Are the Arab nations ready for democracy?

When Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor in the city of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia, set himself on fire to protest against the injustice meted out to him, little did he imagine that his self-immolation act of protest would fan the flames and trigger off a domino effect that is even now raging through the Arab world.

Image courtesy: tobejust.com 

Starting with the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, the flames proceeded to sweep through Egypt and Libya, engulfing the seats of a few power-drunk despots on the way. Major protests were also seen across Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, and Yemen where protestors took to the streets demanding for a change from the deep set rot of unemployment, corruption, inflation, political repression and poor living conditions that seemed common woes to them all.


As youtube videos of violent street protests and the anarchy at Tahrir square, continued to get multiple thousand hits and gain solidarity from the world online community, there was a question that lingered in the back of the mind for many. Are the Arab nations really ready for democracy?

I find this question quite patronising, and crudely stereotypical to be honest. It’s like the British playing that same old tape on rewind. The tape that repeatedly told us for the 250 odd years that they ruled us, that we would not be able to ‘handle’ freedom. That without them ruling us, we would implode. Anarchy would run riot. 64 years of freedom later, though we have our own set of flaws, we’re still living in a thriving democracy.

This is not to say that the conditions in the Arab world and India are any comparable. They have their own unique set of issues, whether it is economic, religious or the world’s obsession over its oil resources. The string of dictators from Ben Ali to Mubarak continued to rule decade after decade, nurtured by the western powers when it suited them and evoking reprimands when the people and the world community turned hostile against the same dictators.

But if our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything, it is that the removal of tyranny alone is insufficient to create a stable democracy. Their prospects for lasting freedom have nothing to do with rhetorical support from Washington, but depend rather on whether those countries have the broader political and economic infrastructure necessary to sustain democracy. 

Image courtesy: frontpagemag.com 

What is unfolding in the Arab streets is not an assertion of religious reaction but a yearning for democracy with all its burdens and rewards. For Arab dictatorships that have often viewed war as a means of enhancing their prestige, an injection of democratic accountability can go a long way toward arresting impetuous impulses. 

Admittedly, the uncertainty and the chance of slipping into greater chaos looms large in the future of these people. They might not completely know what they’ve bargained for yet. That the path to democracy is not a bed of roses, but arduous and needs constant and collective responsibility which is not always easy to achieve. But what is really important is to take that first step towards making the change that the nation is craving for.

Whoever said that democracy is a gene that you have to be born with? History has shown us that people have always fought for, won their right to rule themselves and then grown into the role in the years to come. The difference between successful democracies and failed states is what the people themselves do with that freedom once they earn it. Do they proceed to do to their people what the erstwhile dictators did to them? Or do they rise to the occasion and bring the change for which common people like Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit vendor died for. As the Arab world sits at the cusp of a turn in its destiny, one thing is definite; we sure do live in some interesting times.


Watch this video to get reactions and glimpses during 'the million march rally'  to oust President Hosni Mubarak at Tahrir Square during the protests in Egypt. 

Tech boost for MNREGA

In the face of a relentless season of scams and the rising disillusionment, the UPA government is now in a desperate damage control mode. Its best bet would be to plug the loopholes in areas where it has managed to achieve marginal success.

Image courtesy: nregs-mp.org

Five years since the launch of its flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the government has now proposed to create a biometric data base of all workers covered under the MNREGA scheme and use it to authenticate work applications, work-site attendance and wage payments.

“We hope it will substantially reduce instances of discrimination in work allocation, delayed payments and bogus muster rolls,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a function organised to acknowledge the five years of MNREGA. He also expressed concern over problems in implementation of the scheme in Naxal-affected areas. “Priority is being given to Left-wing extremism affected districts, and districts where the annual MNREGA expenditure is above Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion),” he said. 

Concerned about the reports of harassment and intimidation of social auditors, the PM said, “Comprehensive rules to strengthen the social audit process by the gram sabha are being formulated.” He also announced that the government will establish a technical unit, comprising a panchayat development officer and a junior engineer, in each gram panchayat.

Maintaining that MNREGA had generated 880 crore person days of work since its inception, the Dr. Singh added that, “About 52 per cent of the work has been done by those belonging to the Scheduled Cases and Scheduled Tribes and 47 per cent by women.” He also noted that wages under MNREGA were now being disbursed through more than 10 crore (100 million) bank and post office accounts.

However, the challenge before the government is to improve the on ground implementation of the Act. “We have to improve the delivery mechanism of the programme so that the Right to Employment created under the Act becomes an effective right available to all eligible persons. Modern technology can be a potent weapon in preventing leakages and improving transparency,” Singh said.

Singh said wages have increased from Rs 65 per person per day in 2006 to around Rs 100 per person per day today. “Wage rates for MNREGA workers have recently been linked to increases in Consumer Price Index for agricultural labourers, resulting in an immediate 17 per cent to 30 per cent increase of wage rates. The average person days of employment per household under MNREGA in the last financial year was 54 days,” Singh added.

The government also plans to formulate micro-plans at the village level with people's participation to determine what work should be undertaken and where. “The people should be actively involved in the implementation, monitoring and social audit of the programme,” Singh said, adding that the role of Panchayati Raj could be enhanced for this.

“The real success of MNREGA will be achieved when it is able to address the circumstances that made the programme necessary in the first place,” Singh said.


Click on the following video to see a demo of how the new technology in MNREGA will work. 

Collision course

Chance inexplicable encounters,
Planned deliberate masquerades..
Mirrors and Smokescreens,

Songs and memories..

Clouds of doubt..

That feeling of nothingness.

Allowing yourself to get trapped into that corner.

Fooling yourself that this isn’t happening,

Talking yourself into believing it isn’t real..

Looking up, only to realise it’s much too late,

And that try as you might, it can never be the same again..

Falling from grace.. picking yourself up again.. and stumbling, yet again..

Restrained.. to out-of-control..

Bursts of wild and waywardness..

Webs of disillusionment..

Wondering if it’s a permanent state of being?

Facing yourself.. to not looking at those closest, in the eye..

But in the end, being answerable to no one but yourself.

A black swan.

And those that follow you into the dark.. without judgement.

Shadows of a laugh now..

Reaching in.. and then out, 
Beginning an attempt at the game again,
As once again, the meandering quest continues..