India Poised to India Realised through SMS?

When I first read about ”Lead India” – an initiative of The Times Of India, I thought it was a step in the right direction. To me it then meant that as a responsible media house, the Times Group was leveraging its power and reach to make a difference in the way a nation is being lead. But as I read more, I found it odd that all they were eventually looking at was to identify a single person (in a country of over a billion), give him/her Rs. 50 lakh for a welfare project & “place them at the doorstep of opportunity to participate in the next Lok Sabha polls”!

The process of selecting this leader is inspired by these oh-so-popular singing competitions that have seem to have become the bread-n-butter of our television channels. So SMS it is, and TOI is no leaving no stone (page) unturned to garner SMSes for these contestants.

Right now, the eight finalists are seeking votes from the nation & one is supposed to decide who will do more good for the nation than the other by watching them as part of a (believe-it-or-not!) reality show on TV. I don’t know what to expect from this show but proceedings so far give me a feeling this is going to be a variant of “Indian Idol” with quality losing to quantity.

I have a problem here.

 The very fact that an initiative like this is being treated like a “Miss India” beauty paegant or an “Indian Idol” run, demeans its spirit. Here we had courageous citizens who dreamt of making a difference to India, who thought they had found a platform to do their bit for the nation. Instead, they were labelled contestants, as if they were to run for a race. Each contestant was supposed to outsmart the other by voicing their views on national issues (Almost like the idealistic GDs one participates in at the time of seeking a job or admission for MBA). TOI had a brilliant concept at hand and they should have steered it in a different direction.

In place of going from shortlisting 3 “semi-finalists” from 8 zones, they should have had the jury select a Taskforce of 100 (or even more) “Realisers” from each city. Looking at the publicity TOI has managed for ”Lead India”, I’m sure getting sponsorships for welfare projects would not have an ardent task. Perhaps, in place of looking at national/regional parties offering election tickets to the winners, they could have forged partnerships with India’s leading corporate houses to take up group initiatives with this army of “Realisers”. The true power of such a campaign could have been realised through working at the grassroot levels than heading for the Parliament House.

I might be unrealistic in my idea of it all but I surely know that a handful of genuine people in politics cannot make any remarkable contributions in the running of this country. The true leaders of India have been outside of the politicial system (take the case of Narayan Murthy or A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Politics in our country, looking at the current state of affairs, will only tie down the hands of these emerging leaders.

Media has immense potential to make a difference. Let us hope TOI can tide over mere hype & SMS to deliver their dream of “India Poised to India Realised”.