INDIA: Where Stands Ghandi's Dream of Participatory Democracy?

While the following commentary presents a rather pessimistic assessment of the state of participatory and direct democratic practices in India, there have in fact been advances in recent years in the expansion of the participatory models of Gram Swaraj and Panchayati Raj. See our other posts on India and the India section of our links resource page for more information. While Ghandi's dream of participatory democracy still faces many obstacles, a movement is afoot to revive that dream and it is slowly making progress. - Editor

Gandhi’s worst fears have come true


Source: http://news.in.msn.com/columns/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1408819

The Father of the Nation wanted to disband the Indian National Congress once it had outlived its raison d’etre of driving the British out of India. He felt that the best form of governance for India would be `swaraj’ (self-rule), by which Gandhi meant governance not by a hierarchical government but self governance through political decentralization and community building. But other political leaders of the time were least impressed by Gandhi’s idea of disbanding the INC or adopting Swaraj. Rather, the Congress Party went on to rule India ever since, except for an interregnum of 12 years when non-Congress combinations were in power. Contrary to Gandhi’s wishes, the Congress party’s leadership was usurped by the Nehru dynasty, which held the Prime Minister’s post for 33 out of 49 years when the Congress was in power. You can safely add four more years to the Nehru dynasty’s 33 year’s rule, given the fact that a member of the dynasty, Sonia Gandhi, is now the de facto prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh being just her `mukhouta’ (mask).

Gandhi considered direct democracy as the best form of governance for India out of his conviction that a nation of India’s diversity, largely illiterate population and sparring leaders (Gandhi himself was heartbroken by the fights between Nehru and Patel) cannot successfully run a parliamentary democracy of the British Westminster model.

Perhaps, the biggest `achievement’ that we can crow about is the very survival of democracy in the country. Though Indira Gandhi suppressed democracy by clamping national emergency in 1975-’77, India never plunged into military dictatorship as Pakistan did.

Our economy is growing at 9 percent, but what is our record on `roti, kapda aur makan’ (food, clothing and shelter) after 61 years of freedom? A 2007 report by an official agency states that despite significant economic progress, 77% of Indians, or 836 million people, live on less that Rs20 per day. 300 million people live below the national poverty line(Rs10 per day). India has the highest rate of malnutrition among children. 170 million people in India live in slums, which account for 63 % of all slum dwellers in South Asia and 17 % in the world. The number of unemployed in the country has crossed 30 crore. India is home to the largest segment of illiterates in the world.

What throws a spanner in the works of the Government’s poverty alleviation and welfare measures is the rampant corruption in administration. Transparency International places India at rank 72(among 146 nations) in the global corruption index. Some Rs21000 crore is estimated to change hands in the form of bribery in India annually. The parallel economy is growing faster than the GDP. Black money not only deprives the government of tax revenues, but also prevents the resources allocated for public welfare from reaching the targeted sections.

The second biggest threat to the body politic, after corruption, is the criminalization of politics. To modify a Samuel Johnson quote, politics has become the first refuge of the scoundrels in India. The will of the people is subjugated by money and muscle power. Criminals gain legal immunity and respectability by getting elected to Parliament and State Assemblies. The politician-mafia nexus has turned the nation into a hotbed of terrorism.

Is this the freedom Gandhi fought for? The freedom to loot the nation’s wealth for personal benefit? The freedom to imperil national security by harboring criminals? The freedom to hold monopoly over wealth creation?

Well, Gandhi would have stirred in his Raj Ghat samadhi had he come to know of how we used and abused the freedom that he attained for us from the British!

Women's Role in Participatory Governance in India

The following article discusses the difficulties that have been encountered in many cases in ensuring the active involvement of women in the system of participatory governance being instituted in India, known as Panchayati Raj or Gram Swaraj. For more information on the history and current status of the Panchayati Raj movement, see our previous post on the subject (here) and our links resource page, India section (here). The system was brought into law by constitutional amendment in 1993, and since then has been steadily expanding throughout India - Editor

Reality Check on Panchayati Raj

Source: http://www.boloji.com/wfs4/wfs465.htm

Three panchayat elections in 12 years have resulted in a million women being elected as grassroots leaders. In several states, elected women representatives have even crossed the 33.3 per cent reservation quota for women leaders.

But how is Panchayati Raj (local governance) working in India? Are women sarpanchs (heads of village councils) still remote-controlled by their husbands or male relatives? Do women leaders really have the power to change things in their villages? The Union Minister of Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar's numerous panchayat baithaks (discussions) are trying to do precisely this: Do a reality check on Panchayati Raj.

Aiyar started the baithaks as soon as he tookover as minister in 2004. Aiyar has held seven round table conferences with state ministers of Panchayati Raj within 150 days and has come up with 150 `action points'. Chhattisgarh is one of the chain of states he visited to rejuvenate and evolve Panchayati Raj institutions.

