile phones, internet and social media. They could not have imagined that technology would break all the barriers of communication and would substantially overcome most of the hardships that was being faced by the humanity during their days. It is, therefore, imperative that we rewrite the constitution retaining all its elements which have proven itself beneficial to the humanity as a whole and dropping all the rest which have become irrelevant and obsolete in the present day context. We need to reapply our brains to focus on what ought to be part of the constitution while keeping in mind the current and future trends in technology and its application in governance and administration. We need to realign ourselves as per the changing times and the need of the society. Most of the existing laws, governance & administrative process and legal provisions have lost their relevance and we need a fresh legal and constitutional framework and provision for the internet age.

6. Adoption of the concept of directly elected public representative at all levels of governance. Election of public representatives through technology driven geo-tagged secured electronic identity of people being represented through online elections eliminating the need of physical booth level elections with provisions for continuous and uninterrupted control of electorates on elected representatives.

In the internet age, when the world has become a small village as far as flow of information is concerned, the process of election need not be what it has been till date. Anybody who is expected to serve a particular section of population ought to be elected directly by all those whom he or she is expected to represent and serve. In the present day election process, contestants are required to file nominations, which need to be manually verified and authenticated followed by door to door campaigning and voting at a central point on a specific day. Once someone is elected, he or she is considered to be the fate accompli for the electorates till his or her term (which is normally for five years) comes to an end. This system of election is afflicted with the use of money and muscle power, vote bank and appeasement politics and irregularities in the election management process. It also gives rise to serious challenges in terms of conducting an election in a fair and transparent manner. Because of the limitations of this system, there are discussions and debate on issues like right to reject and right to recall. There is serious cynicism amongst people about the effectiveness of such an election process. This system also leads to a lot of wastage in the form of mobilization of election management officials, cost of election offices and related consumables and stationary, campaigning, booth management and mobilization of the electorates. In this system, the voters have absolutely no control on their representative once he has been elected. In the alternative system that is being proposed, there would be no need for any fixed date of election. Anybody could nominate himself or herself by filing an online web based nomination which would need to be automatically authenticated and verified based on electronic authentication of the individual through his biometric data linked electronic identity and on the basis of rules related to the fulfillment of the eligibility and other criteria. This nomination process could be on and open for ever for all types of constituency without any restriction on anybody to file his nomination as long as they fulfill the constitutionally specified minimum eligibility criteria. The voters in a particular constituency can vote for any candidate who has filed his nomination and whose nomination is valid at the time when the voter wants to vote. A voter can vote from any election enabled platform like an ATM machine or any other electronic public service platform or by using an internet based online terminal by getting himself authenticated through his electronic identity which would be linked to his biometric data and geo-tagged to his constituency. A voter can vote and change his vote as many times as he wants in a day and can vote from any election facilitation electronic platform from any part of the country. Since his electronic identity is geo-tagged to his constituency, he need not be physically present in his constituency while voting. His valid vote would be the last vote that he has casted. There would be no requirement for him to go to a pre determined public booth on a particular date and time to vote. In this election process, any candidate who polls the majority vote at a particular point of time would automatically get elected as the public representative and may continue to remain in the post as long as he or she is not displaced from this position. A public representative would automatically be displaced from his position if the number of votes polled by him falls below the number of votes polled by any other specific individual consecutively and without interruption for a specific period, say 90 days. Once a candidate has consecutively polled highest number of votes for 90 days without any interruption, he would automatically replace the incumbent public representative and would continue to be in this position until displaced from this position or until his death or disqualification on some other ground.

7. Stringent minimum eligibility criteria in terms of demonstrated and committed personal sacrifice, commitment, dedication and passion for public service for being elected to the posts of public representatives and positions of authority and power wherever there would be any scope for discretionary decisions. Elimination of all scope and possibility of nepotism, favouritism, bias and prejudice in the discretionary decisions of public representatives by adoption of preventive mechanism before election of the representatives.

