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Empowering India: Making Democracy Meaningful

Active citizenship is central to democratic governance. While freedom to vote is fundamental, on average only about 50% of those eligible actually cast their vote. However, freedom to vote also includes the freedom to exercise the right not to vote. Empowering India, a web-based initiative of Liberty Institute (LI) in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF) seeks to encourage democratic participation, by facilitating flow of information, and motivating the citizens to exercise their right to vote.

Both the organisations joined hands with the Chennai based Press Institute of India (PII) in launching the website across the country. Flagging off the series of such programmes in Chennai, reaching out to people in Bangalore, and moving eastwards to Kolkata and finally to the north-eastern city of Guwahati, these four programmes were organised to inform the voters of the powerful tool that is available with them in electing their representatives.

The website was launched by the Chief Electoral Officer in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, who hoped that the voting percentage in the state of Tamil Nadu ought to go up this year. The website would serve as an important instrument to help the voters in choosing their Government in the state. The Chief-Guest in Kolkata, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, pointed out that an informed citizenry is an important force in the development of the country. Being critical of the current state of democracy of the country, he also wished that the quality of democratic behaviour of the country and that of the political parties ought to improve through an informed choice by the voter. In Guwahati, where the website was launched by the Minister for Health, Information Technology, etc. for the state of Assam, the initiative was well appreciated for being user-friendly and relevant in its approach. Moreover, during the programmes, ideas were also discussed to use the website as an interactive platform for voters where they could share and exchange their views.

The launch of the website was followed by a panel discussion on how democracy could be made more meaningful. Representatives from civil society, media, politicians and academicians participated as panellists in these discussions. The presence of journalists in the audiences ensured the coverage of the programmes, both in the print and electronic media.

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