The Rise of the Phoenix

WE ARE BACK!!! MOV is back!!! But it is no longer MOV and we are no longer The Tripod. Well, although we did make it to the semi-finals of Design for Development of the Imagine Cup, we really couldn't make full use of the opportunity thanks to the UoP's university exams. No regrets there really. We gave it our best and that's what mattered the most at that point. But like I mentioned before in this blog, the idea, the project slowly became an integral part of us by then. We left it then only to get back to it again.

Now, I said that MOV is no longer MOV and we are no longer The Tripod. Allow me to elaborate. We regrouped once again. Discussed the idea of online voting once again. We spotted a few loop holes in what we thought was a fail safe architecture. We also felt the need to add one more member to the team: our final member. And so we turned to our closest supporter and friend, Rajat.

I do not even have the count of the number of times he helped us maintain this blog. He was the one who would always be ready with suggestions and feedback. The thing that struck us most was that he never asked for anything in return. Although we never disclosed the architecture, he understood the concept behind MOV better than anyone else. So it only seemed logical to make him a part of our team. This meant dropping the name "The Tripod", as we were no longer only the three of us.

I choose "Phoenix", for it was rebirth of this team that had to fall due to circumstances. I may sound dramatic, but that is how all of us felt. The name was instantly accepted by the rest of the team. Thus, NICK, KP, BLAZE and RAJAT are now called "THE PHOENIX".

Then we sat down to come up with the solutions to the loop holes that we spotted in our project. That's when we realised that we had to up the security a little more. We also felt the need of handling the registration process itself (at least to some extent). So, all of a sudden it was not voting alone that we were looking at. It was a whole package for the Elections. And so MOV had to be dropped as it didn't convey the full scope of the project.

Rajat came up with the new name: SCORE...SYSTEM for CELLULAR and ONLINE REGISTRATIONS & ELECTIONS. It was musical to my ears the moment I heard it for the first time. To put it mildly, it was a fitting name. And ever since that moment we have been working to put the system together and possibly make it operational. Also, this time we hope to make this blog far more interesting than it was before to keep you interested in the whole system.

We believe in ourselves and this idea. Last time that very belief worked wonders for us. This time we are going back into this project with a lot more than belief. Now, we have the determination and strength, to see this project to its logical conclusion. Only the future can tell us what it has in store for us. Until next time.

"per aspera ad astra"

The Importance of Elections

The first motivation for us to come up with something like MOV was the Imagine Cup '09. The real theme of the Imagine Cup this year is "Solve the toughest Problems of the World". We have spent countless nights, debating whether MOV can be one of the solutions to the toughest problems of the world, like poverty, education, health, environmental sustainabiltiy,etc. I have always dwelled on this ever since we finalised the whole concept for the Imagine Cup. all this changed a few days back. The motivation is no longer Imagine Cup. The debate has reached a conclusion. An the doubts have melted away.

I was in a CT scan center the other day. I found a baby there which had undergone a brain surgery. I was shocked!! Ever since that day I know for a fact that MOV is not one of the answers but THE answer to the toughest problems of the world.

I was shocked to realize that such an inocent little thing would have to go through a brain surgery. Such realities of life dont strike us when we read about them in the newspapers. What really set me thinking, was the fate of all the unfourtunate children in the world who dont get 2 square meals a day and may be in need of such medical care and support. What about them?? How can we help them? How can we care for them? How do we know that a kid is even suffering from a disease? How do we get to them? I thought of a number of resources and instituions that could be put to good use to reach out to the unfortunate ones in this world. But all of them seemed inadequate compared to the uphill task in front us. That is when I realised the one orgnization, institution, formation, framework or whatever you call it, that can not only achieve the goal I am talking about here but a pelothra of other goals towards the betterment of this world: THE GOVERNMENT of any country.

