When Minority turns Majority
Why should government pay heed to the demands of 'Educated youth'
(here I am referring to the youth in age group of 20-35, with a professional degree, or studying for a professional degree, working for private company, and is against reservation in higher education and private jobs)
If we call it ‘Votoon ki rajneeti’, then why government don’t care about the votes from the larger group of people, why don’t our votes count –
- because we do not vote.
(There are other reasons as well, but this is also a big one)
When majority does not vote, minority turns majority, and in any election, majority wins.
If you fall under the segment, I am referring to as ‘Educated youth’, ask yourself, how many times have you exercised your vote and how many of your friends and colleagues vote?
Now I am not saying its your fault. I am coming to the bigger issue, which I do not have a solution to.
I am in the same boat as you all (may be even worse). I hold a voter’s card for eight years now, and have not voted even once !
Can I, staying 2000 km from the place I hold voter card of. Can I travel for elections, given my job obligations and what about the costs? And even if I manage to travel, what do I know about the candidates at the place, I visit only once a year. To vote, I would have to ask my parents which candidate is good. Whose opinion will my vote represent? Where is the representation of youth in our government?
This is a serious issue now, given that most people (youth) stay away from the place of ‘so-called’ permanent residence. To have a say in the Government and its policies, we have to vote. Now I am not coming to the point that you can elect a better leader if you vote, but whoever the leader is, he should at least worry about our votes as well.
Got to find some way out, but I am totally clueless what it can be.
Any suggestions......
posted by Shilpi @ 4:19 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
You can get a voter card from your current state of residence, and start voting from that state. Look, for example the website http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in
I think that not voting is not the only reason behind the political parties being attracted to the minorities. I think the basic aim is to target groups which are driven by specific emotional drive to either religion, region, or caste. A group of people bonded by any such emotion can be much easily influenced to together vote for a single party. It is not just minority who is targeted like this. The same happened in case of BJP targeting Hindus.
Its not as simple as it look on the website. Can it be - think about it?
They have to make sure that each person hold only voter card of only one place, and thats not easy, so they cant make the process easy.
Suppose I apply for a voter card here, while I am still holding a voter card at another place, but I dont disclose that. But the department who is issuing the card has to verify that I do not hold a card anywhere else in India.
How would they do that, given the state of infrastructure today - do we have a centralized database and on what parameter, they match me against hundreds of Shilpi Agrawal.
well i guess its still ok if u have multiple voter id cards, my brother has 2.. important is to use what you have.
but i really think why would only EDUCATED YOUTH not vote... why do you and i dont vote while we let the 'minority youth' win all the appeasement... there r 2 aspects.
if you think that all political parties play the minority card, you are wrong... BJP for one plays the HINDU card. so is that party any different, well i really doubt. i fact, i remembered once BJP once recommending some kind of caste reservation on even a broader scale then congress
these acts are populist measures... if arjun singh has got this idea, he will do it. no one can oppose him even though some section of politicians dont approve of it.. who will bell the cat
so there is a reason WE dont vote.. coz we dont HAVE anyone to vote to. if u go to vote what will you consider? the worth or merit of candidate in ur eyes or the money that has been offered to you.
obviously you will go for worth, and get confused... coz ur colleague may b finding the other person worthy... so its no point for political parties to make us vote... we are irrational
on the other hand , there are sections, and by sections i mean literally colonies of hundreds, who religiously vote on election day... they have long term motivation - correction of anamolies in social structure (reservation) ... and also short term motivation - 500 Rs and a bottle of rum. we cannot compete in motivation to vote
we should just know that life eventually is a level playing ground... an IIM grad from reserved quota (who otherwise wouldnt have been there) will eventually be not picked by Barclays for sure... so what will barclays do to complete its numbers... go to other institutes. and who wil be there, well our man who lost out due to reservation..
true the IIT n IIM in this case are losin their sheen.. but in long run, things will level out... in fact, from a philosophical point of view, reservation is a kind of levelling out.. you are just born in the wrong caste at the wrong time.. am i getting too cynical??
Piyush
1) I think changing your voting right to your place of stay should not be that difficult. I did not do it, but my dad has already changed my place of voting to Bengaluru!
2) I think there is something called postal ballot through which you vote from a remote place.
3) Every vote does count
4) If a person wants to be positive rather than be a cribber, (s)he needs to follow politics in his/her voting place. Location is not a constraint for information in today's world
5) I have voted a lot of times thanks to the number of elections that happened in my place
6) I've now written too many points :D
I know the solution. Virtual voting! if only you could provide them an incentive to realize that :)
Hmm I am very late in commenting here. I somehow missed commenting when you wrote the post.
Anyway I distinctly remember watching one discussion in NDTV where it was categorically stated and almost agreed by all parties that the combined strength of the reserved categories is 85% of the population. So in this case your title seemed apt even without the skewed voting profiles.
In terms of ideological focus too, I get the feeling that there are more people who support reservations than oppose them.
So vote or not, we still are the minority. How ironic!
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