Nine 2025 Resolutions to Resuscitate Indian Democracy
In 2025, India needs the audacity of new hope. Nine resolutions can resuscitate our democracy.
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Almost everybody makes New Year's Resolutions. It’s the done thing, because it assuages the guilt of an excess that is now forcibly buried with a passing year; equally, it ignites the promise of new beginnings, a sort of “I failed to lose weight or quit smoking last year but watch me do it now – I have a brand-new resolve for a whole new year!”. That’s the audacity of new hope.
This year, it’s my beloved India that needs this audacity of new hope – “I know my mauled institutions need to be urgently retrieved, repaired, and strengthened; I could do nothing about it last year, so watch me in 2025”.
Top Three Resolutions to Restore Trust in the Election Commission of India
This one is the most critical. If trust in the sanctity of India’s elections is lost, everything is over. So here goes:
First Resolution
We resolve to do a 100% count of VVPATs to validate the EVM results for all elections in 2025. We hope to squelch all suspicions and whiffs of controversy around the integrity of EVMs. We shall use bar codes on VVPATs to ensure a rapid and scientific count, so nobody can object on grounds of “inordinate delays”. We concede that the extra cost incurred in this arduous process is chump change compared to the enormous payoff that shall accrue once all recriminations are addressed or neutralised.
Second Resolution
We resolve to put the previous and current electoral lists for each polling booth in electronic files that get accessed by political parties without any hitch. We shall give them sufficient time to use AI algorithms to cross-check each record. Wherever an error or wrong entry is thrown up, we shall provide full access to the backup evidence we have used to authenticate that voter, be it Aadhar numbers or any other ID. And yes, we shall not evade our responsibility to video record all voters who stuff their ballots after the end of polling, and put these videos up for scrutiny, as required by the law.
Third Resolution
Finally, we resolve to attach the ballot unit (BU) in parallel with the VVPAT unit and the control unit (CU). We apologise for stoutly, and inexplicably, opposing this simple circuit change. We acknowledge that this will ensure that votes are “cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded”, thereby eliminating the risk of manipulation that is so possible when the BU is attached in sequence with the VVPAT unit and the CU. We repeat our apology for persisting with the sequential circuit that is vulnerable to getting hacked.
Top Three Resolutions to Restore the Unimpeachable Reputation of India’s Judiciary
Fourth Resolution:
We resolve to quickly adjudicate the challenge to the Places of Worship Act and conclude the mischievous suits that are riding on it. We shall not make the mistake of delaying a hearing so much that our judgment becomes infructuous, as it did on Article 370. We also promise to rely solely on principles of jurisprudence, without trying to foist a political settlement, as we did in Ayodhya. We shall not dodge the core issue, ie when we chose not to decide whether it’s constitutional for the state of India to be converted into a union territory, and yet struck down Article 370.
Fifth Resolution:
We resolve to expeditiously decide whether the twin bail conditions in PMLA are correct or a violation of the law. Can the burden of proof of innocence be shifted to an accused who is not even told what he is accused of!? How can a person convince a judge that he is innocent and will never commit a crime which he has not yet been convicted of committing!? We may have to concede that this absurdity is being merrily misused to curtail the liberty of citizens whose fundamental right is to be free.
Sixth Resolution:
We resolve to hold truant courts accountable for flouting our instructions. We agree that we’ve been lax in allowing bulldozers to continue demolitions despite our explicit ban. We shall henceforth summon the culpable officials/politicians and inflict exemplary punishment, including arrest. We shall likewise ensure that judges who give adventurous orders to deny bail on flimsy or communal grounds will suffer consequences. We acknowledge that harsh laws aimed at egregious offences - like drug running or terrorism or inciting large-scale violence – are being used against civil society activists who are branded as “urban naxals”, a term or category that is not defined in the law.
Three Final, Miscellaneous Resolutions
Seventh Resolution:
We resolve that every custodial interrogation by any police or police-like force, eg enforcement directorate and narcotics bureau, shall be video-taped. We assert that in today’s age of mobile cameras, this is an easy rule to enforce. If an officer flouts this requirement, he shall be immediately suspended, with dismissal proceedings to follow.
Eighth Resolution:
We resolve to stop dollar millionaires fleeing India. We are astounded that over 10,000 have jettisoned their motherland’s citizenship over the last two years, taking their loyalty and hundreds of billions of dollars to another land. We shall find out what’s troubling them. Is it the polluted air? Persecution by tax agencies? Failure to get justice under broken systems? Rampant extortion and corruption by regulatory bodies? A terrible unease of doing business in India? Whatever it is, we shall fix it.
Ninth Resolution:
We resolve to convince our political leaders to re-learn the art of smiling! We have noticed how bitter, angry, morose, unhumorous, and viscerally combative they always are. Relax guys, learn to take a joke or two. Democracy needs you to accommodate, absorb, forgive, and just generally be more agreeable.