LOKSABHA ELECTION - 2009

MASJID NAHI .. MANDIR NAHI … VIKAAS HAMARA NAARA HAI…

ADVOCATE ARUN KEJRIWAL

(INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FROM NORTH MUMBAI)

This young, educated and dynamic candidate is already a youth icon. Unlike others, caste and religion are not the matters of importance to him but progress and development are certainly of his concern. He is a well known social worker. Youth describes him as their “POTENTIAL WINNER”. He is fighting elections because he want

to bring in a change in the present system. He calls it political revolution. For youngsters he is already a leader.

Let us know more about this Social Engineer.

True to his name “Arun” meaning sun, Arun Kejriwal vibrates with energy, always looking forward to help people.

Arun Kejriwal, 36 was born in a middle class family and pursued his studies in commerce and acquired his masters degree from University Of Mumbai before going on to become a law graduate.

Arun’s decision to directly stand up for Lok Sabha election 2009 talks volumes of the vision he carries not just for people of his constituency in Mumbai, but for the whole of the India.

He is also the founder trustee of the Shiv Shristi Trust, Kandivili (west) and is the Gen. Secretary of this trust.

Arun is now the chairman of Vasanth complex Co-op housing societies and Secretary of Raj Residency 1, comprising of over 600 members.

His vision:

Empowering people to built a responsible India.

His manifesto:

1. Creating leaders: Bring administrative reforms whereby leadership position in public service is not reduced to a decorative ornament for display. Leadership is only with those who can deliver measurable results.
2. Building communities: Creating forums through which citizens come together with the objective of connecting people with knowledge to those who are deprived of it, people with resources with those who are deprived of it and from the common interest groups. This will result into breaking old beliefs for many, gain new beliefs and forge new relationships besides mushrooming of self-managing people groups.
3. Transparency: Bring in improved transparency and measurability of actions taken in the administration, by talking help of technology in working procedures.
4. Affordable housing: Creating favorable politics which will make the way for affordable homes.
5. Sensitive Urban Infrastructure: Beyond building more roads, bridges etc. getting Municipal Corporation and other agencies involved to be sensitive to the services being provided to citizens- quality of water, quality of road, travel time, sewerage, air and water pollution, parking, hawking etc.
6. Disaster Management and National security Plans: It will be his endeavor to ensure that m constituency is equipped to handle any eventuality, foster public government participation and build a model for others to emulate.

His PLEDGE:

I PLEDGE to the people of my constituency and my country to;

· Be Accountable to the state of affairs

· Be accessible at all times

· Be a facilitator between the government agencies & CITIZENS.

· Be a custodian of Public money

· Participate actively in the proceedings of the parliament

INFORMATION FOR VOTERS:

NAME MR. ANUN KEJRIWAL (INDEPENDENT)

AGE 36 YRS

EDUCATION POST GRAGUATE FROM JITENDRA CHAUHAN COLLEGE

OF LAW

ASSETS

MOVABLE TWO CRORES

IMMOVABLE NIL

CRIMINAL CASES 0

Address: A-1202 Raj Residency-1,
Mahavir Nagar, Kandivali (West),
Mumbai 400067

His silent act of kindness….

Mr. Arun Kejriwal has taken a very keen interest in solving many public issues pertaining to Mumbai suburbs. He played a very significant role for reducing the impact of FAC (fuel adjustment charges) being imposed by the Reliance Infrastructure Limited.

Due to advocate Arun kejriwal’s affect and support from Bhartiya Udhami Avam Upbhokta Sangh Reliance Infrastructure had to withdraw the petition filed for post approval of FAC charges to the tune of more then 2188 crores adversely impacting 28 lakhs energy consumers of Mumbai suburbs. Out of these 28 lakhs 4 lakhs (approx.) are residing in North Mumbai Constituency ( between Malad, Kandiwali, Boriwali and Megathane area).

Interaction with Mr. Kejriwal:

Q. What concrete steps will you take to end corruption, ensure accountability and bring transparency firstly amongst those that work directly under you and secondly, in other departments of the government machinery?

I strongly believe that accountability starts from the leader himself and it has to stream and flow from top to the bottom. While filing nomination papers I was required to file on oath a statement of my assets and liabilities. I believe this is a very effective way of bringing transparency and hence going to take this ahead and ensure that every person involved with me files on oath and declare their assets and liabilities. Each of their documents will be available in my office as public documents. More the information provided, easier it will be for everybody to evaluate whether they are being treated fairly by their public servants. Wealth declarations do little good if no one can access them, and accountability in government spending is not possible if no one knows how much was available and allocated to a given project in the first place.