Most of the people who are or want to come in the public life today are motivated to reach to these positions mainly to exploit the system and misuse their discretionary powers and authority purely for their vested personal interests. They are mainly guided to earn as much as possible for themselves and their near and dear ones. This motivation not only leads to a dynastic tradition in public life but also vitiates the democratic system. Public positions become a platform for perpetuating the dynastic rule and for continuation of the exploitation of the masses. Such people would go to any length and would stoop down to any level to protect and guard the interest of themselves and their kith and kin even when it is directly in conflict with the interest of the masses. The system of nepotism and misuse of discretionary powers and authority for “I, me and mine” is one of the main reasons of general public looking at the so called political leaders with a sense of contempt. Additionally, when incompetent people usurp the public positions of power and authority, they tend to indulge in unscrupulous activities which create a very dangerous trend for the governance and administration. It is, therefore being proposed that the concepts of dedicated people for public cause as per the rules and regulations for the pracharaks of RSS, full time cadres of communist parties and the concepts of sannyas ashram of Hinduism be adopted and prescribed for the people aspiring to contest the elections for the public positions of power and authority, e.g. member of a state legislative assembly or member of parliament or sarpanch of a gram panchayat. The minimum eligibility criteria for public and political life could be stipulated as below

1. Political Party Sympathizer:

Anybody, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender, nationality, religion, language or age can voluntarily commit to sympathize with the party ideals and can take upon themselves the responsibility to spread the vision and ideologies of the party and message of the party leaders. No formal registration or special commitment shall be required for being a party sympathizer.

2. Primary Member of the Political Party:

The primary member of the party must commit to
a. Refrain from indulging in any activity in any manner which is in conflict with the interest of the masses
b. Contribute towards bringing transparency and openness in public domain
c. Abide by the ideals, vision, policies and principles of the party
d. Abide by the decisions of the party and maintain discipline in the organisation without compromising on personal ideals and values.

3. Party Executive Position:
To become eligible for holding an executive post in the party organisation, the minimum eligibility criteria could be
a. Must be registered as a primary member
b. Should commit to work full time for the party
c. Should be able to demonstrate that his or her family expenses would be taken care of, for a lifestyle and standard of living, at par with what it had been before the member assumes the Party Executive Position as a full time responsibility.
d. Should have achieved reasonable success in life prior to joining the full time party executive position. This success could be in any area or walk of life which the candidate would have chosen as the main source of earning livelihood for himself and his family.
e. Should not have any legal or criminal case pending against him or any of his family members and should not have been convicted for any offence in the past. (Cases registered due to political and public activities without any direct personal interest of the candidate would not lead to disqualification).
f. Should be intellectually at par with someone who has formally studied at least till class 12.
g. Must be in perfect physical health without any chronic medical condition

4. Public Representative:
The eligibility criteria for being considered by the party for a public representative position (MLA or MP etc.) would be

a. The candidate must be eligible to be appointed to a party executive position.
b. Should legally transfer all his movable and immovable physical assets, resources, wealth and properties to someone else before filing his nomination as a public representative so that the total assets to be shown in the nomination paper is nil and it continues to be nil as long as the member continues to hold the public post.
c. Commits not to live with his family and not to favour his family, relatives and friendsnas long as he continues to hold the public representative post. Treats his family members and relatives like any other citizen of the country and does not help them get any special treatment.
d. Commits to forego his affiliation to his caste, creed, religion, race etc. and swears in the name of universal power to stick to a life of service to humanity to bring peace and cheers on the faces of all human beings.
e. Commits to submit all his benefits and perks received in his capacity of a public representative for public cause and to live like an ordinary citizen with very basic resources and salary as considered appropriate by the political party.
f. Should be intellectually at par with someone who has formally studied to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in any stream of academics.
g. Would commit to the principles of Asteya (non stealing) and Aparigrah (not possessing anything beyond what is absolutely necessary)

5. Minister / Public Executive Post Holder:
The eligibility criteria for being considered by the party for a minister / public executive post position would be
a. Qualified to be a public representative
b. Should be intellectually at par with someone who has formally studied to obtain a masters degree in any stream of academics.


8. Levels of governance and administration to be decided on the basis of technology enabled process driven rule based geographical, economic and demographic considerations. Constitutional division of power and authority at various levels of governance, e.g. national level, state level, district level, block level and village/colony/mohalla level based on electronically geo-tagged population and service catchment.

