214. My Government

When a new Government is elected, people have lot of expectations - irrespective of the political party. It is always good for government to be connected with people's dreams and aspirations. There could be no two opinions about the necessity of  the representative government's continued dialogue with the people. All governments try to do it - in different ways. Such effort has its limitation but it is also useful  to some extent. 

Recently, to be exact on 27 July, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's government has initiated a new line of communication. With the help of Information and Technology, now people can participate in government by sharing ideas and issues through the website "myGov". Anyone who wishes to participate can join the site. 

Initially, while signing up, I faced difficultiies - I was not able to sign up even after repeated efforts. I did write to Admin of the site and I was told that it happend due to heavy traffic to the site. Later, I was able to access the site. We have to provide Name, Address, Email, contact phone and then we can register. Some people may find it  problematic to share personal information - we are never sure about the data security. 

Presently six groups are acitve - Clean Ganga, Girl's education, Green India, Skill Development, Clean India and Digital India. 

You are allowed to join four groups - in fact, three groups as fourth group is automatically your distrcit group! I have joined Girls' Education, Clean India and Green India. The concerned Ministries are expected to take not of the discussions in these group. The people who put forth good ideas wll have an opportunity to interact with the Prime Minister - that is what newpapers inform!  

There are not only discussions; you can join some Tasks as well.

For example, in the group "Clean India" one task is: visit any "Mid-Day-Meal" kitchen, observe cleanliness and suggest improvements. The task requires 2 hours. Generally when a task is declared, there is one month time limit to complete it. 

"Girl's Education" group has a task to "prepare curriculum framework to enhance skills of girl students". I have joined this task and working on it . 

All these tasks are to be carried out as a "citizen". Nobody can go and say that the government has asked us to find out how clean is your kitchen and so on. This is a voluntary work - people are expected to use their time, their money, their energy and their intelligence in this work. Those who want to participate in the progress of the county without getting affiliated to any political party - have a good opportunity here - that is what my first impression is. Let me form opinion after few months. 

The major limitation of this effort is: illiterate people, people who do not use computers and Internet will not be able to participate. In a way, it can be criticised to be "a platform only for  affluent, higher middle class people and the poor and illiterate have no say" - which seems right. But those who read this blog, certainly have access to Internet and if they wish to participate in myGov, they can; we all can.

If you join myGov, or you are already "into" it, please, do share your experiences. 
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