A peep into some of these interactions with the villagers in Chhattisgarh...At a meeting in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, Aiyar is flamboyant and unconventional in his style. He quits the comfortable stage and sits on the floor amidst the villagers. "I haven't come here to give any speech, but to hear you and know how Panchayati Raj is working for you," he says, asking the woman sarpanch, Shiv Kali Bai, to speak on the work she has done in her village. The sarpanch remains silent and the crowd waits restlessly, until a soft male voice is heard describing the work done.

"Who is that?" Aiyar asks."

The sarpanch pati (husband)," the crowd says in unison. Aiyar invites him to sit next to his wife. The man sits down and claims he does all the work in the village, as he has been the sarpanch for 25 years. His wife was elected sarpanch on a reserved seat. "My wife is not educated, so I do all the work."

"In the last 25 years, you have been a sarpanch but you didn't once think of educating your wife? What work would you have done for village education!" asks the minister. The crowd breaks into spontaneous applause.

"Is there a woman panch (panchyat member)?" the minister wants to know. A young woman emerges from the crowd. Dressed in a blue saree, she stands confidently in front of the minister. When asked about the biggest problem of her village, she says, "There is just one primary teacher for 140 students." The state officials present at the baithak try to stop her and start giving explanations, but Aiyar encourages the woman to continue. She says that the women of the village have often petitioned to the panchayat head, asking for a teacher, a small clinic, toilets and water facilities, but they have not received any response. The women have also demanded a stop to child marriages. "These are issues that involve the family and community as a whole. But the panchayat does not care to discuss these issues," she says.

"Why didn't you stand for the sarpanch's post? You are young, educated and capable?" he asks the woman in the blue saree. The woman looks down and remains silent. The crowd speaks for her, "She is the sarpanch's bahu (daughter-in-law)."

At another tribal panchayat in Gundaderi village, the woman sarpanch, Nirmala Devi, speaks about her village and its problems. She asks for the minister's help in building a clinic in the village, where people have to travel 10 kms to see a doctor. When she is finished, the minister turns to the crowd and says, "Look at your sarpanch in her beautiful saree, she is so competent." Then holding her hand aloft he adds, "I want you all to be proud of her." The crowd again bursts into applause.

Bhoj Rani, janpad adhyaksh (people's representative at the block level) now stands up to say her piece. "The government sanctioned 760,000 for a janpad panchayat, but I was not informed. Even after 58 years of independence, I don't seem to have any rights." Her words leave many officials red-faced.

In several panchayats across the country, women have often been re-elected on a general seat. People have realised that when women become leaders, they challenge status quo and address basic issues of water, food security and education. The last round of panchayat elections has thrown up women who are more aware of their rights and duties, and determined to stand up and deliver as leaders.

However, despite their growing confidence, women still have to fight the overwhelming cynicism and scepticism about their abilities as leaders. "In every village, there are always a large number of women ready to enter a political system," says Aiyar. "But their effectiveness in running the government depends upon the powers they get, not on their capacity as panchayat leaders. For, it is this process - of getting these powers and responsibilities that becomes the single-most important capacity building exercise. It is like throwing a child into the deep end of the pool to make her swim. There will be some who will sink but many will swim. Now this is really the only way institutions of local self-governance can be formed."

Aiyar is quite dismissive about literacy being a must for good leadership. "Look at our Parliament. The Members are so different, in their characteristics, abilities, backgrounds and ambition. The same will be true of Panchayati Raj institutions. All over the world, the most important thing about democratic institutions is not their efficiency but their representativeness. You get a larger kind of efficiency, an efficiency that is not mechanically measured, but rests on changing the very nature of society. We should look upon empowerment of women through panchayats in this light."

– Madhu Gurung, October 9, 2005

Panchayati Raj - Gram Swaraj: Participatory Democracy Takes Root in India

India has a long standing tradition of participatory governance at the village level. Traditionally this system of governance, known as Panchayati Raj or Gram Swaraj, was not formalized. Efforts to institutionalize it began in earnest with Mahatma Ghandi and the co-operative movement, but did not really take hold until Panchayati Raj became law by contitutional amendment in 1993. Since then it has been spreading throughout India, and although the decentralization and transfer of power has faced obstacles, the movement is gathering momentum steadily. To learn more about this blossoming of participatory democracy in India read the following article and visit the India links on our links resource page by clicking here. - Editor

Panchayati Raj for Developing Rural India

By Trailokya Deka

Source: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jan2408/edit3

The term ‘participatory approaches’ describes a growing family of approaches and methodologies that enable local people to share their knowledge on standard of living and local socio-economic and cultural conditions so that they can analyse their problems, plan, set targets and develop strategies and practice on these ideas. This approach of participation is essential for the development of member’s ‘community based institutions’, for finding resolution of their conflicts for the enhancement of their capabilities and skills for the exploration of opportunities.

