THE elections are coming up and it is time to get more involved with the workings of our democracy.
One of the mediums that aim to create better informed citizens is the Internet, what with ibnpolitics.com and bindass.
tv’s iChange pledge. The former comes loaded with guest blogs by HD Deve Gowda, Jaya Jaitly, Nandan Nilekani and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, historical data, poll statistics etc. We got talking with Roshan Tamang, editor, ibnpolitics.
com, for more on the website that is only a few weeks old.
‘‘The site was born out of ‘necessity’,’’ begins Tamang. ‘‘Generally speaking, we have two popular topics — cricket and Bollywood — which are hotly debated and dissected from all angles. Hence, this portal contains everything that happens within and outside political circles, during the General Elections.’’ Among ibnpolitics’ unique features is an interactive database which has chronicled affairs from the first elections in 1951. Outlining the comprehensive nature of their database, Tamang says that if one wishes to, say, view details of all elections that LK Advani has contested so far, it is possible in the Search for Candidates module. Or if you want to know the male-female ratio of candidates in a particular year, try the Poll Stats Genie page. Making the best of interactivity is the Mark Your Poll Booth feature, by which you can mark their local poll booths on a Google map and share the same with other users. The Video Debate feature allows you to record your video response to a debate thrown open by editors and politicians, using a web cam, on ibnpolitics.
com.
These video debates will be aired on CNNIBN during their panel discussions and shows.
As for bindass.tv’s iChange pledge, the tagline says, ‘‘When you change, India changes.’’ The campaign aims to get the youth more involved in the workings of our country, with voting FAQs, myths, information for first-time voters and so on.