Perils of Participatory Democracy

Author(s): Mukul Kumar

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 46 (Nov. 12-18, 2005), pp. 4857+4859
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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Discussion

Perils
of Participatory
Democracy
MUKUL KUMAR

Arecent
article on the status of
panchayatiraj (PR), 'Local Governance without Capacity Building: Ten
Yearsof PanchayatiRaj'(June25, 2005),
comparesthe situationin the threestates
TamilNaduandKerala.
ofMadhyaPradesh,
Thefindingsof theessayarefairlyconsistentwiththe overallstatusof PR in India.
The article,however,misses some structuralfeaturesof the PR phenomenonthat
haveaffectedthe growthof participatory
democracyin the countryin generaland
northIndia,in particular.
Thesestructural
featuresarebroadlythesamealloverIndia
with some variationsin degreeand kind
acrossstates,whichareexceptional.Kerala
symbolisessomeof thesechangesof kind
andstandsout to some extentamongthe
three states. I outline here some of the
structural
andprocedural
constraintsgram
panchayats(GPs) grapplewith.

StructuralConstraints
Justasparticipation
becameanimportant
todwelluponforanydiscourse
requirement
on development,participatory
democracy
has become one for politics. Political
commitmentin supportof the mechanism
of participatorydemocracyabound,but
theylackthenecessaryvisionandroadmap
formakingit successful.Thestepsundertakentostrengthen
GPsaremostlyworked
out in excitementand haste. Decisions
regardingdelegation of the powers of
planning,executionandmonitoringto PR
institutionsare not clearly thoughtout.
Thereareinstancesof delegationof either
toolittleortoomuchtoGPs,whichremain
incapableto handlethem.
Many doubtsare expressedregarding
theseriousnessof theintentof thechanges
thatareusuallyenvisagedby the political
leadership.Mostof thesedoubtsrelateto
thecreationof a parallelstreamof political
representationin addition to MPs and
MLAs.This pluralisation of political
Economic and Political Weekly

in the same regionis seen

representation
as a threattothepower,influenceandclout
exercisedby both bureaucracyand entrenchedpowerelites. The delegationof
a lot of responsibilitiesto GPs in many
stateshasledtorivalriescroppingupwithin
thepoliticalleadership.
Thesehaveassumed
different
shapesanddimensions,depending
uponthepoliticalsympathiesof GPrepresentatives.Thiscouldtakeeithertheshape
of intra-partysquabbles or inter-party
conflictsleavingtheirimprinton smooth
functioningof developmentactivitiesat
gram,blockanddistrictpanchayatlevels.
Evenif we assumethatthetoppolitical
leadershipof partiesin poweris serious
and wants to make participatorydemocracya reality,it canbe saidthata lotmore
of strategicthinkingandplanningis needed
to makePR institutionsfunctionon their
own and not as an agentof bureaucracy
or otherpoliticians.The firststep in this
of GPs.Participaregardis strengthening
tory democracyin termsof participation
of people in planning, execution and
monitoringof activitiesmeantfor them
leaves a lot to be desired. A roadmap
outliningappropriate
systemsandprocedures needs to be put in place, which
would graduallyhelp GPs negotiatethe
powerfor local level planning,execution
andsuperintendence
of whateveris public
andmeantforthem- notonlylegally,but
also administratively
and socially.
The villagersin northIndia(basedon
my experienceof RajasthanandUP) are
not yet enamouredby the potentialand
possibilities of gram panchayats.This
shouldmoreorless holdtrueforallHindispeakingstates.The turnoutof villagers
for gram sabhameetingsis mostly low
unless they are meant for some direct
benefits.Gramsabhasrarelydiscuss issuesrelatedtosuperintendence
of developmentworkssuchas workingof schoolor
anganwadi centres or food for work
programmes, the public distribution
systemand droughtrelief work, etc. On
manyoccasions,gramsabhameetingsare

