Reaching the youth through Facebook and Twitter

Over the next 35 days, 814 million Indians are expected to vote in the general elections. Of this number, around 7.2 crore are voters in the age group of 18-23 years. These first-time voters, or ‘born frees’ as The Economist describes them because all of them were born after the Indian markets opened to the world in the 1990s, are an important bloc every political party is addressing. Armed with mobile phones and tablets, this group is technology-savvy and highly informed. The high level of awareness among first-time voters can be attributed to improved access to information and technology — through television, broadband Internet and mobile phones. According to the I-Cube 2013 report, by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB International, by June this year India, with close to 250 million users, is expected to overtake the United States as the second largest Internet base in the world. With a year-on-year growth of 40 %, India by 2015 will have the largest incremental growth in Internet connectivity.
Several parties have set up IT teams to focus on online campaigning on the Internet, especially on social networking sites. With close to 250 million Internet users, of whom 93mn have Facebook accounts and around 35mn have Twitter accounts, this is a big a segment for any party to tap. The advantages here are that while it is easier to reach the target groups the feedback is also quicker. The intended message reaches a greater audience in less time with lesser effort. The flip side is that the easy access to technology has also been misused to spread mischief and hatred, as was seen in the case of a video going viral before the Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh.
Of the many reasons that make this general election a landmark one, perhaps the most significant of them is the way political parties have relied on technology to reach the electorate. Along with massive rallies, televised debates and door-to-door campaigning, this election has seen contestants and parties focus on social media and other Internet platforms, like blogs, advertisements, podcasts, clouds and analytics, to reach the voters and gauge their performance. Whatever be the outcome of the elections, one thing can be said with certainty: Technology has helped more people take an informed decision before voting than any previous election in the history on India. In that sense, technology has empowered and enabled ever single voter.

Lone wolf terror: More potent than Al-Qaeda

A video grab of the Woolwich killer

 Just when world nations had thought that they had seen the worst of terrorism and were devising ways to check and tackle it, comes an offshoot of terrorism that is frighteningly hard to detect and contain given its nascent and localised nature. ‘Lone wolf’ terrorism, in which an individual or a small group of people, after being influenced by extremist views, decide to attack, has been on a steady rise over the years. The Woolwich attack, in which two radicalised Britons of Nigerian origin attacked and killed a British soldier, shook the world because of the gory nature of the crime. What came as more shocking was the motive behind the crime: the two ideologically motivated youth were protesting British military action in Muslim countries.

Anders Breivik

Faisal Shahzad

The Woolwich incident is not a one off case. Right from Norway where Anders Breivik gunned down more than 80 youngsters to Faisal Shahzad’s failed attempt to bomb Times Square in 2010 to Fort Hood where Nidal Malik Hassan gunned down 13 people in 2009 till the recent Boston marathon bombings where two radicalised youth to used a pressure cookers to kill three and injure more than 250 people, all these examples prove that these lone wolves can be as potent and dangerous as organised groups. Two main reasons for a sprout of such attacks is the increasing difficulty in organising a 9/11 type of organised, large-scale attacks and a growing access to radical views on different platforms: be it on the Internet, educational institutions, etc.
These developments, though not taking place in India, have a bearing on India and should catch the attention of New Delhi. India is not immune to terror attacks. India has been a victim of the various hues of terrorism and has at times been successful in tackling it. However, New Delhi is yet to come up with a comprehensive strategy to tackle terror. More often than not it has been a piecemeal approach of gathering scattered bits of information after there has been an attack. With Internet and information technology penetration increasing throughout India, the law enforcement agencies must be on top of the job when it comes to surveillance of online activity. More manpower and technology should be dedicated for this purpose. If we fail to heed this wakeup call it will be too late before we get our act together.