Can India shift her orbit?

Think of a politician and certain stereotypes emerge in ones mind. Many of us have resigned to certain "realities" when it comes to politicians. Here's a refreshing view from a young Indian Member of Parliament (MP) - Rajeev Chandrashekhar. Rajeev was one of the 3 CPU architects of the path breaking Intel Pentium processor. He promoted BPL Mobile and now heads Jupiter Capital. Here are some excerpts from his interview with Tehelka.

The Rajeev Chandrasekhar Agenda

* Give the Election Commission a four-month budget before an election to mobilise more voting.
* Give the right to recall elected representatives for non-performance.
* Have simultaneous elections to states and the Centre.
* Have fixed terms for governments and legislatures.
* Reservation policy must have exit criteria and sunset clauses.
* Prohibit induced religious conversions.
* Make one person responsible for civil defense.
* Organise the home and internal security ministries around the challenge of terrorism.
* Have terrorism courts.
* Take away government discretion in implementing judicial verdicts.
* Have a mechanism to track individual illegal immigrants into India.
* Set 1971 as the cut-off date for offering illegal immigrants citizenship.
* Put Taslima Nasreen and Binayak Sen to a legal scrutiny. Set them free if they pass.
* Have a mechanism that audits use and misuse of laws.
* Identify land for public use, like roads, etc.
* Identify land for private development.
* Offer uncultivable land first.
* Limit government role in land acquisition only to expediting documentation.
* Restructure economy over five years so that it is not dependent on foreign funds.
* Make the LoC the final border between India and Pakistan.
* Give more powers to panchayats and urban municipalities.
* Give more powers to states.
* Avoid creation of more states.
* Trim the office of the Governor. Do away with bloated staff and outdated ceremonies.
* Appoint 80,000 judges.
* Teach contemporary India in schools.
* Track the progress of individual patients in the healthcare system.
* Trim government expenditure on itself.
* Make government attractive to talent.

Fond this exciting? Check out the entire interview at http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Rajeev_Chandrasekhar.asp .

And finally, what do you think? Could this be a start point in our political system to help our country shift her orbit?

And hey...what's your agenda for shifting your orbit?