Elections 2009 are round the corner. We have the power to vote and change our lives. To begin with we need to know the development status and progress made over the last few years. This is important for both the electorate and elected representatives need to know the initial conditions as well as progress that the constituency has made over the last parliamentary term. Unfortunately many of us are in the dark and we tend to depend on anecdotes in assessing.
Out here, Indicus is attempting to fill the information gap, by using government data and estimating for each constituency the latest available socio-economic and development status. For this exercise we include the very basic – literacy, health (immunization), household electrification, and habitations connected by pucca roads (data from Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Rural Development Ministry, available for 2008). For each constituency, we have estimated data on basic socio-economic variables (health plus education) and also on physical infrastructure (bijli, sadak, paani or electricity, roads and water).
The estimates put together by Indicus reveal a picture that is not surprising. There are large differences between constituencies in different states, and there are almost as significant differences in constituencies within a state. Maharashtra for instance has constituencies that would rank among the most well endowed in the country. And it also has constituencies that are among the worst in terms of infrastructure and socio-economy. Similarly, we find that state capitals tend to have much better infrastructure than those constituencies that are in the hinterlands. But we need not single out any one state, we find that there are very large differences in almost all states; though much more in larger states than smaller ones.
We have organized the data in a way that you can compare constituencies across all the parameters and judge the performances for yourselves.
We invite you, the citizens to examine the facts and use your voting rights with care. We owe it to you.