The issue of clarity in communication of 'appeal'
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 6th October, 2014
The 'communication' seems to be emerging as an 'issue' with Political Inc. in India. This is because both new and old Political parties do not want to be seen as 'committing' anything concrete to voters since any 'change' communicated ' in free spirits without distortions' has potential to upset a cross-section while favouring some others. Most leaders want to have it both ways as in past i.e. egging all constituencies. This is likely to be a recipe of disaster since in a post election scenarios both or all such constituents with differing set of demands will continue to struggle, i.e. a group will resist 'change' since they will not be prepared for the same due to 'thin air' promises while another will 'push for change' after having put up the 'struggle'. This situation has potential to 'slow' down the 'change' required by majority so that they cope up with minority and politicians can still pursue minority interests with vengeance even in the face of public.
The 'Political class', new as well as old wants to be 'seen' as being relevant to maintenance of the 'social order' rather than a 'champion' to define and support the 'economy' or other 'public causes' such as 'cost effective health care', or monitoring 'public distribution' to bring in effectiveness and transparency, monitoring large PPP or government projects for cost & quality as well as effectiveness & worth for public etc.. This is because the political class survives on their 'talking' skills rather than any real championship of issues. Rather than enhancing 'knowledge & skills' amongst society to visualize future and prepare for the same, the political class is rather comfortable in 'bargain' hunting where only the 'leader' is a gainer while the fighting 'cats' loose; & that happens almost always irrespective whether it is done silently or in full public gaze. So such leaders invariably set themselves up in mediation between warring factions to bring to end a proverbial fight. This is even when the Political leaders know that they have no understanding of how & when 'new' competition or threats will emerge and start putting pressure on the 'deal' that has been cut with their patronage. 'Online' gives a tremendous reach as well as scalability in a short time span to even 'new' players and this is the 'threat' for the 'old economy'.
Another aspect is Political Inc. having a host of items that may not otherwise be palatable as political agenda for people but finds robust mention in the name of 'traditional vote banks'. A host of such items remain on the agenda because the Political Leader class does not want to be measured for their support to the 'cause of development' since they 'know' that their efforts in this direction almost always falls short of people's expectations because it is the ordinary people who are always struggling on the 'frontier' and so have huge 'expectations' which cannot be met from behind the front leadership. So preserving 'social order' while letting the 'development' to 'trickle down' is a ploy that works well for them as this helps to maintain 'all' segments happy. Socio-economic mobility for people belonging to different classes; that is the promise of 'Democratic set ups' may collapse, but that is a small price to pay in order to maintain 'leadership'.
Though the pressure of Political competition itself is pushing the political leaders to be more 'open' however such pressure still is not enough that will 'force political elephants to mend their ways'. This is depicted in form of their 'committing' vast public resources and efforts for sundry 'public causes' which have yielded nothing in the past even as they maintain studied silence or put up committees to study other 'changes' being demanded by public so that the interests of the pressure groups can be balanced (as per above paragraphs). Though don't want to sound as septic, but also want to raise awareness of structural and policy changes being neglected; as in past. Quite a few Political parties and leaders are even ready to approach public without having a 'business case' to appeal for votes amongst their constituents, but sole basis is 'struggle' for municipal issues which may not have yielded anything concrete or may not have even potential to yield anything concrete. While some political leaders seem to be weighing their commitment towards 'change' on economic issues so that they can have an image makeover in a short span, their actual commitment is suspect since 'a host of issues' may take priority while 'changes' may take a back seat due to lack of time bound commitments in Indian Politics. Huge 'social preservation agenda' therefore remains high as if the society will wither away without the political masters making sincere efforts to preserve it; though the fact is society has been the way it is in spite of the political leaders making every effort to dent the harmony. However, I am sure that Indian social media with sites like managementpardise.com are also evolving as is the case of journalism & journalists along with Judiciary that is clipping the wings of these leaders and that's the big hope...