When the rules of a society are transparent - when there's a clear and advertised set of laws and regulations regarding how to start a business, what it takes to own property, how to go about getting a loan - there is less of a chance that some corrupt bureaucrat will make up his own rules that suit only his interests. Clarifying these rules and focusing resources on building a judicial system that can enforce them and resolve disputes should be a primary goal of any government suffering from corruption.

Reaching out to people and making them aware of the various provisions in law and educating them at all times of their rights and responsibilities will be my primary focus. This I believe will result in empowering citizens to get their representatives accountable for their actions. For instance, there are various provisions in law for redressing our basic concerns, we do take initiative but for the lack luster response from the various departments in the government machinery the energy so mobilized gets drained over a span of time and the initiative is lost. The need is to channelize these initiatives and persistently energize them through effective guidance and direction besides imparting knowledge of various provisions in law to bring these concerns at a logical conclusion.

Setting up information centers that can guide people on where and whom to approach on the above will be at the top of my priority. You have already read of my pledge to the people of my constituency and country to be accessible, to be a custodian of public money and a facilitator between government agencies and citizens.

I also call upon all the people to standup and face it – for the last many years the people running the country haven’t, and while only some are to blame for the corruption that has plagued this country all are responsible for fixing it.

· In the wake of recent acts of terrorism, what security measures will you implement to ensure safety of citizens and smooth functioning of day-to-day activities?

If we have to fight terrorism, we HAVE to make sure that we vigorously enforce a non proliferation treaty. Let us fight against terrorism through effective, coordinated intelligence efforts and by immediate blocking shutting down the financial networks that support terrorism. Also introduce a homeland security program that involves more than just issuing warnings, playing the blame game and de-link this issue with politics and make opinion of every citizen count in the solution.

Let’s fight against oppression of people, encourage expression of opinion, rise against corruption and inequality. We have to create awareness on social, financial and social perspective of terror so that youth in mismanaging economies do not youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope. Today misguided youth in many parts of world are used as ready recruits for terrorist cells and without creating proper environment for basic study and higher education, they will continue to be injudicious and irrational in the path they adopt.

In the wake of these circumstances you will find that every time we fight a terrorist another one rises. We have to go beyond symptomatic treatment and national focus is required to address the root causes resulting in formation of terrorists.

I firmly believe that education; empowerment and giving people a dignified basic living will pave the way for elimination of terrorism. When people are meaningfully engaged with a sense and responsibility of their significant contribution for the progress of society and country at large, I am sure they will refrain themselves from destructive acts.

“Creating Leaders” and “Building Communities” – the top priorities in my manifesto are initiatives in this direction. I am for creating leaders – not followers. Each leader whom I empower will create more. By Building Communities, I will bring together people with resources to those who are deprived of it and work in collaboration.

To achieve this – technology based initiatives are being outlined.

· What measures will you take to curb problems of lack of frequency of and lack of safety in transportation. What will be your approach to streamline various components of the systems - metro, local trains with existing bus networks, BRTS etc. so that public transport in Mumbai works as one coordinated system?

It will be my endeavor to work on a united infrastructure organization for Mumbai where all agencies come under one roof. This organization will be independent organization on the lines of BEST. More the number of entities, more the resources required to function and lesser they co-ordinate and on top of all multiple priorities. Three railways – Central, Western & Harbour, BEST, now Metro on the way …..

One entity means only one priority – Mumbai’s Public Transport

“Sensitive urban infrastructure” a priority area in my manifesto is an attempt to address this issue. Looking beyond building more bridges, sky walks, six lanes, service roads – sensitivity needs to be brought in it whereby small but dreaded bottlenecks can be done away with, logical signal network needs to be ensured, adherence to no hawking zones, etc.

· Mumbai and other cities in India today are synonymous with air, water, and noise pollution. By the time you leave office in 2014, what legislative measures would you have taken to alter this path towards complete environmental degradation that cities are currently heading towards?

Effective legislative measures with intent and perfection ensures strict compliance. Also awareness and involvement of the citizens significantly brings voluntary observance. Need is for better coordination with the housing societies and mohalla committees for enhanced participation.

Apart from the above, I have a different aspect of looking at this issue - Why are cities getting polluted? Only because there are more people in cities than what the current administration and infrastructure can handle. There are lack of opportunities in smaller towns & villages. I will raise issues relating to rural development and creating infrastructure in smaller towns, (not for namesake but effective implementations) and conceptualize small scale self empowerment projects to enable a good living.

