We all probably know someone who’s crazy about cricket, full of unlikely statistics that can make you sit up. Someone who remembers moments from matches that you forgot even took place. Someone who can even make a convincing case (for a while i.e.) for how Sachin Tendulkar was a better Test cricketer than Rahul Dravid.
I’m betting that such people would not have been half as effective but for Cricinfo. To be specific, said cricket nut may not have been quite as good but for the existence of Statsguru, the famous search engine & statistics database that Cricinfo has hosted for years.
You might or might not agree with this hypothesis. You might even hate me for my insistence that Dravid deserves to be known as India’s MVP. But you might just agree with me that it’s time we had another Statsguru. One that’s dedicated not to cricket, but to India’s other big obsession, politics.
NetaData
Let’s call such a hypothetical search engine NetaData. The idea is, once you key in a politician’s name into NetaData, it will take you to a page containing basic information about him or her. Add a filter or two, and you are then directed to other pages with information on the politician’s links with other politicians, conflicts of interest, sources of income, etc.
Why We Need NetaData
Take the case of Ananth Kumar of the BJP. This enormously popular MP represents Bangalore South.
Ananth Kumar has had an impressive career. He has been elected five times to the Lok Sabha. As a Cabinet Minister during NDA-rule, he held several important portfolios. Since 2004, he has been a member of several Parliamentary committees and has held a clutch of positions in the BJP.
But how EFFECTIVE an MP is he really? What parameters to use while judging him? And finally, come election time, should I vote for him to stay on as Bangalore South’s MP?
The fact is: we simply don’t have enough independently-verified, credible information about our law makers. Without such data, it is difficult to say that Ananth Kumar, or any other political leader, has been ‘good at his job’.
Other Services
All this doesn’t mean however that there aren’t any resources on the web. Sites run by PRS Legislative Research,Association for Democratic Reforms and Netapedia have valuable content. But as I will argue later, there is no Statsguru-like service that gives you a comprehensive look at the performance of law makers.
Rating our law makers
It turns out that answering the basic question – does my MP deserve to be re-elected? – is by no means an easy exercise. Unlike cricketers, politicians cannot be judged using an agreed-upon list of attributes. The variables affecting each person’s performance are simply too large. So large that embarking on such an exercise to rate our politicians may be futile.
Great. Why need NetaData at all?
The answer to that is: can we afford to not try? Don’t we, the people, deserve a set of tools by which we can at least begin an attempt to gauge the performance of our representatives?
Disclaimer
I still think of myself as a Bangalorean. That’s why I picked Ananth Kumar as an example. The truth is, I’ve lived in Delhi for several years now. Properly speaking, my MP is the Congress’ Ramesh Kumar, who was nominated to run for South Delhi only because he brother Sajjan Kumar withdrew under allegations that he was involved in the Delhi riots of 1984.
