India and Israel

India

"Why Everyone is Afraid of Arvind Kejriwal" by Dhiraj Nayyar India Today International. October 12 2012,Volume V, Number 44, Pages 12 to 17
Jatin Gandhi, "The Man Who could have been Kejriwal" India Today International January 20 2014
AAP Effect, by Kunai Pradham, INDIA Today International , January 20th, 2014, page 14 to
Wikipedia Page on Aam Aadmi Party.

Arvind Kejriwal is an anti-corruption fighter who is building a new poliitcal party, "India Against Corruption" or Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He is known for naming and accusing of corruption, prominent politicians and their families. He is in favor of decentralization: "gram sabhas" and urban neighborhoods. The "decisions must be taken by the people and not 'experts' or 'officials' ' a direct democracy' However, his documents would reverse the free-market shift in the last two decades of India. Their Visio document does say that "development cannot be guided by the 'logic of capital' or forces of the 'free market' and Guidance should be given by the 'need of the last person.'

Raul Gandhi is also pushing to involve more people in the Congress Party, the "Grand Old Party" of India.

The AAP has come to power in Delhi. And 75% of Indians would like a Chief Minister like Arvind Kejriwal in their state. 43% are interested in their anti-corruption campaign and only one per cent believe in the "decentralization" ideas. These go back to Swaraj, advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, calling on a stateless society. Mr. Gandhi believed that a representative democracy would be unjust.

Israel Two-State solution

The son of the West Bank Palestinian President, Tareq Abbas, says that a two-state solution is impossible. 65% of Palestinians over fifty support a two-state solution; 47% of those 18 to 34 support this. One of the issues is demographics. There will be more Palestinians than Jews in a single state. But the Jews are concerned about being outvoted, a problem is any constitution that specifies a simple majority vote to pass legislation. In my discussion of Arab/Israel peace talks,, I talk about using max of min to determine an agreement, whether it be a constitution for a single state or a peace agreement between two states. (Max of min, means for each proposal, determine which group gives it the minimum number of aye votes. The one whose minimum is the largest is the one that is effective.) In the Constitution Construction Kit, I discuss systems for multi-ethnic voting. . These prevent one ethnic group from dominating government decisions, regardless of whether that group may have more voters or residents than the other.

"Generations Divide on a Two-State Solution" Wednesday March 19th 2014, Page A6 and A7, New York Times Volume CLXII No 56445.

India Right to Information Law Fights Petty Corruption

Sixty-seven countries have a law that allows individuals to request information from their government. In the United States this is known as the Freedom of Information Act. I know my home state of Illinois has a similar law--and I assume most other States in the Union.

Ms. Lina Khan just posted a wonderful article on the India's version, the Right to Information Act. Many peasants and those below the property line have used this to fight corruption and make dramatic improvements to their lives. For example, a neighborhood got the government to connect five hundred people to the sewerage system. Indians filed two million of these in the fifteen years of the law.

Of course, this instance of participatory democracy does not give the citizens any control over the government, just a method of accountability as this blog's purpose is to advocate-- but more importantly, RTI works.