"Good governance is the key to empower the ordinary Indian citizens to reach their full potential and for India to be a competitor in the global arena", asserts Rao Chalasani, the President of the Foundation for Democratic Reforms in India (FDRI). Chalasani was speaking at the launch of the Silicon Valley chapter of FDRI at the India Community Center in Milpitas on Saturday, October 11.   FDRI strongly advocates that India urgently needs is a holistic approach to reforming several issues that are hindering good governance.  FDRI works closely with other NRI institutions in US in raising awareness of the need for governance reforms, and supports mature organizations in India leading the struggle for governance reforms.

Noting that the Indian government spends about Rs. 1800 crores a day, Chalasani said that the fundamental problem is not a lack of resources, but how the resources are utilized.  Chalasani advocates a comprehensive approach to the issue of governance and outlined the five pillars of the governance reforms movement: Electoral reforms, empowerment of local governments, speedy and efficient justice system, instruments of accountability, and implementation of best practices from around the world. Chalasani, a 25 year Wall Street veteran, retired three years ago to work full-time advocating governance reforms in India.

"The Indian community of Silicon valley has been at the forefront of many innovative ideas, and I am glad to see them take the lead in this important campaign', said the noted entrepreneur Naren Bakshi. He said, "This is a very important cause, and I am glad to work with these dedicated volunteers". Bakshi, who has been spending three months of every year in his native Rajasthan, described some of his own experiences which reaffirmed that an overhauling of governance structure is needed to accelerate the development potential of India. Bakshi, a Director of FDRI, introduced Chalasani and other speakers to the audience.

Murali Prahalad, a second generation Indian, and Director of Business Development for San Diego based Sequenom, talked about the high correlation between good governance and high human development indices across the various countries of the world. Drawing from the Nigerian experience, where rich oil resources weren't enough to prevent that country from being at the bottom of the human development rankings, Prahalad asserted that a focused approach to governance is key to sustained development. Prahalad, a Director of FDRI, described the recent successes achieved by Lok Satta, a Hyderabad based citizen movement for governance reforms, one of the organizations that FDRI works closely with. Lok Satta researches the issues carefully, and tries to address the root causes rather than symptoms. It educates the citizens about these problems and uses non-partisan, collective assertion to achieve scalable, and sustainable results that can be replicated in other parts of the country. Prahalad gave several examples including Lok Satta's successes in getting the campaign funding reforms bill passed by the parliament and getting the Election Commission to implement disclosures of criminal history of the candidates contesting elections. "I am excited to see the rapid pace with which Lok Satta is achieving its results and how they are able to forge a broad coalition for governance reforms across the country", Prahalad exclaimed, “The governance reforms movement cuts across political and religious lines and impacts the whole country. It is fitting that this launch is happening at a place – the India Community Center – built with the same ideals.”

V. Chowdary Jampala, Secretary of FDRI and a Professor of Psychiatry at Chicago Medical School, detailed some of the ongoing campaigns of Lok Satta and introduced the audience to Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, the leader of the Lok Satta movement and the Convenor of the National Coalition of Electoral Reforms. Dr. Narayan, a physician turned IAS officer, left the IAS at the young age of 40 to lead this citizens movement and has been very successful in raising the national consciousness about the need for immediate reforms in governance. "Dr. Narayan appears to be the right messenger with the right message at the right time", noted Dr. Jampala.

"There are five ways that NRIs can help in the governance reforms movement", says Rao Chalasani. These include developing a coalition of  NRI institutions interested in governance reforms, promoting awareness of the need for governance reforms among opinion makers in US and India, providing financial and in-kind support, research and documentation of best practices along with education and seminars; and promoting a positive societal self-confidence of the Indian society fighting  the self-perpetuating cycle of cynicism and despair. Chalasani reported that FDRI contributed about $350,000 in the last two years to promoting awareness of governance reforms in India.

About one hundred volunteers from the Silicon Valley area attended this FDRI chapter meeting at the India Community Center on Saturday. This was followed up by a meeting on Sunday of the core volunteers of FDRI chalking up action plans for the coming year.

More information about FDRI can be obtained from www.fdri.org or sending an email to fdrimail@yahoo.com or contacting Prasad Gattu at 650-888-2250.