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 6th October, 2014
The 'communication' seems to be emerging as an 'issue' with Political Inc. in India. This is because both new and old Political parties do not want to be seen as 'committing' anything concrete to voters since any 'change' communicated ' in free spirits without distortions' has potential to upset a cross-section while favouring some others. Most leaders want to have it both ways as in past i.e. egging all constituencies. This is likely to be a recipe of disaster since in a post election scenarios both or all such constituents with differing set of demands will continue to struggle, i.e. a group will resist 'change' since they will not be prepared for the same due to 'thin air' promises while another will 'push for change' after having put up the 'struggle'. This situation has potential to 'slow' down the 'change' required by majority so that they cope up with minority and politicians can still pursue minority interests with vengeance even in the face of public.
The 'Political class', new as well as old wants to be 'seen' as being relevant to maintenance of the 'social order' rather than a 'champion' to define and support the 'economy' or other 'public causes' such as 'cost effective health care', or monitoring 'public distribution' to bring in effectiveness and transparency, monitoring large PPP or government projects for cost & quality as well as effectiveness & worth for public etc.. This is because the political class survives on their 'talking' skills rather than any real championship of issues. Rather than enhancing 'knowledge & skills' amongst society to visualize future and prepare for the same, the political class is rather comfortable in 'bargain' hunting where only the 'leader' is a gainer while the fighting 'cats' loose; & that happens almost always irrespective whether it is done silently or in full public gaze. So such leaders invariably set themselves up in mediation between warring factions to bring to end a proverbial fight. This is even when the Political leaders know that they have no understanding of how & when 'new' competition or threats will emerge and start putting pressure on the 'deal' that has been cut with their patronage. 'Online' gives a tremendous reach as well as scalability in a short time span to even 'new' players and this is the 'threat' for the 'old economy'.
Another aspect is Political Inc. having a host of items that may not otherwise be palatable as political agenda for people but finds robust mention in the name of 'traditional vote banks'. A host of such items remain on the agenda because the Political Leader class does not want to be measured for their support to the 'cause of development' since they 'know' that their efforts in this direction almost always falls short of people's expectations because it is the ordinary people who are always struggling on the 'frontier' and so have huge 'expectations' which cannot be met from behind the front leadership. So preserving 'social order' while letting the 'development' to 'trickle down' is a ploy that works well for them as this helps to maintain 'all' segments happy. Socio-economic mobility for people belonging to different classes; that is the promise of 'Democratic set ups' may collapse, but that is a small price to pay in order to maintain 'leadership'.
Though the pressure of Political competition itself is pushing the political leaders to be more 'open' however such pressure still is not enough that will 'force political elephants to mend their ways'. This is depicted in form of their 'committing' vast public resources and efforts for sundry 'public causes' which have yielded nothing in the past even as they maintain studied silence or put up committees to study other 'changes' being demanded by public so that the interests of the pressure groups can be balanced (as per above paragraphs). Though don't want to sound as septic, but also want to raise awareness of structural and policy changes being neglected; as in past. Quite a few Political parties and leaders are even ready to approach public without having a 'business case' to appeal for votes amongst their constituents, but sole basis is 'struggle' for municipal issues which may not have yielded anything concrete or may not have even potential to yield anything concrete. While some political leaders seem to be weighing their commitment towards 'change' on economic issues so that they can have an image makeover in a short span, their actual commitment is suspect since 'a host of issues' may take priority while 'changes' may take a back seat due to lack of time bound commitments in Indian Politics. Huge 'social preservation agenda' therefore remains high as if the society will wither away without the political masters making sincere efforts to preserve it; though the fact is society has been the way it is in spite of the political leaders making every effort to dent the harmony. However, I am sure that Indian social media with sites like managementpardise.com are also evolving as is the case of journalism & journalists along with Judiciary that is clipping the wings of these leaders and that's the big hope...