Reading this thoughtful article from Samar Harlankar about technological innovation in India, I began to think what kind of innovation has occurred in Indian politics recently. I drew this list:
- Cash for votes (where legislators pledge their votes in exchange of cash – the going rates for MPs has increased between ~450% to ~1500% in 15 years, depending on whether you trust Wikileaks or CPI-M)
- Cash-bombing (where candidates bomb every voter with cash in exchange of votes)
- Fiefdom coalitions ( wherein the head of the government absolves himself of all charges of wrongdoings, blaming it on coalition politics, and the parties in the coalition run their own mini-governments)
Why does innovation occurring in technology end up being harnessed (mostly) for public good, where as political innovation is employed to destroy institutions and kill democracy?
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