At present the constitutional division of power is only between the state and the center. However in this system, the specific local needs of the people which are a function of their unique geographical, economic, cultural and demographic attributes tends to get ignored. The centralized policy makers often tend to be unmindful of the specific requirements and availability of the resources at a local level. This leads to a lot of wasteful planning and inappropriate allocation of resources. It is being proposed that the constitutional division of power be reorganized by a careful study of what type of planning and execution can be implemented from what level. Instead of a fixed division of power between center and state as in the present form, the levels of governance could be decided on the basis of service catchment and population. For example, for every 10,000 people living in a contiguous geographical area, there could be a level of governance which could be named as panchayat government or colony government. The services like maintenance of local roads and lanes, street light, maintenance of places of worship, parks and gardens, maintenance of resident security and safety systems, management and distribution of utility services like water and power, primary education, management of cultural and religious functions and other similar services of local nature could be the subject matter of governance at this lowest level. For every 10 panchayat or colony government, there could be a local municipal or block level government. For every 10 municipal or block level government, there could be a district level government and for every 10 district level government, there could be a state level government. The areas of the governments at different levels and their service catchments may be automatically reorganized every ten years based on the changes in the factors like demography and economic activities. While the number proposed here and the methodology is only illustrative and indicative, the purpose is to devise an efficient system of governance and administration which would result in participation of the masses in deciding what matters most for them rather than the fates of the masses being in the hands of those who have absolutely no understanding of the implications of their decisions. The funds for governance at each level could automatically be distributed from the central treasury based on the budgetary requirements of the governments at various levels. Governments at each level would prepare their own budget and an algorithm could be developed to allocate the funds to meet the budget expenses of various levels of the governments considering their respective budgetary requirements, the priority of the requirements for services of the governments at various levels, the collection of taxes from various catchment areas and the total availability of funds in the public treasury. The governments at each level would have their own permanent staff and paid employees to manage their affairs and would be free from the control of the governments at higher levels for their specific subjects of services and areas of governance. The governments at various levels would collaborate wherever some service area falls in their concurrent subject list of service or governance. No government at any level would be superior or inferior to government at any other level. All of them would function within their respective jurisdiction as per the division of service between them as defined in the new constitution.

9. Governments at all levels to be sensitive to the local natural, environmental and cultural needs while formulating the laws without any specific consideration for religion, caste, creed or any other manmade attribute to distinguish between people.

The government at all levels would be sensitive to the local cultural traditions and environmental requirements while formulating the rules and laws for their respective jurisdiction and service areas. There would be absolutely no recognition of the caste, creed, religion or any other similar manmade attribute which can lead to a system of identity politics or vote bank politics. However, this does not mean that governments would not be sensitive to the requirements of its service catchment in terms of their cultural and religious traditions or the requirements arising out of the local geography and environment. Protection of the nature, natural environment and resources would be at priority since these factors are normally linked to the local cultural traditions and customs. Emphasis would be on maintaining an ecological balance between man and nature. Development and growth would be considered only if it is not in conflict with the nature. For example, a local government can prevent tourism or construction of new houses or development of a particular industry in an area if they feel that such an activity can adversely affect the local environment which may be considered fragile and highly sensitive to such activities.


10. Replacement of bureaucratic model of administration with real time transparent collective decision making process with fixed accountability. Implementation of performance appraisal of public servants by public through technology enabled transparent online performance management system.

Bureaucrats are the most important functionaries in the current day administrative system however these bureaucrats are not accountable and responsible for their acts and deeds. They are supposed to act like the servants of the public but they tend to act like the masters of the public. Bureaucrats are mainly interested in completing their term, enjoying the power and status associated with their post and earn for their own family and relatives. They do not feel the pain which may be a result of an act of commission or omission on their part. They do not seem to be answerable to any one and may continue to keep raising issues which might lead to postponement of decision on any subject. Such actions are normally guided by the personal egos as well as the selfish considerations of these bureaucrats. Once the bureaucrats are made fully accountable for their actions and are made answerable to the public through transparent technology tools and are controlled by the public representatives at local level, the system of governance and administration would undergo a drastic positive change. If all the officials are made to act simply like the support functionaries for the public representatives in true sense and a continuous control is maintained over them by the public representatives without allowing for an opportunity for a nexus to be formed between them, they would be bound to act in the efficient, effective and productive manner. It is being proposed that officials at all levels work directly under the control of the local public representatives who should be authorized to control their service conditions. The service rules for an official at Panchayat level ought to be determined or legislated by the government at Panchayat level. The service rules for an official at district level ought to be framed by the government at district level rather than being imposed by the central government or the state government. The governments at all levels ought to be fully authorized to hire or fire any official for their respective service area. The panchayat, block, district, state or central governments may have their own employees and would frame the service rules for their respective employees. The administrative decisions at all levels of governments, from panchayat to central, shall be taken by the public representatives and the general body of the public. The officials would be merely the tools to implement such decisions and they themselves would remain under the administrative control of the public representatives. The performance of the officials at all levels shall be managed by an open and transparent web based online tool wherein all the public, who have had an opportunity to interact with the official or have directly or indirectly been affected by the acts and deeds of the official, shall rate the performance of the official. The salary hike, promotion, service benefits or even continuation in service for officials shall be decided on the basis of such performance management tool which would collate and compile the direct feedback from the public on the performance of the official. All the officials of all the departments including the senior administrative officers shall be governed by this general principle. The official here would mean anybody who obtains a fixed monthly salary from the public fund in return for a specific service and would include all the service providers like teachers and other educational service providers, doctors and other health service providers, public transport employees, welfare officers, public utility and services employees, law and order maintenance service employees, judicial services employees, engineering services employees and all such people who have not been elected but selected to work for the people in return for a compensation.