The idea of community participation originated in India many centuries ago. The last ten 5 year plans have shown that no community development programme can succeed without community participation and even a bad programme can succeed. The UNDP report called the community or people’s participation as the participatory movement. Participatory approach can bring together different disciplines like farm activities, micro-finance, health and community development, to facilitate and enable an integrated vision of livelihood and well-being. Historically there are three great pioneers of community participation namely FL Brayne, Dr MS Radhawe and Mahatma Gandhi. The trend of community participation prevails in all walks of public life. This is evident mainly from the prevailing advocacy for participatory governance i.e. ‘Panchayati Raj.’

During ancient days participatory movement was an organised process that enabled Indian villages to maintain social order through Panchayats. During that time Panchayat was an informal institution. Panchayats were responsible for governing and maintaining village society in accordance with socio-political norms. Following co-operative movement of Mahatma Gandhi persistent efforts have been made in India to make rural local self-government viable and self sustaining, specially after independence. But the State governments showed very little interest for the establishment and empowerment of rural local political institutions. Transfer of power to the representative institution was almost negligible. But the States like Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal were somewhat exceptional and introduced the local self-government system. Unfortunately people’s participation in those States was very minimal and the development planning found to be faulty.

With the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, enacted in 1993, the Central Government came forward for making people’s direct and responsible participation through Panchayats. The 73rd and 74th Amendments have provided uniformity and formal structure to these institutions of self-governance for the sake of their effective functioning. Based on the philosophy of decentralisation and power to the people the amendments have initiated a fundamental restructuring of governance and administrative system of the country. The 73rd Act was made mandatory for all the Indian States and through this Act Panchayats were provided with constitutional status. State Acts have been amended from time to time to make the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act more effective in establishing Panchayati Raj institutions as genuine structures of grass roots democracy.

The three tier Panchayati Raj system in all states having a population of 20 lakh have been empowered significantly to enable them to discharge their duties properly and fulfil the expectations of the people. The 11th Schedule of the constitution lists 29 subjects to the Pachayati Raj institutions. Participation of the weaker sections has also been ensured in all the regular elections every five years in the States through the system of reservation. Reservation for women, SC and ST in Panchayats has combined political empowerment with social empowerment. Earlier fears about elite groups capturing these institutions have been allayed. At present there are more than 2 lakh panchayats in the country with about 30 lakh elected representatives out of a whom 6 lakh belong to SCs and STs with 10 lakh women. If this army of elected representatives are converted into a community force the six goals of Bharat Nirman i.e. rural irrigation, rural roads, rural water supply, rural housing, rural electrification and rural telephony will be met within the targeted year of 2009.

Truly speaking, Bharat Nirman is people’s own programme where every village will have electricity, every habitation a road, safe drinking water, a telephone and every village family hopefully a pucca house. Only the gram panchayats can ensure community participation for the achievement of this challenging task of Bharat Nirman. There will be no Bharat Nirman without people’s active participation, specially at the village level.

But unfortunately, a perusal of a decade of functioning of Panchayati Raj put forward a mix scenario with some evidence of positive movements and several hurdles. The evidences from the States suggest that people’s participation has remained low. The efforts to make the grassroots institutions viable and significant remained confined to a formality. The bureaucratic resistance is visible in many matters.

In addition to the 73rd and 74th Constitution amendments under the leadership of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Parliament has also enacted the Panchayats (extension to scheduled areas) Act for dealing with the economic and emotional alienation of our tribal brethren which lies at the root of the growing menace of Naxalism.

The important point to note here is that the importance of participation in the activities of Panchayats as an important part of Panchayati Raj has not been realised in practice by the common man. Persons of status and influence stay away from participation in Panchayats. The need of the hour is to utilise their capacities for village development with the active involvement in the system. Marginalised sections of the society which have been out from the process of decision making have also to be taken in the mainstream through sensitisation and capacity building.

The experience with panchayats and their role and system vary from one region to another. States must learn from each other on effective empowerment of panchayats. Panchayat functionaries need continuous training and capacity building. Democratic decentalisation is to encourage people’s participation in the processes of governance. Effective implementation of Panchayati Raj system will bring real power of administration to the grassroots level and it will also help to reduce corruption and abuse of power by various government functionaries. Strong empowerment Gram Sabhas and Ward Sabhas, which meet frequently and regularly to keep the elected executive authority under continuous check and watch, can also guarantee clean Panchayati Raj. Panchayati Raj will truly bloom within the next few years so that even as our economy gallops forward, rural India sees the blossoming of the dream of Gram Swaraj that has inspired our leaders from Mahatma Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi.