Social Media – An Empowerment for Citizens of India

In the recent years, Social Media has emerged as the fastest growing Information and

Communication Technology tool enabling governments to interact with citizens and vice

versa. It has potential to take governance to the next level and redefine Democracy.

Currently, social media is not directly involved in eGovernance activities but can give an

extra dimension in the pursuit for Good and effective governance which is the very intention

of eGovernance. It has capability to bridge the missing link between government and citizen

direct interaction.

According to the ‘Digital India 2014’ report, there are 205 Million internet users in India and

is expected to reach around 350 Million by year 2015. It also reveals that 86% of the total

internet users visit social networking sites. The study reveals that there are more than 100

million Facebook users, about 33 Million Twitter users and around 28 Million g+ (Google +)

users in India.

Apart from those mentioned above there are other social media websites which are also

popular like LinkedIn, YouTube for video sharing, Local Circles, Pinterest, Instagram etc.

Re-defined Democracy through Social Media

The current government of India is very enthusiastic to leverage the power and reach of

Social Media to disseminate information regarding programmes, policies and rights of

citizens of India directly, and get feedback, suggestions and grievances from citizens. The

Prime Minister of India himself shares his day to day activity through social media.

The recent example is the use of Local Circles by the BJP members to get in touch directly

with the citizens of specific locality for getting their suggestions and grievances on certain

issues of public importance. After collecting the suggestions, a white paper is submitted to

the concerned ministry.

There are few other social media initiatives like change.org, walkfree.org etc which are used

in India and globally to write a public petition or start a campaign on an issue and get it

signed by public for the submission to the concerned authorities. For example - On July 12th

this year at the Asia Cup Championship at Wuhan, two Sikh Players were humiliated for

wearing a turban. Just minutes before their first basketball game, they were asked to

remove their turbans because their headgear violated FIBA’s rules. A public petition was

written on Change.org and circulated to the public on-line for support against FIBA’s

discriminatory rule. More than 69000 people signed this petition before it was submitted to

FIBA. FIBA considered the petition and bowed to sustained pressure and announced that

they will allow basketball players to play with their turbans or other religious headgear on.

Similarly, Mrs. Jyoti Gupta who lost her 3 yr old daughter Lineshya and husband die in front

of her eyes. They were right outside their house waiting for the school van when a speeding

bus came from the wrong side and dragged them away. Both of them died on the spot. The

driver who killed her family was out on bail within a few hours. In fact, in the last 10 years

alone, more than 1 million people including Cabinet Minister Gopinath Munde have died in

road accidents in India. Jyoti decided to start this petition on change.org along with

‘SaveLIFE Foundation’ asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure a stronger road

safety law and introduce it in Parliament.

More than 1.84 lakh people have already signed the petition. Govt of India is expected to

introduce the new stricter Road Safety Law Bill in the current session of Parliament.

Conclusion

It is good to witness that social media has emerged as the strongest enabler in

strengthening the democracy globally. The emergence of social media has posed an open

challenge to the monopoly of Main Stream Media (MSM) by getting news feeds, videos etc

through crowd sourcing with no cost. At times it was witnessed that even MSM relies on the

news provided by Social Media.

Along with all the good things of Social Media, it has also got its negatives. If it can play a

constructive role for a democracy, it can also become force of destruction. The case of four

youths from Mumbai, who secretly went to Iraq to support terrorist organisation ISIS was

facilitated by SM. One of whom is recently captured by Indian Intelligence officers from

Turkey. The example of Egypt, Cuba where SM played a very important role in organising

wide spread disturbances and destabilising the country. The recent independence

referendum in Scotland, separatist movements in Italy and Spain, the shearing of Ukraine,

and dissolving borders in Iraq and Syria, all of these events are both facilitated by social

media, which allows like-minded activists to find each other, and fuelled by it because the

loudest, most extreme voices tend to garner the most likes and retweets.

References

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/29/social-media-destabilizing-world-says-

social-media-marketing-ceo/NDxk2HR3JJlGblJ58QmIXK/story.html

http://www.globalresearch.ca/social-media-and-the-destabilization-of-cuba-usaids-secret-

cuban-twitter-intended-to-stir-unrest/5376720