Empowering the grassroots

In the last thirty years, local governments have been active, yet there is no noise about it. At one point in time, it was in the news as if the new local bodies were going to bring about fundamental change at the grassroots level. They were inserted into the Constitution of India as Part IX and IXA. The intellectual community and donor agencies had started looking at the new local governments from the perspective of the Centre and state governments, as they had to operationalise through mending themselves by giving space for the Local Governments to engage people in its governance and development. This was seen as a new governance paradigm with the potential to transform democracy from a representative to a participatory model. Much work remains to be done on the ground to prepare the people for this change. It's worth noting that through this act, power is meant to reach the most remote areas, working towards the emancipation and empowerment of the marginalised, particularly poor women, and the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Since the creation of local governments in rural and urban areas, several development-related rights and acts have been passed in Parliament. These include the Right to Information, Right to Work, Right to Education, Food Security, Forest Rights, Street Vendor Protection, Manual Scavenging Rehabilitation Act, and more. These initiatives come with significant funding allocations. However, despite all these initiatives at the centre, both the central and state governments have not fully adapted themselves to enable local governments to effectively carry out their new governance and development planning roles in accordance with the needs and visions of the local people. There remains limited space for people to participate in the public policy-making process.

In order to address the bottlenecks in the process of power devolution, the Second Administrative Reform Commission and Centre-State Relation Committee have released reports guiding both the central and state governments on how to properly reposition themselves to enable local governments to work for fundamental transformation at the grassroots. Nevertheless, even after these efforts, little significant change has occurred as barriers continue to persist with greater force. Jayaprakash Narayan envisioned this long ago and made a statement during the panchayat parishad annual convention in 1964, following Nehru's demise. He emphasised that those advocating for decentralisation must recognise that transferring power from dominant groups to the oppressed and marginalised is a formidable struggle. Power will not be transferred to the marginalised by simply petitioning the central and state governments. Achieving this requires a process of struggle, for which a mass movement, as advocated by MK Gandhi, must be created. In this context, Nelson Mandela's observation has to be taken into account. He lamented that "people have sacrificed their lives for liberating the country with the hope that after liberation everything will be corrected through the new governments, as they are ours. One should not forget that if all sections of the people are to get benefits out of the liberation, the struggle has to be continued, otherwise the marginalised will continuously remain under subjugation”. This situation is precisely what transpires in India. The poor and marginalised have been labelled as beneficiaries, leading them to seek benefits from the government. When they do not receive these benefits, they resort to acting as petitioners, submitting petitions submissively, often without dignity. They have never been encouraged to view themselves as honourable citizens entitled to claim their rights and lead decent, dignified lives, despite the bundle of rights bestowed upon them.

Recent initiatives by a group of activists, academics, and well-meaning politicians in Karnataka to promote the gradual decentralisation of powers in the state serve as a reminder that this concept has been somewhat overlooked in Indian political discourse. Karnataka is renowned for its progressive approach and thinking regarding the decentralisation of powers, which has served as a model for the entire country. This approach found its roots when Rajiv Gandhi concretised his vision of decentralising power. Even after the passage of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, Karnataka was the first state to bring conformity legislation to establish new rural local governments, although it did not become a nationwide model. Kerala, despite being the last state in India to enact conformity legislation, has assumed the role of a model in this regard. Unfortunately, after Rama Krishna Hegde's era, there has been a lack of political will to advance the decentralisation framework in Karnataka, resulting in local bodies languishing. Nonetheless, Karnataka passed a more progressive legislation for decentralisation of powers, known as the Gram Swaraj Act. Regrettably, it has not been fully implemented due to a lack of bureaucratic and public will. With the advent of a new government, a group of academics and activists participated in a National Conference and began to function as a catalyst for change. The Vice-Chancellor of the host university posed a critical question about the way forward after hearing the lamentations of several politicians. This prompted the recognition that it is the right time to address the issue of strengthening local governments by operationalising the act passed by the same government during its previous tenure. To further this agenda, the same university, the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayati Raj University, in collaboration with the Karnataka State Panchayat Parishad, Gandhi Samarak Nidhi, and the Decentralised Planning Unit of the Karnataka Government, organised a round table event in Bangalore. The goal was to formulate an action plan for implementing the Gram Swaraj Act.

Only a small group of people met at the round table conference, and without delivering any speeches, they organised themselves into groups to chalk out action plans. They successfully developed a framework and presented it to three Cabinet Ministers of Karnataka. Without mincing words, two senior ministers pledged to assist the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister in vigorously promoting it within the cabinet. The concerned Minister made it unequivocally clear that he would take all necessary steps before November 26, 2023. While listening to the ministers' speeches, I, as a participant and the concerned secretary, felt that Karnataka could soon be on the decentralisation map, alongside Kerala. The ministers and bureaucrats demonstrated remarkable clarity while speaking at the meeting. In his concluding remark, Mani Shankar Aiyar emphasised that if Karnataka meaningfully implements the Gram Swaraj Act, it will surpass Kerala in implementing the 73rd Amendment. With both political will and bureaucratic support in place, implementing the act should not pose any significant challenges, he observed. However, another challenge that one could foresee in the process is cultivating public support. Unless people are prepared for meaningful participation, this endeavour may remain a mere pipe dream. The responsibility of preparing the public falls on political parties and civil society organisations. While other institutions and agencies can contribute to facilitating this process, building public support is primarily the responsibility of political parties. The ruling party can capitalise on this opportunity to connect with the people through development-focused politics by undertaking decentralisation initiatives at the grassroots level. This presents a favourable opportunity for the Congress to use decentralisation as a means to stay connected with the people by addressing their needs and concerns.

The writer is a former Professor and Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute. Views expressed are personal