11. Single global electronic identity for all human beings and linking of all services, rights, duties, obligations and other personal records with this identity.

Today we have one Aadhaar card issued by UIDAI for all citizens. Aadhaar captures our biometrics and other details. These details are supposed to be linked to our bank accounts for direct transfer of government subsidy benefits in our bank accounts. A separate data collection is also under way in the name of national population register. Additionally, we have numerous other documents. We need one passport to go across the country border. We need a driving license as a proof of our authorization to drive vehicles across the country. We need a separate voter id card to vote in elections. We need ration cards, vehicles registration card, BPL cards, pension card, bank passbooks, credit cards, club membership card, party membership card, medical and health history card, medical insurance card, life insurance policy, educational certificates and marks sheets, railway reservation ticket, airlines boarding card and so many other cards. It is suggested that all these different and various schemes be scraped and replaced by a single electronic identity device. This device could be operated with the biometric authentication of the individual and could be linked to all the services, rights, duties and obligation. This device could be a small solar powered device with a two way satellite as well as local peer to peer communication capability. The communication backbone for this device could be something like Outernet. (Outernet is a project of the Media Development Investment Fund of New York. They have plans to launch hundreds of low-cost miniature satellites known as “cubesats” into orbit around the Earth to create the Outernet, a wireless connection to the Web available for free to every person in the world. If everything goes according to plan, the Outernet could be here as soon as June 2015). This could be a low cost ubiquitous device similar to a SIM card in a mobile phone with additional features of biometric authentication for all transactional services. This device could store all the relevant information like personal details and bio-data, biometric identification details, linkages to all the public services like authorization to drive or to receive privileges, record of all relevant personal data like educational records and certificates, medical records, authorizations for public services like rail, bus or air travel, linkages to bank accounts and insurance policies, records of direct and indirect taxes paid and all such personal records which can be captured and stored on this device and linked to the public portals and servers. This could be a single, technology driven, one time solution which could eliminate a lot of wastage and duplication in the system. This would also act as a technology enabled crime prevention device as there would be absolutely no scope for any kind of impersonation, cheating or forgery and all relevant data would be readily available for verification and authentication by any one.

12. Abolition of the system of Cash Transactions and Currency Notes by secured electronic financial transactions. Records of all public and private financial transaction to be available online in public domain for anybody to see.

Once we have enabled a single electronic identity for all and all personal records, rights, obligations, duties and services are linked to it, the next step could be abolition of the system of cash transactions. In the initial days of evolution of the trade services, people practiced the barter system wherein goods and services were directly exchanged. This system was replaced by valuation of each and every product and services in terms of some specific material like shells, metals or some other material which came to be used and widely accepted as the medium of exchange for goods and services. Later on, units of gold and silver became a standard for exchange facilitation medium. This was subsequently replaced by printed paper currency backed by the promises of the sovereign governments. The present medium of exchange is a mix of the electronic money and printed currency notes backed by the government promises. Technology has now made it possible to replace the currency notes by pure electronic transactions. The abolition of the currency note system would save a lot of trees from being felled which are required to make paper for their printing. It would also eliminate the serious problems of black money and fake and counterfeit currency notes. Additionally, forgery, cheating and all crimes related to financial transactions would instantly come to an end after this system is put in place. It is being proposed that all financial transactions be carried out using the biometrically authenticated personal electronic identification device. Such devices could communicate with each other by using some proximity sensor to initiate the mutual transaction which could be confirmed by the back end servers linked to both the devices through satellite communication. Being solar powered and satellite enabled, these devices could be used anywhere on this planet. On completion of the transaction, both the sending and receiving device would show their total balance and the amount credited and debited as the result of the transaction. This total balance in both the devices and the respective amount of credit and debit would instantly be updated in the back end server which could be linked to the bank accounts of the individuals. The copies of records of all such transactions of individuals may be kept in public domain for anybody to see which could eliminate the social and moral issues like expenditure on unlawful or immoral activities. The trail of money would always be available to see who received how much money from whom and then how that money was appropriated. This way almost all funding for illegal activities would come to an end and all immoral and hypocritical activities would voluntarily be stopped by the people who normally indulge in such activities because of the embarrassment that expenses on such activities can cause. Nobody would be able to take and give bribe without letting the whole world being aware of it, nobody would be able to ask for commission or cut from the public funds from the beneficiaries and nobody would be able to indulge in what is called underhand dealings. This would completely abolish the corruption in public place from its root and there would be absolutely no need of a Lokpal or Lokayukta, CVC, anti corruption department, vigilance department or any other department to check the bribery, pilferage of public funds and any other forms of corruptions. All that people could obtain in return for discretionary favors would be in the form of presentation of gifts, jewelry, furniture, clothes and other consumables. While it may be difficult to curb the system of gifting of consumables and items of perishable and transient nature, the system of bribery in the form of costly items like jewelry can be curbed by insisting on showing the record of purchase whenever someone would try to redeem or encash it. All items in the possession of a person for which no financial transaction record would be available in the public domain may be declared as ill gotten and may be confiscated by the state as a public property. This would also eliminate the crimes like looting, theft, robbery, overcharging and all such activities since nobody would be able to get away after forcibly or fraudulently depriving someone of his legitimately earned money.

