Electing The Right Government

In my childhood, when I used to see my parents and grandmother going to a polling booth to caste their votes, I was not grown enough to understand the meaning of voting nor the need for voting. However, when I grew 18 and got my EPIC/voter card, I was excited that I am eligible to caste vote. 

                                 

Gradually, as I started meeting people with different experience, age, sex, city, I came to know to that election process and its value bring different perceptions to different kind of people.

Some personal observations:

• I want an EPIC card only as an address proof for my spouse as she is married to me and she does not have an address proof of her own.
• My name is not included in the voter ID list. So, why should I take pain to submit form 6 and get a voter ID. What do I get in return?
• I have a voter ID in a different location (my native) where I get a lot of free bees, why should I apply for a new card here and cancel the existing one?
• Whichever government I vote for, the response/development in our area would be the same in the next 5 years. So, why waste time in getting involved in the voting process?
• I had some other appointment on the same day, so, could not caste my vote.
• I am a female, I am not interested in politics. 

What are the advantages of voting?

The nation (or state) spends so many crores of rupees to complete one election process. Remember that it is taxpayers' money and if we don't vote, then we do not participate in forming the right democratic government. I have seen so many poor people in backward rural places standing in queues to caste their votes. Some time, I feel, educated people abstain themselves from casting their valuable votes and later crib that development is not shown by their political leaders in their areas. 

By going with a simple math, if in a constituency containing 10000 eligible voters, a particular area has 1000 eligible voters, thereby governing 10% of the total election weight-age. If another 1000 more voters in the same area register in next round of elections, then it boosts the percentage to 16% of the total election weight-age in that constituency. This means that would-be political leaders who file their nominations in the next election are well aware that 16% of the stake lies in this area. Therefore, it becomes a compulsion for these political leaders to provide development in this area. 

                                       

However, on the other side, if percentage of eligible voters increases, and if these voters do not caste their votes, then it reflects poorly on that area. The elected member will notice that the percentage of voter turn out is poor, and it is safe not to provide development works to this area. It is based on the assumption that his/her selection in the next round of election would not be governed by the voters in this particular area. This way, the development work gets focused in the areas where there is a larger voter turn out on the election day.

Is it a good idea to make voting mandatory?

If people do not understand the value of casting their vote, is it a good idea to make voting compulsory  One of the best examples is Australia where citizens are penalized for not voting.

Options are:

• The government may decide not to provide some facilities to those who do not caste their votes. 
• The government may decide not to provide subsidies to those who do not caste their votes.
• The government may impose fines on those who abstain from casting their votes.
• The government may link ration card/PAN cards/Aadhar cards, etc. with the acknowledgement number that the voter has caste his/her vote.
• The government may provide tax rebate if vote is caste.

There are so many ways the government can make voting compulsory. However, what about people who cannot go to a polling booth due an emergency, a sudden travel, out of the country and other genuine reasons. Some alternatives may include allowing voting by an e-mail, through the Internet or allowing voting on multiple days.

On the other hand, the question is whether forcing somebody to vote is depriving him/her from his/her liberty? 

Whether the government will make voting compulsory or not, nobody knows. However, spreading the awareness of the voting process and its advantages can influence/boost the voter turn-out percentage on the election day.

Some of them include:

• Carrying out procession/rallies by social workers in areas where there is a poor turn-out.
• Meeting representatives of apartments/houses
• Distributing pamphlets
• Social networking web sites like Facebook.
• Spreading awareness of candidates who are contesting the election.
• Spreading awareness about polling booths, their addresses.
• Helping voters to trace their part number and serial number in the voters' list.
• Car pooling to the polling booths.
• Individual apartment associations compiling a list of voters from their buildings and encouraging them to caste their votes.
• Parents convincing/insisting youngsters to caste their votes.
• Providing polling booths in colleges so that the younger generation utilizes this opportunity.

