Launch of a new movement on Transformation of Political Culture

Lok Satta has been advocating the need for a new political culture. This has assumed urgency in the light of recent episodes of members of parliaments taking bribes for asking questions in the parliament and misappropriating MPLADS funds by favoring projects.

With a view to imbibe the new political culture at the grassroots level, and give the right perspective and orientation to the people who propose to contest in the ensuing elections to village panchayats, Lok Satta has proposed to undertake a orientation and training program for about 15,000 people across the state, over the months of February and March.

Anyone who intends to undergo this training must affirm:

- To abide by the code of conduct for elections, in particular the limit of election expenditure.
- Not to entice voters by giving money or liquor
- By making a commitment for the development of the village with a specific action plan.

Any person, irrespective of his political affiliation (independent or member of a political party), can attend this training program as long as he abides by the above.

Meeting with Political Parties held on 20nd December 2005 at Hyderabad

The Lok Satta supported Federation for Empowerment of Local Governments (FELG) convened an informal meeting of political parties to discuss the need for and the various options available for re-organization of panchayats. Senior functionaries of major political parties such as Congress, TDP, BJP and CPI (M) attended the meeting held on the 20th of December at the Lok Satta office, Hyderabad.

Andhra Pradesh has 21,910 village panchayats. About 2/3rds of these panchayats have population of less than 3000 and likewise the annual income of 2/3rds of panchayats is less than Rs. 50,000. Most aren’t even in a position to meet the salary of the village secretary.

In order to provide basic civic amenities and facilities like health sub-centre, it is imperative that the population and jurisdiction of the panchayats must be above a certain threshold. Reorganization of panchayats is a sensitive and a complex issue touching upon the sentiments of people. People living in small villages understandably have apprehensions that their interests would suffer if their village gets merged with the adjoining big village.

Lok Satta believes that a broad political consensus has to be arrived at on the issue of reorganization of panchayats, and this calls for a comprehensive understanding and consensus above partisan consideration. The meeting held in the above spirit witnessed a broad consensus on the need for re-organization. The representatives of the political parties however expressed a desire for time to hold broad based discussions within their parties. It was thus decided that the next meeting would be held on the 5th of January to further this process and take it to the next level.

Dialogue on Political Parties

Lok Satta along with International IDEA and Lokniti, held a Dialogue on Political parties on the 2nd and 3rd December 2005 at ASCI Bella Vista, Hyderabad.

Day one was divided into a welcome session and a post lunch session. The welcome session began with the presentation of a country report jointly produced by Lokniti and International IDEA. The presentation provided an overview on the functioning of the political parties and sought to explain the mechanisms of origins of political parties, leadership selection, their support base, membership, candidate selection, women’s representation and their sources of funding.

The post lunch tea session focused on the intricate relationship between money, muscle power and political parties. The session also discussed public disappointment with political parties, party leadership issues, lack of willingness among the parties to change and enable reforms, women’s representation, and internal democracy.
The participants were later divided into three groups. Each group was assigned a topic to discuss and present the next day. Day two consisted of presentations on the three topics namely, Political Party Structures and Organizations, Elections and Candidates and Political and Electoral System.

The final session involved active deliberations over the two prevalent election systems – the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) and the Proportional Representation (PR). While most participants were convinced that the current election system of FPTP needed to be changed, some academics had reservations. Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan then presented the model of Mixed PR, which would constitute the best elements of both systems. It is in the parties’ interest to opt for an electoral system, which eliminates dependence on marginal vote in constituencies for victory. It is this desperation to garner the marginal vote, which compels parties to nominate those with unaccounted money, muscle power, and local political and caste links unrelated to public good.

The political participants present placed the ball in the civil society’s court and affirmed their willingness to examine suggested changes once the specific reform goals had been finalized and agreed upon.

Present at the event were representatives of Lok Satta, Prof. Suri (Nagarjuna University), Prof. Sandeep Shastri (Lokniti) and interns, Mrs. Sakuntala Kadirgamar and Ms. Maja Tjerntrom (International IDEA), Mr. Murthy and Leela Devi Prasad(JD(S)), Prof. Gopa Kumar and Shaji Varkey (University of Kerala), Bibhu Mohapatra (Association for Democratic Reforms), Mr. Prakash Sarangi (Hyderabad Central University), Dr. Venugopal Rao (Foundation for Rural and Social Development), and other participating political parties, academia, representatives from ASCI, Mr. L C Jain and the former elected representatives and civil society members from Nepal. The report from the event shall be uploaded soon on our website.

Second Administrative Reform Commission (ARC) recommends Empowerment of Local Governments

The Second ARC spent three days in Hyderabad from 18-20 November interacting with police, government as well the general public. On the 19th November 2005, they met with the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and other Government officials.

The meeting with the governments focused on pushing for effective and accountable local governments. When local governments in countries such as communist China, military controlled Pakistan too suitably empowered and effective, the unsuitable notion of a vast nation like India being ruled by a few centres of power was discussed with much fervour. Apart from the above, implementation of the Right to Information Act (2005), Citizen’s charter, as well as establishment of an independent ombudsman with the power to investigate, impose penalties and remove both elected officials and other appointed members, was discussed.

Restructure of rural-local government, was also the topic given importance to during meeting with the CM. It was accepted that the one of the challenge faced by the nation was in restructuring rural and local governments in order to suit the requirements of growing urbanization and to meet challenges of infrastructure.

Currently in rural India there are 1.5 million habitats, each with an average population of about 500 people. These habitats are clubbed into 600,000 revenue villages. There are 2,50,000 gram panchayats in the country which in turn are organized into village panchayats, the smallest unit of elected governments. In Andhra Pradesh, there are 59000 habitats, 29000 revenue villages and 22000 village panchayats. These 59,000 habitats are scattered far and wide, making it virtually impossible to provide meaningful public service infrastructure or urban amenities, given the absence of economies of scale. Lack of adequate resources and infrastructure has resulted in these small villages getting even more depopulated and increasing urban migration issue. Several major states of India have been addressing this problem in recent years by clustering several villages and constituting bigger village panchayats.

Our Inputs

Lok Satta sponsored, Federation for Empowerment of Local Governments (FELG) is convinced that there is a need to reconstitute village panchayats in Andhra Pradesh so that administrative, physical and social infrastructure maybe provided in adequate measure, in larger panchayats.

Therefore FELG is now engaged in creating a win-win formula for restructuring of panchayats by retaining the current powers and functions they exercised at that level while adding new powers and functions that they will exercise when a larger unit maybe created. Such restructuring should be accompanied by significant financial delegation and functional domain and adequate instruments of accountability. Lok Satta and FDR are entering into a debate with political parties in this topic and will appreciate suggestions to make panchayats more suitable and effective.

A New Beginning

It is never too late to begin something new. And even though the year 2005 is awaiting the onset of 2006, Lok Satta brings with it a new perspective, a new tool: this blog, to engage all our current partners and encourage others who have been hesitant to voice their thoughts about India and much needed political and governance reforms.

The Lok Satta Campaign blog will contain regular updates on research , events and activities conducted by those at Lok Satta and our many nation-wide partners. For those who are new here. Please do visit the Lok Satta website to understand this campaign better. Information about our areas of operation are also avaliable there.