13. Abolition of all tax collection departments and their replacement by an automatic deduction of tax from all consumers at the point and time of consumption

At present, we have income tax, excise tax, sales tax, service tax, road tax, value added tax, goods and services tax, minimum alternate tax, entertainment tax, life tax, death tax, this tax and that tax. All these tax departments have become a major source of corruption and the inspectors in all these departments encourage the tax evasion and corruption in collusion with unscrupulous elements. This leads to a lot of wastage of public funds in the form of collection efforts and the pilferage as a result of the collusion between the tax authorities and unscrupulous people. This also leads to a lot of harassment for the tax assesses and gives rise to unnecessary intermediaries like the chartered accountants and tax consultants. It is being proposed that all these tax departments be abolished and all these taxes be replaced by a single consumption tax. This tax could be collected automatically whenever there is a financial transaction of consumption. Whenever two parties would indulge in any financial transaction as a result of any consumption, the back end system, after authenticating the electronic transaction, would automatically deduct a predetermined amount from the account of the consumer and would credit it to the state treasury as the individual’s tax contribution. This tax amount could be a predetermined amount based on the value and scale of the transaction and the overall requirement of the tax for maintenance and provisions of the public services and the obligations of the state. The basic principle of this tax system would be (a) tax only on consumption, (b) higher incremental rate of tax for higher levels of consumption and (c) a single source of automatic tax collection at the point of consumption.

14. Abolition of requirements of formal education and degrees from employment opportunities. Job specific technology driven rule based relevant procedure to be devised for all public and private employment opportunity minimizing the need for human interface and eliminating the scope of discretion in selection process.

The changes in the technology have made it possible to eliminate all scope of nepotism and favouritism in selection for jobs and services. The requirements of minimum educational criteria and all such other intellectual requirements for all the jobs and services in the country may be abolished. There could be an exhaustive pool of question bank for the relevant and job specific knowledge available in the central server of the job and recruitment management system. The system would also have places in all the districts where online computer based examinations could be conducted in controlled conditions round the year. Anybody could register himself online to take test for any job on any day and time as per his choice. The system could automatically generate an online test paper for him based on the pre-decided test pattern and the question bank available with the system. The results of such tests could be made available instantly and immediately after the test and the pass certificate for this test would be verifiable online from anywhere. All those who pass test for a particular class of job can opt and submit their choices, preferences and constraints for joining such jobs as and when an opportunity for such a job arises. Let us assume that someone passes the test for a bank manager’s job and gives his choice for a particular district only and for a particular bank only. The test results may be kept valid for a pre-determined period, say three years. Now, within the next three years, whenever a new job opportunity comes in the district and the bank as specified by the candidate in his choice and constraint, he would be automatically considered by the system for this job. The job would automatically be offered to the candidate in order of their priority subject to their relevant test pass certificate being valid at the time of the job opportunity. The order of priority could be decided automatically by the system on the basis of age, economic conditions of the family, date of passing the test, score in the test, personal liability and the number of direct dependants etc. This system ought to be applicable for selection and recruitment for all jobs in the public and private sector and all job positions in the country ought to be filled by the central recruitment management system only. The hiring authority at all levels of government and private employers ought to subscribe to this system for their respective recruitment requirements to eliminate the scope of personal discretion in job opportunities and eradication of the scope of nepotism and favoritism in employment opportunities.