The government spends so much money on elections, let us make use of it. Let's vote. More than the right, it is our duty to caste our vote. I caste vote, do you?

Online Property Tax Payment In Bangalore

Now a days, I have observed that a lot of people are evading property tax either due to ignorance or because they think that it is painful to stand in a queue in BBMP offices and converse in the local language. However, the reality is, evading or deferring the payment of property tax has its own disadvantages.

1.       The tax payer loses the benefit of rebate if the tax is paid after certain specified date (most of the time, it is 30^th April of that assessment year)

2.       The tax payer has to pay to the middleman commission charges along with the penalty/interest over and above the original property tax payable.

3.       The tax payer has to run around to pay the dues in urgency when it becomes mandatory to apply for some other amenities like Cauvery water connection.

As Cauvery water connections are on spree, a lot of people are catching hold of middlemen/agents to pay their property tax when BBMP has made life of its citizens so easy to pay the property tax online. Let me try to explain these simple steps to pay the property tax sitting at home in a few mouse clicks.

Pre-requisite:

One should have the application number of the property tax paid for the assessment year 2008-09.

Here are the steps to pay the property tax online:

1.       In your browser (Google chrome/Internet Explorer/Safari, etc.), go to the URL

http://1113.sasbbmp.com/Forms/frm_OnlinePayment_MainPage.aspx

2.       If there are no changes in your property details within the last year, click Form IV. Otherwise, click Form V.

3.       Click on “Year 2013-14” under the “Current Assessment Year”

4.       It will open the following page:

5.       Provide your 2008-09 assessment year’s property tax payment application number in the text box as shown below and press “Find” button in blue color.

6.       It will show the name of the property owner. For illustration, it is shown as “MARUTI HARIDAS KAMAT $ 459 $ 2093738”

7.       Click on the owner in the list as shown below and press the “Continue” button.

8.       It will open your application form for the assessment year 2013-14 as shown below. You may update your contact number(s) and the postal address for correspondence. Other grayed out fields cannot be changed for the online payment.

9.       Provide your BESCOM R. R. Number and BWSSB R. R. Number from the electricity bill and water bill respectively as highlighted. Also, if a borewell exists in the premises, select “Yes” radio button for “BOREWELL AVAILABILITY”

10.    

11.   Select the checkbox “I hereby agree for the above terms and conditions…” at the bottom and click the “Online Payment” button.

12.   It will take you to the next page as shown below.

13.   Select IDBI Bank option if and only if you want to pay through credit card or debit cards supporting VISA and Mastercard. Select ICICI Netbanking option only if you have a valid ICICI online account.

14.   After clicking the “Proceed” button, it will take you to the gateway page where in you will have to specify the card details.

15.   Fill in the required details and word verification as displayed and press the “Pay” button.

16.   After the online password is verified, the payment will be successful which will take you to the following page. You may take a printout of the receipt by clicking the button “Print Receipt” which will download the “PDF” format of the receipt. It will require Acrobat Reader to open the document and take a printout. Save the details of Bank Transaction Number and Application Numbers (2008-09 and 2013-14) somewhere for later use.

17.   For the receipt, you may alternatively click “Online Paid Form-IV Application Print” link on the left and click “Year 2013-14” in the list.

18.   Specify the application number (2013-14) you got in step 16 and press “Show”. It will download the receipt.

You have to choose “Form V” only if there are changes in the property details within the last year.

My First Blog Post

This is my first blog post. I am planning to write a lot of things which come to my mind. I have observed a lot of issues which public around me face and a lot of thoughts come to my mind to help them. You might have heard that "A pen is mightier than sword". So I will use this blog to voice my opinion and also to write certain things which bubble in my mind.

Also, I will use this blog as a medium for sharing my knowledge with everyone. I am sure that whatever I share here will be very much useful to everyone around.

I request everyone to leave their wonderful comments which will help me in refining my ideas and make the blog a productive one for me and for the readers.

Thanks.

Disclaimer:

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