This election season play a game and claim sadda haq

Amidst campaigns for change, protests, and RTI activism, a young bright gentleman in the city launches a website that serves as a social platform to create political and social awareness while enabling youth to participate in change with better ease. The nascent website is called SaddaHaq.Com. Hasn’t fifth estate really come of age?

One fine day, it struck Pallav Bajjuri, then studying in a university in Boston and now CEO of SaddaHaq, that community engagement in his homeland was not a cake walk. He points out speaking about what inspired him to start his venture, “There were floods in Kurnool in 2009-10 and I was browsing through many NGOs’ websites to offer relief funds. I would have wanted to go there and volunteer but the physical distance made only giving monetary support practical.” He adds, “But that wasn’t easy either. Eventually, I had to wire money to a friend living back home so that he could transfer it to the NGO from his end.”

SaddaHaq.Com recently launched a game called PowerPlay that works on an Android application. It is aimed at helping first-time voters make an informed decision. Says the 25 year-old CEO, “In a research that SaddaHaq conducted across many colleges in the country, it learned that a lot of people between the age group of 18-22 years are involved in gaming and social networking.”

Pallav indicates that the solution, thus, was to create a gaming platform that carries political information. This integrates politics into the lifestyle of these youngsters. The game offers simplified information about politicians. It is condensed and set into a game. Every profile of a politician is akin to a trump card. All members of Lok Sabha who are set to contest in the 2014 general elections figure in the cards.

SaddaHaq, as an online platform, has a bouquet of features that make community engagement possible including signature campaigns, blogging, and interaction with public figures (especially, those accountable). Pallav says, “We have had Medha Patkar, Subramanian Swamy, and Sam Pitroda among others on our TownHall sessions where we get our users to ask questions and interact with them online.”

Says Suman K Jha, the editor, “Though we do take a stance which is pro-development, we don’t endorse a political party. We don’t take a political stance. We are a platform that provokes debates and is open to all views.”