15. Thorough overhaul of the education system to make it more responsive to the needs of the society with optimum utilization of the technology tools.
The system of class room based formal education shall be limited only till the level of secondary education or till the age of 16 years. Education till this level may be imparted in the local language. All the educational materials shall be standardized by preparing the standard audio-visual course materials which could be delivered through the streaming video channels so that the course material running in all the schools would be exactly the same. The teachers would be available in the classes to support and guide the students to help them grasp and understand the material that is being delivered through the standard video channels. There need not be any system of examination however attendance may be made compulsory in classes for every child till the age of 16. Beyond the level of secondary education, all higher education shall be delivered only through the online delivery channel. There would be no requirement of a formal classroom or campus beyond the level of secondary education. All course materials for all the streams of studies shall be standardized across the country in contrast to the current system wherein various universities have autonomy to devise their own course content. The best experts and authority in each subject shall be utilized for their contribution towards continuous improvement in the course materials. Course materials shall be required to undergo a constant change as per the new research and developments, discoveries and the changing needs of the society. Course improvements workshops shall be an ongoing process. Course preparation, delivery and examination management and administration shall be full time jobs for academicians and academic administrators. All practical courses, too, shall be delivered through online video channels only. Anybody desirous of obtaining special and higher knowledge in any subject or stream of education shall have the option to pursue the course of his choice as per the time available at his disposal. There would be no time limit to complete a particular course in any given duration. People would be able to study any course of their personal choice using the video course materials which would be made available free of cost through web based online delivery channels. This could be accessed through any internet enabled device from anywhere without any need for a student to ever visit a formal university or college campus. The examination centers shall be available in all the block headquarters wherein people could go after online registration for a particular course. People would be authorized to take up examination on the basis of electronic authentication of their identity based on their biometric attributes. All the examination centers shall be capable of conducting examination throughout the year for all subjects under controlled conditions. The computer systems in the examination centers would automatically generate a question paper for each examinee seeking to appear in the examination and the results of the examination shall be instantly available at the end of the examination. Certification for having passed all such higher education courses shall be only of academic importance and would not be linked to any other issue like minimum eligibility in the jobs. Additionally, there would be campuses for short and medium term residential courses wherein character building, personal empowerment and effectiveness, motivational and special skill course shall be delivered in intense workshops to the inmates. Participation in some of the character building, empowerment or motivational courses or special skill courses may be made compulsory for all as a pre requisite for enrolment in specific higher education course or as part of the eligibility conditions in public or private jobs.

16. All public records and documents to be available transparently in the public domain for anybody to see

We already have a right to information act which authorizes the public to obtain any data from the public authorities. While this act has brought the opportunity for substantial change in the approach of the governance, there is still a long way to way as far as complete transparency and openness in the public affairs is concerned. It is being proposed that all the public services offices be directed to move towards a paperless organisation. All the governance and administration ought to be managed using the online and electronic tools based on the work flow management system. In this system, all the records and information which could be made available to the public as per the scope of the right to information act may automatically be made available in the public domain, to eliminate the need of filing an application under RTI to obtain the relevant information. To protect the data from corruption and to maintain its integrity, an online copy of all the public records may be made available to the public by keeping a read only copy of all such records in public domain while the original data may be hosted on the secure servers to which public access may not be necessary. In this way, all public records related to every item of governance and administration would be available in the public domain leading to a complete transparency and openness in the governance. Public would be able to see who did what and why on all issues related to the public. This would help implement the democracy in its true sense since once the public is aware of the stance of their representatives and their servants (officials and bureaucrats), they would be in a better position to decide their political course of action.

17. All the public services to be provided by technology driven rule based process minimizing the need for human interface and eliminating the scope of official discretion in public services.

The officials dealing with the public services need not be the policy makers for such services. The business of policy making and framing of rules should be left with the public through the public representatives or general bodies. The officials should be merely the support to facilitate the implementation of such rules rather than being the arbiter and controlling authority in such matters. One of the reasons for corruption in public life is because of the officials, in their role of being a public servant, normally tend to extort undue gratification from the public in cash or in kind. They do this by making the public feel that they are doing them a favour by actually doing what they are supposed to do as part of their normal duty and for which they are any way being paid from the public fund. This can be totally eliminated by devising a system of delivering public service by online or technology driven tools which would automatically deliver the public services according to the rules implemented in the system. This system should eliminate all the scope of official discretion in such matters. As far as practically possible, all public services may be designed to be delivered through the technology driven tools, eliminating or minimizing the need for human interface in all such matters. Wherever there is any interface with the humans in the role of officials, an online efficiency and productivity report of such officials may be generated which should be available to the public to manage the performance report of such officials.