This will also call for encouraging people to take up self employment, thereby paving the way for self sustaining and self driving village communities.

I will seek to introduce necessary legislations or support such issues which will help build a stronger India back in villages.

· How do you plan on generating more electricity, so as to end the power crisis? Do you plan to do this using conventional sources of energy (such as thermal, hyrdoelectric, nuclear) or alternate sources of energy. Please outline a specific plan?

We have produced the best of scientists in the world. For various reasons, many of them today work for multinationals and best of nations the world over.

As an MP, I will take up issues limiting research and development and create mediums of recognizing their work that will encourage the best brains to seek more grants for research on projects related to power generation specifically to alternative sources of energy. It will be my endeavor to get private participation into funding such projects and bring in force specific research institutions in the field of power on the lines of IIT. I will also attempt to create independent authorities which will observe and identify areas of energy conversation and also define actions against errant usage of power resources.

· What preventive action will you take so that your constituency doesn’t get flooded during the monsoons? How will you upgrade disaster management departments such the fire-fighting department?

People connected to nature understand monsoons better. I have already sounded out to my team to connect to environmentalists, and professionals who understand the various issues connected to this. It will be my effort to contact the best brains in the country to look at solutions that are long lasting.

I will bring in their inputs to supplement the work done by government agencies and coordinate with government agencies, focus being execution with timeframes.

Through my website I will collect inputs from all vigilant citizens on all those activities which cause such flooding. Creating awareness, encourage using bio-degradable packaging materials, better civic sense and creating regular campaigns to improve our overall sense of ownership against these issues.

I strongly believe that Mumbai’s flooding issue is an equal man made issue as is a natural issue and we have to ourselves take actions to improve our habits on waste management.

I will also press for additional resources from the central & state agencies and build competent review authorities to monitor the usage of funds allocated to fight this problem.

Over the past few years, lot has been spent on setting up and upgrading disaster management departments. What is now required is focus on effective implementation and I will do whatever possible to ensure that the teams come together in hour of need. There has to be appropriate local and trained personnel which can do sensible co-ordination. Running round the year awareness programmes and consistently press for public participation are my other ways to create difference on this subject.

· What steps will you take to give economic growth a boost especially during this time of recession? We would like to see sustainable economic growth and understand how do you plan to achieve it?

I believe growth is a mindset and it has to be addressed from the mind first. All along the 60 odd years in the past we have been telling we are an underdeveloped country and related stories…

Since economic liberalization and changes thereon, we have seen changes in the IT, Telecom, Automotive, Media, Airline, Insurance and so many other allied and ancillary industries. Each of the success stories in these areas demonstrate one thing consistently and that is – change in outlook: bring results.

We have over 8 crore SME’s in our country. It will be my endeavor to fight for policies and resources among all things associated with the change in mindset of the youth that “they can earn their own livelihood” and not look for a government / private job. When I help the 8 crore SME’s they will grow, create more opportunities across the country – in the smallest town, village – which will also bring about balance in economic development and the fruits of economic growth reaches all.

It is in line with my manifesto – empowerment, leadership, building communities.

· Unemployment is the biggest concern for today’s youth. What will you do to reduce unemployment and create more jobs?

I think this issue is already been addressed above. What I would like to add here is we need to carefully monitor our attitude towards “Living in History V/s living in Potential”

We need to commit ourselves to excellence. Anything less than commitment to excellence is Acceptance of Mediocrity. We need to always dream to be the best and believe in ourselves about the valuable contribution to make. Excellent performance improves our self image, our self esteem and raises our enthusiasm besides bringing in competence and mastery. We often complain of competition in every areas but when we start moving towards excellence we begin to experience that there is very low or nil competition.

· How will you reduce the rich poor divide and also ensure accountability of funds ear marked for poverty alleviation and slum rehabilitation?
Points outlined in 7 & 8 will create more jobs / opportunities. In my manifesto, we have already talked about transparency. It will be my endeavor to bring in transparency and give people access to information, reporting status, and most importantly a voice that will be heard .

· What would you be doing to provide basic health to all that is affordable?

Change in mindset in the doctors and professionals – to understand how it is critical – I suggest that each doctor will have to practice 5 years compulsorily in rural areas if government grants were given.

I will press for policies that give incentives for the professionals and the industry to invest in rural health infrastructure, tax holidays, tele medicines, mobile clinics and so on.
I will work on Public private partnerships.

for more details Click: http://www.arunkejriwal.com/role.aspx