The Government of a country alone has the capacity to solve all the problems of a country comprehensively. A government alone has access to all the resources of a country. It alone has an overall picture of the problems of the country. It alone can be the best judge of where the country is, where it can head in the time to come and how it can move towards progress rather than distress.

This is why it becomes even more imortant for the Government in power to be composed of responsible induviduals who are willing to put their country before themselves. Every country has such individuals. So I will trash all those remarks which claim that such a thing exists only in never-never-land. The challenge is to find such people. People who are ready to lead their own country.

And thats where something like MOV comes into picture. The concept with its simple and efficient method of voting makes it simple for the public of a country to take interset in elections and the counrty in general. With the likes of MOV better governments will from. People will take a lot more intrest in the development of their country which these days is not a less thought of thing but a "never" thought of thing. That is important. Once that happens in any country, then that country will fast track towards prosperity.

Its time we realised this and MOVed from the shackles of darkness towards that alluring light.

Vijay Krishna
The Tripod

A Discussion with a Senior

This is a chat(on gtalk) we had with one of our seniors in college, on MOV. He is Shiv Anand Thakur a passout from AIT,Pune, Computer Engg. and is currently working in Infosys. This is what we discussed about MOV...

me: wat do u think??

Shiv: its cool...the idea

me: thnx

Shiv: bt then the poor voterturn out is the biggest problem the world is facing??

u'll be able to defend this??

me: ya...wat u hav to realise is that the middle class virtually absent from the voting scene and they are the ones with the education to take balanced decisions

if we can somehow involve them...then we can get better results on anyday of the week and twice on sunday

Shiv: agreed.......bt then aren't they matured enuf to think over this...

if the whole educaion that they have is not able to take them to the polling booth...

me: well thats y we are takin the polling booth to them

Shiv: there must be something fundamentally wrong with the system itself

ain't it?

me: no

not really

ppl are too engrosed in just one aspect of the system

so they are really not even thnking about the other aspect

Shiv: hmm...

me: with the pressure of doing well, everything in life takes a back seat

Shiv: security aspect n fake voting......system hacks...basically prepare the security scenario well

coz it is vulnerable to misuse

me: it is...but the server can be made hack proof

i think it can

voter id can be worked on

Shiv: bots can be programmed by some candidate to increase the hit count

me: all these are excuses

if we can take care of those two things then the hacker will have to change the votes of individual voters

something that is difficult to pull off in large numbers

and thus difficult to effect results effect results.

Shiv: u've to be prepared

me: ya thats why we are reviewing the system everyday

wat do u think??

Shiv: it is nice...its different...n if u can defend it, it stands a really good chance

me: thnx!!

OTHER WAYS OF INCREASING VOTER TURNOUT??

Firslty I would like to thank all those who have joined this blog as CONTRIBUTERS and all those who have given their invaluable thoughts on MOV. Thank You all and keep those ideas and opinions comming. We are dying to know whats going on, in your mind.

Now it has been some time since the 1st post and we have decided to move to the next point that we had in our mind:

"HOW CAN WE INCREASE THE VOTER TURNOUT IN THE ELECTIONS??"

The thing is that we want to know what you think can be a possible answer to the above question apart from the one we have provided ie MOV.

TAKE "MOV" OUT OF THE PICTURE FOR A SECOND. WHAT OTHER IDEAS CAN YOU COME UP WITH WHICH CAN SOLVE THE ABOVE PROBLEM???

Give you ideas in the form of comments to this blog post. We can't wait to hear those ideas.

-The Tripod

The Opening Post

Hi...

First and foremost: Welcome CD and Muskan. Thank you for showing your interest in this blog.

This opening post is going to be about voting in general...We will primarily look at the reasons for the poor voter turnout in India and in other countries as well (including the United States....yes. Dont be surprised its only 60% there). So, extend the discussion beyond the point of Indian Elections and Voting Systems if possible. We encourage, all those who want to contribute to an over all picture of voting, to do so without any hesitation.

(State your points/views/opinions through comments to this blog post)

-The Tripod