18. People to have complete freedom of expression and opinion. All people to have complete freedom to form association and spread new ideas amongst themselves and influence and change the model of governance and administration at all levels. No state interference in the expressions and association of people as long as there is no physical violence between the conflicting interest groups. The role of the state or government at all levels would be to minimize or eliminate the conflict and differences amongst the group of people.

The state need not be scared of the new developments, transparency and openness. It should rather encourage the growth and development of ideas in public keeping pace with the development in science and technology and development of new ideas in the field of social sciences and management. To maintain a healthy growth of the society, the state would need to foster openness, transparency and flexibility to create an environment of innovation and creativity. The state ought to act as a platform to facilitate the exchange of ideas and openness. The role of the state would be to minimize and prevent the physical conflict and violence amongst the group of people however this would not be done at the cost of curbing the freedom of expression and opinion. The state may act as the moderator in situations where it may feel that there is scope for various opinions and ideas being expressed to lead to physical violence. The state would champion the cause of innovative ideas and opinions and would prevent the use of brute force coming in the ways of news ideas and openness.

19. All business and commercial transaction records to be available in the public domain for anybody to see and verify. A fixed upper limit percentage cap to be imposed on the return on investment on all business and commercial activities.

Similar to the requirements of placing all the data and information related to the public service in public domain, a system could be devised to make all the records and information related to all the private business and corporate affairs available for public scrutiny. Since private business cannot survive in isolation away from the society, it can be presumed that the private entrepreneurs take inputs from the society out of the common resources of the public and they add their special skills, knowledge and efforts to produce goods and services which again they have to sell to the public in the society. Since they grow on the back of the society and public, it is imperative that they do not exploit the society and do not obtain undue advantage out of their special skills and investments. It is proposed that all the records and information of private business be available in public domain for public scrutiny. The private business owners can be allowed to retain a fixed percentage of profit on their investment and a fixed premium or royalty of their innovation however they should not be allowed to decide on their own rule of the game. The affairs of private business should be completely under the control of the public. The private entrepreneurs ought to be treated as the agents of the public who have been authorized to engage in certain business activity on a pre-determined incentive for their extra efforts to add value to the resources under common ownership of the society. The simplest example is that the market is under the common ownership of the society and no private business entity can sell its product or services in the market unless the society as a whole agrees for the same. Any private business owner found violating such rules may be deprived of his ownership of such business and such business affairs could be brought directly under the control of the public. Similar to the system of allowing a profit of around 15% in item rate works contracts and supplies, private businesses can be allowed a certain percentage of profit and the rest may be assumed to be under the common ownership of the public. To implement this system efficiently, all the records and information related to the private business houses ought to be made available in the public domain for anybody to see and inspect rather than simply relying on an annual system of audit by individual vested private interests operating as the chartered accountants and company secretaries and other intermediaries.

20. Minimum intervention and disturbance to the nature and environment

Since all the natural resources are owned by the humanity as a whole including the people in the future generations, it is imperative that the present generation does not utilize or exploit the natural resources beyond its bare minimum requirements. We need to preserve the natural ecosystem and environment for the future generations so that the coming generations of humanity does not have to struggle for the basic necessity of life like air, water, mineral and other basic necessities of life. We have a direct proof of having killed most of our major natural river and drainage systems and having polluted the air envelope around us to the extent that it is not fit for a healthy living. We need to take lessons from these and review our current model of growth and development. We have to ensure that human comfort is not achieved at the cost of items which had taken thousands of years to develop. If our ancestors left these resources for us, we need to leave these resources, as far as practically possible for our descendants. The mega projects, dams, power plants, mining, roads and other industrial activities need not be carried out at the cost of environmental degradation. The cost of environmental factors ought to be given the highest considerations and priorities by parties specialised in such matters rather than the project proponents while preparing the financial models of such projects. Even in such circumstances, certain basic factors e.g. maintenance of uninterrupted flow in perennial rivers or the upper limit of pollutants in the air must not be compromised at any cost.

