Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sample – 1: Democracy : Theory and Practise:


What is democracy? Even a elementary school student would easily answer you as “It is a govt. by the people, for the people and of the people”. It is the most complicated answer but still presented in a simplified form. To me, the most simple but still powerful definition is “democracy is consensus”. As Earnest Barker (political scientist) has pointed out, the consensus should be there at all three levels – Basis level, the regime level, and at the policy level. Democratic institutions like elections, panchayats etc is a means by which consensus is obtained.
We, Indians believe we are the largest democracy of the world. But do our democratic institutions function as per the theory of democracy. To get answer of the Question, we met 2 ex- chairman of kodumudi union. (NOTE: During the time we visited the place, the place was undergoing a political turmoil as 2 of 6 ward members were kidnapped for political gains. There was no chairman at that time. To add to that, previous chairman also lost his elections in spite of spending (allegedly) Rs.1 Crore(during elections) for that small union itself.)
We met Mrs. Revathi Thangavel, ex-chairman (AIADMK Party) and got the PRI structure. The total kodumudi union consists of 10 Gram Panchayats (Kolathupalayam and kolanalli are also part of these) and 7 Town panchayats. Every person in a gram panchayat has 4 votes in PRIs (Panchayat raj Institutions). 1st vote is to election the ward member of the gram panchayat, 2nd vote is to elect the president of gram panchayat, 3rd vote is to elect the ward member of Kodumudi union (middle tier of the 3 – tier PRI) (NOTE: These ward members in turn elect their Chairman), 4th vote to elect the ward member of Erode district (Apex tier of the 3 – tier system) [NOTE: These ward members would in turn elect the district chairman.] {Other than that we also know that the same people has to vote to elect MLAs and MPs, so finally they have 6 votes to uphold democracy!!!}. Another information we got was political parties are not allowed in the gram panchayat level. Before explaining about the interaction we had with Mrs. Revathi thangavel, and with giving respect to all the people we met during the research, we have to say she was the best. She understood the questions very aptly ranging from political economy to grass root democracy, in the exact sense and gave the answers precisely and neatly. Persons who feel women are not suited for politics should reserve their opinions till they meet her. But the point which worried us was, even she had the class consciousness.
According to her, the people in the gram panchayats or union level or district level panchayats do not decide what kind of policies they want. They don’t decide polices regarding cultivation, agricultural technological necessities, about human development, education of children, kind of social security measures suited to their place etc. She accepts every region has its own subculture and practices and hence, decentralized way of administration would actually help to develop the human community in the particular region than any centralized concept. She accepts even they don’t try to get consensus among the people in local administration as well. They are just agents to implement the govt. Schemes like free overhead tanks, free toilets etc. When we enquired about the rationality of so many votes in the system (because despite casting 6 votes, the people of the region seldom participate in decision making) she accepted the fundamental flaws in the practice.
The main aim of the grass root democratic institutions and structures should not be representation, but participation. It should make people participate in the decision making. But it doesn’t work that way either. They don't even democratically decide how to spent the allocated money because of caste, class segregations. One group always tries to manipulate power on the other group and eventually they succeed, putting an end to the spirit of democracy. As told by a ward member, the main use of these 3-tier system is that, when people need a street light they meet gram president, when they need roads they meet union chairman and when they water in their canal they meet district chairman. That’s it. If that is the case the why should there be so much elected representatives. The people should decide about the type of street lights to be cast, where to be cast, design methods to improve electrical administration which benefits their society, rather than requesting their gram president to allot a street light via a petition. That can be done to a VAO itself. Why do we want a elected representative to do the work. If the policy makers think administrative failures can be negated by elected representatives, the govt. is wrong in such an assumption. These elected representatives with so many allegiance like towards their caste, political parties, class, are the worst performers than the administrative officers. The system makes them corrupt than the other way round. The thrust for power and the pride attached to it makes them indulge in cheap power politics rather than helping the real persons in need.
The reality is that these PRIs enables the political parties to solve their internal power politics. The local economic giants, who previously fought for MLA seats alone now settle with district chairman, union chairman posts etc. The party leaders also use this to satisfy the power thrust among their party cadres. Other than that there is literally no use in these PRIs, at least in the region of our research.

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