Mr D.M. Sukthankar, Vice Chairman and Managing Trustee of AGNI, said that November 26 last was a tragic event of terrorism at the root of which was an unforgivable failure of governance. A former Chief Secretary of the Government of Maharashtra, he said the extent of failure was immense: from Intelligence coordination and coastal security to handling of media (it may have helped terrorist handlers) and water pressure in municipal hydrants.
Governance in the country, the State and the city, Mr Sukthankar said, needs radical change. A perfect occasion for citizens to register protest and demand change presents itself on April 30, when the city votes for its new MPs in the Lok Sabha polls.
Dr. Ajit Ranade, of the Association for Democratic Reform, and Ms Nayana Kathpalia of NAGAR, also addressed the Press Conference. Dr. Ranade said ADR would work with AGNI to rate candidates to help citizens make a better-informed choice. Ms Kathpalia said it was of the greatest importance for citizens to turn out in larger numbers than ever before and support better quality candidates.
This April, Mr. Sukthankar said, AGNI (Action for Good Governance and Networking in India) celebrates its 10th anniversary of service to the city. As ever at election time, AGNI is proposing that citizens on the widest front should:
- Present political decision-makers a Citizens’ Charter relating to security and quality of life in Mumbai and to the caliber and quality of candidates proposed for election.
- Transform last time’s non-voters into this time’s voters: increase the voter turnout from 48% (2004) to at least 60% (2009).
- Mobilize large citizen numbers so as to be taken seriously: NGOs, housing societies, parishes, clubs, mandals and other citizen groups.
- Mobilize those who have let down democracy, their city and themselves in election after election through poor turnout at the polls: the middle class. Yet these citizens understand national issues better than most.
- Encourage them to demand what happens to the money we contribute as taxes to the Centre.
- Use events and word-of-mouth media at Ward and Sub-Ward level, meetings and leafleting; work with Rediff.com on an internet campaign.
- When fighting terror, strike a blow for better quality of life: November 26 is only the most recent instance of governance failure. It’s the same callous, inefficient official mechanism that underlies everything in national life from health and urban planning to protection of the environment, human rights and finance.
- Exploit the fact that winning margins are slender in our highly fragmented polity.
- Create opportunities for citizens to interact with candidates and rate them in collaboration with the ADR. Mr. Sukthankar said that AGNI had forged working partnerships, apart from ADR, with the Bangalore-based citizen movement Janaagraha and Group of Groups (GoG), an alliance of citizen groups in Mumbai. AGNI presented a few examples of work in progress on media materials.