21. Abolition of
a. All private financial Transactions in the name of religion, religious rites and rituals and associated activities.
b. All advertisement and financial transactions for any special knowledge and information based service which cannot be verified and substantiated under controlled conditions
c. All Voluntary, contributory and non-voluntary fund or any other resource collection or receipt, in cash or in kind, in the name of any religious, cultural, metaphysical, supernatural or associated activity or belief

The religion and religious rites and rituals have become a big perennial business and source of exploitation for the masses. People often face hardships and difficulties in their life and try out everything that they can within their means and control to come out of such situations. However, despite all their best efforts, people are constrained to live in the conditions that are not as per their expectations or desires. Therefore, people try to look towards self styled godmen and fake religious leaders who fraudulently claim to have powers or special knowledge to help people get rid of their problems and afflictions. Such people prey on the vulnerability of the masses particularly during their bad times. To exploit such people, these charlatans advertise through the print and electronic mass media as well as through managed mass gatherings to fool the people to fall in their trap. These charlatans would advertise claiming to own some special power or knowledge and would offer to make these powers available to the masses for a direct or indirect service fee. Most of such advertisements in the name of religion, astrology, tantra, mantra, spirituality and other special powers have absolutely no basis. These people have absolutely no way to substantiate their claim. However, people lose their rational sense when they come across these very well prepared and commercially managed advertisements which are based on the principles of hypnosis and mind control and fall prey to these fake claimants of special power or knowledge. These people would then continue to exploit their gullible clients in the name of conducting special rites, rituals and religious practices, astrological or tantric remedies and other such activities. The unsuspecting and innocent clients are not only exploited financially but are often subjected to mental slavery and even sexual exploitation. Had there been any iota of truth in any such services, such kind of people would have claimed the one million dollar that the James Randi Educational Foundation has announced to give to anyone who can prove the existence of any such special or metaphysical power under controlled conditions. The JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) has sponsored a One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge offering a prize of US$1,000,000 to an eligible applicant who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event under test conditions agreed to by both parties. Despite this challenge having been in place for the last more than two decades, nobody has been able to claim this prize money. This proves that all such claims of special power which is available for a fee, ranging from a lower limit of rupees ten to no upper limit, is nothing but a simple tool of deceit and cheating by the thugs. Yet, there is no way such practices can be stopped in the society since it is being carried out in the name of religion and faith. No government has taken any step to prevent these ill practices in the society as it is expected to have a serious impact on the vote bank politics of anyone who tries to clean the society of such evil practices of exploitation. To overcome such kind of social evils, it is proposed to impose a ban on all such advertisements in the name of special, supernatural, paranormal, astrological, tantric, spiritual or religious powers which cannot be substantiated under controlled test conditions. It is also proposed to ban any financial transaction, voluntary or involuntary, direct or indirect, in cash or in kind, in the name of religion, religious rites, special powers, spirituality and all such special powers which generate undue hope amongst people to help them come out of bad situations in life unless such claims can be substantiated under controlled conditions. This is aimed at preventing the thugs from spoiling the true religious and spiritual practices and to re-establish the path of truth which has been obscured by such unscrupulous elements who have turned religion and spirituality into a business.

22. State funding and management of all common religious and cultural activities at all levels of governance

To prevent control of the religious and cultural activities from going into the hands of the unscrupulous elements who misuse such events and occasions to perpetuate their exploitation of the masses in the name of religion using the manipulation tactics to fleece them and also to prevent the masses from being emotionally exploited in the name of religion and culture, it is imperative that the management and administration of all the religious and cultural activities within their respective service catchment is taken over by the relevant governments at various level. The government could fund and manage the places of worship through its paid employees and run the affairs of the religious and cultural activities as per the requirements of the local community at public expenses. The government could use such opportunities to create an environment of trust and brotherhood between the people belonging to different communities and keep the traditions and culture from deteriorating and vitiating into undue and unwanted practices which is normally introduced by vested interests. State funding of such activities and affairs would not only help keep the tradition in pure form but would also lead to a better opportunity for communal harmony as state would try to coordinate and emphasize upon the common elements between the religion and traditions rather than catalyzing the conflicts by highlighting the contradictions. The state management of such affairs would also provide an opportunity for people from different community to come together and actively participate, cooperate and collaborate with each other. While the panchayat governments could manage the affairs of the places of worship within their jurisdiction, the block governments could manage the affairs of the places which are frequented by the people from all the panchayats in the block. Similarly, the places of worship of national importance could be managed by the central government and places of state wide importance could be managed by the state authorities. Since the governments at all levels can be expected to unde more