notionallyheldandsignaturesof members
aretakenby visitingtheirhousesto completethe formality.Peoples'apathyis, to
a greatextent,due to the lack of powers
andresourcesavailableat the disposalof
panchayats. The village development
workers (VDWs), patwariand lekhpal
continueto be the powerfulfunctionaries
in the local political set-up in rural
India.The block development officer
(BDO) still enjoys a significantclout at
block level.
Procedural Constraints
TheGPis constitutionally
acknowledged
as the thirdtier of the governmentstructure. It, however,does not exercise the
autonomyandinfluenceit ideallyshould.
Political supremacyin the governance
structureis the rulefor the parliamentary
system that we follow. The decisionsat
the GP shouldalso be left to a groupof
local politicians, but it is, however, a
differentstory at the field level. It is the
bureaucracywhich calls the shots.
to see the
RecentlyI hadanopportunity
relationship between the GP and the
bureaucracyvery closely in UP. It is the
pradhans who undertake the work,
arrangefor labour,assign tasks to them,
supervisethem, take measurementsand
record.On manyoccakeep a "kachcha"
sions the pradhansmakepaymentsout of
theirownpocketorotherwiseandwaitfor
theVDWstocometo thevillagetomonitor.
or enterthe
Theyalso takemeasurements
recordof labourand materialfor administrativepurposes.The pradhanhas to
convincethe VDWregardingthe number
of bricksusedornumberof trolleysof soil
used. On many occasions the payment
madeby the pradhanto labourwouldnot
convincethe VDW and he would make
entriesin recordsonlythatconvinceshim.
Thepradhan'ssubordination
to VDWs/
lekhpalis actuatedby two reasons.Oneis
an illicitrelationship,of takinga shareof
public money, which the pradhansare
cajoled,coercedorpersuadedto agreeto.
Inothercasespradhans
areeithernotaware
of theirrightsand responsibilitiesor not
ableto exercisethemfor lackof adequate
supportin their village, region or caste,
A combinationof both leadsto this situationin ruralUP. The bureaucracy,
from

November 12, 2005

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4857

(ii) The resources need to be made available at the panchayat level to make
panchayat discussions meaningful and the
agenda meaty enough for people to participate. A significant minimum level of
resources for the gram panchayat should
be disengaged from resources for block
and zilla panchayats, and these should be
allocated directly to GPs as in Kerala.
(iii) The secretariatof GPs need to be made
fully functional and not just on paper. The
VDW and lekhpals should compulsorily
be based at the headquarters,i e, the village
to which she/he is attached. This would
make all documents, records and information accessible to sarpanchs/pradhans,ward
members and other villagers, thereby
building moral pressure on him to remain
accountable to the pradhan, in particular,
and the village, in general. Functionaries
of other departments like extension
workers of the agriculture or animal husbandry departments, etc, should also be
based there.
(iv) The capacity-building of pradhans is
critically important. This should preferably be done by some good voluntary
organisations that could apprise him/her
not only about rights and responsibilities,
government schemes, panchayatirajstructures and functions, but also teach him/her
some bit of activism, i e, involving people
in meeting the requirements of effective
functioning of panchayats and using them
as a resource.Trainingorganisationsmeant
for panchayati raj in many of the states
need to be reorientedas they tend to remain
status quoist in orientation, teaching their
clients mostly the "letter" of capacitybuilding, but not the "spirit".
The GPs in some states have been given
too much responsibility without preparing
them to handle it. This would discredit
the GPs and other PR institutions. The
load will take its toll. There would be
mistakes in both approvals and execution
of projects.The system would be happy to
Conclusion
blame it on GPs and small-time politiWe have to be aware of field realities cians. Corruption related to panchayat
to plan interventionfor effective function- works is on many occasions cited as the
ing of GPs. I must admit that,though sadly, reason for not extending the cause of
we are not.
decentralisation any further. There is,
We need to be assured of the following:
however, little evidence to prove that the
(i) Political supremacy should be the car- bureaucracy is a good substitute for the
dinal principle for operations at the GP GP. Even if some corruptionpersists in the
level. Systems and procedures should be panchayati raj structure,we should risk it
worked out in such a manner that the as we have given enough of a chance to
pradhanof the GP is the supreme authority political supremacy at the union and state
andall relevant/local government employ- levels in India. B2
ees should be available to carryout instructions/decisions of the GP.
Email: mksm_raj@rediffmail.com

its own end, also ensures that the pradhans

do not ride over it.
The stratagemsemployed areas follows:
(i) The secretariat/office of the gram
panchayat is an elusive phenomenon.
Hence, the pradhans do not have access
to many information and circulars, which
are meant to be sharedwith them.This lack
of information on the part of the pradhan
is used by the VDW to outsmartand further
subordinate pradhans.
(ii) Since financial resources are mostly
available at the block or zilla panchayat
levels, block officials have a say in sanctioning proposals made from villages. As
resources are scarce in comparison to
proposals, allocations are done in favour
of such pradhanswho would dance to the
block level officers' tunes.
(iii) Monitoring and superintendance is
another tool to question, negotiate and
finalise the bureaucracy'sshareof the cake
in the name of quality and the volume of
work done in many instances. Resources
are withheld or delayed to make pradhans
agree to their terms and conditions. Many
pradhans accept impositions such as an
indefinite delay in their work and hence
their commitment to their constituencies
are not met without agreeing to these
bureaucrats.To get work done pradhans
need to be either politically/economically
or socially powerful to counter all these
stratagems or ready to collude with them.
The majorityof them are, however, subordinatedto the operatingsystem of bureaucratic supremacyat least up to block level.
At this stage, I would like to make it clear
thatit's not thatpradhansarealways honest.
I am discussing here the system that encapsulates the relationship between the
field arm of the bureaucracyand pradhans
in north India, which is likely to corrupt
even the best newcomers to local politics
either through persuasion or coercion.

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