You would be surprised to know but out of 4807 sitting MPs and MLAs all over India, 1460 or 30% have criminal cases pending against them. And this information is something which these esteemed MPs and MLAs have themselves revealed to the Election Commission of India while filing their election papers. And then, there are some politicians who have won elections while serving their jail term!

Isn't this something we should be ashamed of?

Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) is an Indian civil society which is hell bent on changing this current scenario by bringing in more transparency within the clandestine ecosystem of Indian politics, which is extremely corrupted with criminals and history-sheeters calling the shot.

ADR has been founded by a group of IIM professors and now is supported by a huge network of NGOs spread all over India. One of the biggest achievements of ADR has been implementation of its plea for greater disclosure from election candidates regarding their wealth and assets. Although the Government of India tried to suppress this law, Election Commission eventually accepted it, and since 2003, the process has been implemented.

Some other achievements of ADR include acceptance of their suggestion for providing information about Income Tax returns of political parties and unlocking information about Registers of Member's Interests.

Facebook + ADR = Know Your Neta

ADR has now roped in Facebook to bring in more information and more transparency within the overall political landscape. ADR has realized that technology can be utilized in an optimal manner to dig out secret information which our leaders and politicians are not willing to disclose.

With this new initiative, aptly called "Know Your Neta", general public can access complete information about any candidate who is going to fight the next general elections and assembly level elections. The information which can be accessed include financial details, criminal background, professional qualifications, job experience etc. When crucial data such as these are easily available to the general public, then they can surely make an informed and logical decision while giving their valuable votes.

In a smart move by ADR and Facebook, you don't need access to Internet to have this information. Using Facebook's technological assistance, ADR will rely on USSD protocol to deliver the information. USSD is a platform which is used by almost every GSM provider to create a 2-way communication which is richer than SMS and lot cheaper than Internet usage charges.

Regarding this initiative, Ankhi Das, Facebook India Director of Public Policy said, “Over 82 million Indian citizens access Facebook regularly and an increasing number of users access the platform on mobile. Together with ADR…we hope to make information more readily available to users about the antecedents and performance of political candidates".

To get information about any political candidate, users need to dial #325# from their mobile, login to their Facebook account and then choose Election Menu (option 6). Alternatively, users can also dial *325*35# and connect directly with this information stream.

Only we can change our world; and this brilliant initiative by ADR and Facebook will definitely help us in achieving that. Please, use this service and make an informed decision this political season.

Say no to criminals!

In a move which is expected to be appreciated by sports lovers who are active on Twitter, Star Sports has announced an exclusive partnership with Twitter related to streaming of videos.

From now on, if any video with a link to starsports.com is tweeted, the user who is on mobile can directly view the video without leaving Twitter's platform. For the first time user, as soon as he clicks the video link with mention of startsports.com, he would be prompted to download the Starsports.com app on his mobile, after which he can directly view the video on Twitter, in-stream.

This integration of videos into Twitter stream is new for India, as Star Sports officially becomes the first TV channel to have such strategic partnership with Twitter.

The service would be rolled out in a phased manner, and it starts with Sachin Memory Project. Star Sports has curated some of the most memorable videos of Sachin since 1980s, and this would be made available exclusive on Twitter's in stream video platform.

In stream video service by Star Sports and Twitter is a very clever attempt to integrate sports, social media and videos into one feature.

Both Star Sports and Twitter will benefit from this partnership as Star Sports fans will have exclusive privilege to watch videos seamlessly; and more Twitter users will download Star Sports apps and follow them.

On the same hand, Twitter will get a new boost of publicity and mentions by partnering with Star Sports brand, and chances are good that few millions from India's 200 million+ Internet users will join Twitter now.

Earlier, when Twitter had introduced SMS Service for Indian customers, it had created enough ripples across the technological world and people were quite excited.

Star Sports was at the helm at that time as well, as the handle @starsportsindia was among the first one to deliver instant sports update to anyone following them on Twitter.

Strategists at Youtube must be following this development very closely, as this integration of video essentially removes the need of a separate video streaming service. If the users can directly select the video and view it inside Twitter's eco-system, without leaving it; then where is the place for services like Youtube and Dailymotion?

In stream video service on Twitter is definitely going to be a game changer in next couple of months. What is your view on this development? Will you watch videos directly on Twitter or will feel interrupted with this? Please share your views right here!