Case study: Village Democracy in India

This article was written by TIMILEYIN SAMUEL AJITONI

Introduction

The Republic of India located in South Asia boasts of the second largest population in the world after China. It is by far the most-populous democracy in the world. After independence from the British in 1947, it became a federal republic with a parliamentary system of government. Coupled with its size, the huge stratification and caste system that had emerged made democracy- which cannot take place without inclusiveness- a challenge. The country adopted a more centralized form of government as against a decentralized form where villages administer their own affairs as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi.

This began to change later as states adopted a more decentralized system that sought for more decentralized local governance. In 1992, there was a constitutional amendment to entrench the concept of deliberative democracy in villages across the country. This was to be done through a body called the Gram Sabha (Village Assembly). The amendment made compulsory the establishment of this assembly by states in India. Similar to what was witnessed in Greece city-states around 500 B.C, citizens assemble in several villages in India to discuss public issues. Now, India has the highest deliberative democracy ever, the largest in history of civilization, affecting over 800 million people.

The Gram Sabha or Village Assembly

India is made up of local governments designed to work at the village level. These local governments are known as gram panchayats. Members of the gram panchayats are elected by the members of the village for five years. A member out of those elected then heads the government. The head position is known as the Sarpanch.

As stated earlier, the Indian constitution was amended in 1992 and gave powers to village governments. The amendment made it compulsory for all villages to be governed by the legislature (panchayats), an executive (chosen to head the panyachats), and a village council, the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha is constituted in such a way that any member of the village older than 18 years of age, and that is registered on the electoral lists of the village can be a member. One-third of the seats of the village council is to be filled by women. Some seats are also to be filled by disadvantaged castes depending on their population. This system covers more than 840 million people in almost 1 million villages across the country.

The rationale behind the creation of the Gram Sabha is to ensure accountability and transparency of elected representatives to the people. The meetings of the assembly are expected to take place at least 2 to 4 times in a year. To convene a meeting, members of the assembly (10% of members at least) write to the head of the local government executive (sarpanch). The secretary of the local government convenes the meeting after approval from the head. In a situation where the sarpanch fails to convene a meeting, members of the assembly can convene the meeting themselves.

The assembly is in charge of supervising and regulating the activities of the local government and its executives. The assembly also conducts audit and ratification of the accounts of the local government. They approve the budget and plan of the local government. Furthermore, in the assembly, members discuss several issues affecting them. Interestingly, the head of the local government (Sarpanch) and other members are called to the village assembly to answer several questions from the citizens. The decisions reached by this body are binding. Only the assembly can annul its own decisions.

Conclusion

The practice of the Gram Sabha has encouraged citizen participation in the democratic process. One of the challenges of modern democracy is that not all citizens can participate directly in governance. Thus, they have to rely on elected representatives. Often, citizens feel excluded and sidelined from the process once representatives are elected. The Indian model provides an interesting way to address this. Even though citizens elect representatives, the Gram Sabha ensures they are not sidelined after choosing their representatives.

The Gram Sabha provides an avenue for citizens to challenge their government and demand for better governance from their representatives. The assembly thus provides a medium for citizens of all backgrounds and social status to express their views and play crucial roles in the democratic process. More so, the citizens have been able to have a say on issues that affect them, how it should be resolved, how the state should spend resources to provide services and which of these services should be provided. Due to their democratic nature, they serve as a medium for free speech.

Despite its significance, the experience with the Gram Sabha has been far from perfect. The efficiency of the assembly is affected by the problem of rural illiteracy, elite domination, and gender bias. For deliberative democracy to work, citizens need to be well informed and in this case, the high level of illiteracy in villages across India, is a challenge to solve. Some studies have shown that discourse in the assembly reflect social status and hierarchy many times. Elites have been said to dominate discussions and women do not also have a voice as much as men. Nevertheless, the Gram Sabha model provides a vivid example of how democracy can be strengthened through greater citizen involvement. Doing this engenders accountability, transparency as well as trust in the government.

This article has been published as per submission by the student (the author) and based on the lecture given by the professor in the context of an assignment, for comments or edits please contact the author : name.lastname@sciencespo.fr

REFERENCES

Ananthpur, K., Malik, K., and Rao, V., (2014). The anatomy of failure: an ethnography of a randomized trial to deepen democracy in rural India. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper №6958.

Datta, P. K. (2019). Exploring the Dynamics of Deliberative Democracy in Rural India: Lessons from the Working of Gram Sabhas in India and Gram Sansads in West Bengal. Indian Journal of Public Administration, 65(1), 117–135.

Kulkarni, V. (2012). The Making and Unmaking of Local Democracy in an Indian Village. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 642, 152–169. doi:10.2307/23218469

Rao, Vijayendra, and Paromita Sanyal. (2010). Dignity through discourse: Poverty and the culture of delib eration in Indian village democracies. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 629 (1): 146–72.

Sen, A., (2005). The argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian history, culture and identity. Macmillan.

Sharma, Manohar Lal (1987). Gandhi and Democratic Decentralization in India. New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications.