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(This article is about a social initiative started, among others, by two alumni of the 2003 batch of ITBHU)
Some events, like some people, have the potential of changing the course of future for an entire generation.
India had been struggling with organized terror for the last two decades. On 26/11/08 parts of Mumbai came under siege in an outrageous incursion. The audacity of the attack was in a sense a defilement which prodded most of us out of our inertia and out of the realm of inaction and mere rhetoric. 26/11/08 happened, because some aimless minds in some parts of the world are given to an ideology of hatred. But it also happened because we ceased to question our elected representatives and they ceased to deliver on the promises of security, development, and general bonhomie.
The image of a burning Taj, smoke rising and pigeons flying is a reminder of how soon how bad it can become, and also a call to those who care to contribute. And fortunately or unfortunately, India is at that turn of history, where we have little choice. We demand or we perish.
Since this attack nearly all of us have pondered about doing something for the nation. However, it has been challenging to figure out what specifically one could do, while not perturbing the mundane routine of our lives. www.neverforget.in was engendered through such ruminations; from the spirit of moving from sluggish reaction to canny action to real change in the status-quo of our country.
Never Forget was borne out of a desire to do something for their country, and seeks to provide our fellow citizens the opportunity to get involved. We believe in providing resources to people who are concerned about the promises of their elected representatives, be it at the national level or the state, city, or village panchayat level. Our aim is to provide everyone the opportunity to make a difference wherever they want, and collectively improve our conditions.
The Idea
At the crux of this social initiative is our belief that the lacunae in our various administrative mechanisms were largely responsible for this situation and that most of them can be addressed if our elected representatives perform as per their promised agendas.
That said if WE, the people, who elect them, do not care to evaluate their performance periodically, WHO will be the appraiser of enforcement of promises?
We maintain that, as a collective force, we can work to keep track of what our elected representatives -- whether at the centre, state, city, town, district or village level -- promised us and how far the promises have been fulfilled.
At the heart of our endeavor is a system where citizens can pinpoint their representatives, view their listing of promises and keep tabs on their progression.
At the heart of our effort is the idea of promises that can be evaluated. We want to find out whether our elected leaders are implementing what they promised to do in their common minimum program/manifestos, and that can be done by periodically monitoring the progress on each and every one of them. And this data can be used by the electorate to assess performance by way of our ballots.
The other core principle that we base our endeavor on is that of verifiable analysis. Each and every claim made in the course of our effort, without fail, will have to essentially be accompanied by a reference either documentation or factual press release. We believe that this will give our work the credibility that is seen lacking in several current editorials and articles about the state of the nation.
Additionally, the system is also be accompanied by a website which will host articles based on the data in the system. This will make for the "easily palatable" capsules for those who are short on time but are still interested in the state of affairs in their constituency. Continuing our high-standards, each claim made by our authors in these analytical articles will have to be accompanied by a reference to the exact piece of data in our system that readers can go through if they are interested.
What we will NOT do:
Here are some things that we have deliberately chose to NOT engage in during the course of our efforts. Specifically, we will:
* NOT provide a summary score of an elected representative's performance. We believe that it is not for us to decide whether you care more about education of the girl child or better parks for our kids to play in. Therefore, we will provide you all the data about all the aspects of the elected representative's performance, but will not aim to provide an overall grade.
* NOT comment on the potential of the opponent of the elected representative at election time. Our belief is that only verifiable claims should be made, and if we do not have performance data on the opponent of the current elected representative, we will choose to not make any claims about his/her potential as the next elected representative. This should not be assumed to mean that we are endorsing the incumbent, simply that we do not have enough data. If we do have data on the performance on the opponent, we will provide a link to his/her performance report page.
* NOT focus on the crimes committed if any (alleged or proven) by the elected representative. While we believe that the complete personality of the candidate should be taken into account while making your voting decision, we choose to keep this specific effort only about promises made by elected representatives, and their performance of the same. We expect the voters to refer to other sources of information to get data on the candidates' past acts unrelated to campaign promises.
The Progress So Far:
Since its launch on January 26, 2009, the website has had 5300+ visitors. Over 90 people from India and abroad have signed up to volunteer with the team, and the Facebook group has nearly 250 members. There have been two meetings of volunteers in Pune, and one in Mumbai recently. We have also compiled the list of promises made by the UPA govt. in its Common Minimum Program in 2004, and are working on publishing it soon. We have also received encouraging responses from several elected representatives, including Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the MP of Pune. And Mr. Omar Abdullah, the CM of Jammu and Kashmir
Links for more Information:
* List of promises of Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, MP of Pune
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About co-founders (http://www.neverforget.in/team.php)
1) Varun Grover is a Civil Engineer from IT-BHU, Varanasi, (B. Tech 2003) who realized soon enough that he did not fit in the concrete world of calculations and hence made a move to pursue writing full-time. Specializing in satires and having worked on current-affairs based non-fiction shows on TV like The Great Indian Comedy Show (Star One), Aisi ki Taisi (Aaj Tak) and Oye It's Friday (NDTV Imagine), most of his writing inspiration flows from observing popular culture, man’s relationship with living spaces, and the life he left behind in Lucknow and Varanasi. He currently lives and works in Mumbai and blogs at http://neutronskilled.blogspot.com
(Varun Grover)
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2) Animesh Pathak has a PhD in Computer Engineering (2008) from the University of Southern California, and a B. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from IT-BHU, Varanasi, where he graduated at the head of his class in 2003 and was awarded the outstanding student award, both by the institute and the university. He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the French govt.'s INRIA research labs in Paris, and intends to join academics as a full-time career soon. He spends his free time working for the ITBHU Global Alumni Association, where he currently holds the post of interim director of web affairs.
(Animesh Pathak)
After the incidents of 26/11/2008, he, like many others, was thinking about how he can contribute to the nation, and was fortunate to meet some other folks who believed in doing more than talking. And thus, NeverForget was born. More about Animesh at http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/ and http://www.animeshpathak.in/
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The complete profiles of all the co-founders of Never Forget can be found at http://www.neverforget.in/team.php
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(if you having troubles, try posting your comment on this page or send an email to chronicle @ itbhuglobal.org)Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221005, UP