Digital media have made a strong appeal to people wanting to improve democracy right from the start. Four waves of utopian visions of the last 25 years are described. The concept of digital democracy is defined. Subsequently, six views of both representative and direct democracy are distinguished that favour particular applications of digital media in politics and government. The next paragraph makes an inventory of the claims and achievements of 25 years of attempts to realize digital democracy in the field of information provision, online discussion and decision making. It appears that information provision is the best realized claim. The final part of this chapter is about e-Participation in politics and policy. It discusses both government-and citizen-centric applications. Citizen-centric applications appear to be the most successful. Generally speaking, e-participation has not been successfully incorporated in institutional politics and government.
'Digital Democracy in India' is our ongoing attempt to examine the emergence of a new governance paradigm in the country, characterized by the rise of ‘governance by networks’ and ‘rule by data’, from the standpoint of inclusive citizenship. We are primarily concerned with tracing critical directions for institutional overhaul, so that the interests of citizens at the margins are preserved and promoted in the transition to digitally-mediated service delivery and public decision making.
In this pandemic, it become impossible and hazardous to follow the traditional way or method of parliamentary meeting. Not only in India but parliaments around the globe are adapting digital technique for their meetings. Even many Parliaments around the globe have become virtual or hybrid to facilitate remote participation by the members. Though the Monsoon Session of our Parliament is nearly two months away, some members of the Opposition are demanding, and rightly so, virtual committee sittings as they meet more frequently during the recess. It is, therefore, an opportune time to go virtual or to begin with, to have a hybrid Parliament to enable MPs to carry out their constitutional duties during the pandemic or till the threat continues.
The European Union Parliament switched over to online voting from March 26. Britain’s House of Commons, a great stickler for its hoary customs and conventions, made history on April 21, 2020, by approving a new measure allowing some business to be done remotely. To begin with, up to 120 MPs could quiz ministers via Zoom, the video conferencing platform.
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha chambers are commodious enough to meet the requirement of quorum if members stay six feet apart from one another as per the distancing norm. Once the government and the benches opposite see eye to eye, technical and procedural changes can be thrashed out consensually. In fact, considerable work has already been done for an e-parliament. This was started by Somnath Chatterjee, former Lok Sabha Speaker, and pursued tenaciously by successive Speakers. Surely, our parliamentarians, an overwhelming majority of them, will welcome the virtual/hybrid Parliament, as a temporary measure enabling participation in the House/committee proceedings from remote locations. Hopefully, adversarial party politics will take a back seat in a time of national crisis and parliamentary scrutiny will help course correction where needed and inspire greater public confidence in the pandemic strategy of the government. Albeit public galleries would be deserted and debates devoid of the usual sound and fury and disruptions, yet a virtual parliament is preferable to parliamentary lockdown. There will be technical glitches and bumps along the way, but Parliament must modernise, innovate and go virtual to meet the new challenges. This will also further the goal of digital India and make our democracy more participatory, inclusive and transparent.
