FAQ

1. What is Lokraj Andolan?
2. Is Lokraj Andolan not another name for a campaign to strengthen local self-governance in India?
3. Don’t municipality and Panchayats already provide local self-governance?
4. So what is the current mode of governance in municipalities and Panchayats?
5. What kind of local governance does Lokraj Andolan advocate?
6. What should be citizens’ relationship with municipal councilors, MLAs, and MPs?
7. How does one ensure that the elected area representatives of Mohalla Sabha/Gram Sabha will not turn corrupt?
8. What if the local MLA or some political party tries to influence the elected Mohalla Sabha/Gram Sabha representative
9. People often do not take interest in public affairs. Why would they attend the meetings of Mohalla Sabhas and Gram Sabhas?
10. What if the proposals received at a meeting of Mohalla Sabha/Gram Sabha are much more than can be funded available budget?
11. Who is behind the Lokraj Andolan? Is it a political organization?

What is Lokraj Andolan?

‘Lokraj Andolan’ is a Hindi term which, translated into English, means ‘movement for citizens’ rule’. It is a campaign for raising awareness about the urgent need for citizens of India to directly take part in governmental decision making and for broad-basing the demand for participatory governance.
Currently, people of India have virtually no say in governmental decision making; for instance, they can’t decide whether public funds earmarked for their area should be spent on a decorative fountain or a public toilet.
They also can’t do anything against a government official who indulges in corruption.
The urgent need is to empower citizens’ assemblies – Gram Sabhas in rural areas and Mohalla Sabhas in urban areas – so that they can decide themselves how they want public funds to be spent in their area and supervise the conduct of public officials.

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Is Lokraj Andolan not another name for a campaign to strengthen local self-governance in India?

It certainly is, but Lokraj Andolan also believes that effective citizens’ participation in decision making in municipalities and Panchayats is only the first stage of a process of deepening democracy.
The voice of the citizens must also inform decision making at higher levels of government.
For example, Gram Sabhas and Mohalla Sabhas should also have the power to give their opinion on state-level policies and legislations. In time to come, as democracy matures through citizens’ assemblies, people will also demand their democratic right to have a say in policies and legislations at the level of central government.

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Don’t municipality and Panchayats already provide local self-governance?

Local self-governance means giving citizens -- through their small, manageable assemblies, such as a village council or an urban neighbourhood -- the power to take decisions on their local affairs, such as road, school, healthcare, sanitation, ration shop, etc.
Despite the intent of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments to turn municipalities and Panchayats into institutions that will allow greater citizens’ participation in decision making, most local bodies have continued to keep citizens away from its discussions and decision-making processes.
In fact, even in rural areas, where Gram Sabhas, consisting of all voting-age residents of a village, exist as Constitutionally-mandated bodies, citizens’ participation in decision making has largely been a non-starter.
There are no counterparts of Gram Sabhas in urban areas of the country.

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So what is the current mode of governance in municipalities and Panchayats?

Currently, all decision making in municipalities and Panchayats is in the hands of elected leaders and unelected bureaucrats, with citizens’ role limited to casting their vote once every five years. The municipal councilors and Panchayat panchs and Sarpanchs feel no statutory or societal pressure to take into the account the views of their constituents before taking a decision.
A lot of decision making is also top down – i.e. plans and schemes flowing from the state or central governments that local bodies are expected to carry out.
Since most of the decisions are taken away from the scrutiny of the citizens, there is widespread corruption in the functioning of local bodies.

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What kind of local governance does Lokraj Andolan advocate? What should be citizens’ relationship with municipal councilors, MLAs, and MPs?

Lokraj Andolan advocates -- within the existing Constitutional provisions -- a mode of local governance where citizens’ assemblies – Gram Sabha in villages and Mohalla Sabhas in towns/cities – will become the most authoritative decision-making bodies in local government.
All important decisions will be taken by Mohalla Sabhas and Gram Sabhas and conveyed to the executive bodies of the local governments through their representatives. These decisions will be carried out by the elected leaders and bureaucrats of the local bodies. Even those decisions, which logically and statutorily fall in the jurisdiction of other tiers of local bodies, such as a municipal ward in urban areas and a block in rural areas, will be informed by the will of the citizens’ assemblies.
In other words, citizens’ assemblies (Mohalla Sabhas and Gram Sabhas) will be the highest decision-making bodies in local governance; municipal councilors and elected Panchayat leaders will merely carry out the will of their constituents as expressed in these citizens’ assemblies, with no power to take decisions on anything significant on their own.
Should the councilors or elected Panchayat leaders go against the will of their constituents or become corrupt, citizens’ assemblies will also have the right to decide on the recall of these elected representatives.
As is currently provided in the Constitution, the MLAs and MPs are not subservient to the local bodies. So their relationship with citizens will not immediately change in law, but will gradually change on the ground because of the citizens’ greater power in local decision making.
In fact, by confronting and deciding many of their local issues, such as roads and water supply, citizens will be less inclined to go to their MPs and MLAs with local problems. So a lot of valuable time of the MPs and MLAs would be freed to be spent on issues of a larger canvas and on legislative matters.
It’s important to understand, however, that handing the citizens’ assemblies greater power of decision making in local matters will in no way undermine the constitutional role of the MPs and MLAs. That’s because the Constitution in based on the federal principle of clearly defined remits of the governments at the central, state, and local levels. So local affairs, anyway, belong to the local governments, not MPs or MLAs.

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How does one ensure that the elected area representatives of Mohalla Sabha/Gram Sabha will not turn corrupt?

The representatives of Mohalla Sabha and Gram Sabha will have no power to take any significant decision without a majority resolution of their constituents. If a Mohalla Sabha or Gram Sabha is unsatisfied with the functioning of its representatives, it will also have the power to recall the latter.

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What if the local MLA or some political party tries to influence the elected Mohalla Sabha/Gram Sabha representative?

In a system where peoples’ assemblies will be the final decision-making bodies, a Mohalla Sabha or Gram Sabha representative will have no capacity to subvert the popular will even if he/she wishes to do so. The influence of local politics and political parties will be nullified by legal force of the decisions of citizens’ assemblies and the fact that all decisions in such assemblies will be taken openly and by majority.

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People often do not take interest in public affairs. Why would they attend the meetings of Mohalla Sabhas and Gram Sabhas?

Each community, whether rural or urban, has presence of public-spirited people who will enthusiastically take part in discussions and decision that affect their community. Worldwide experience shows that not all members of a community take part in discussions and decisions of a public nature, but some of them surely and invariably do.
Since citizens have currently no say in decision making that affect their lives, they have grown alienated with governmental affairs. Once they are encouraged and empowered through law to discuss and decide their local affairs, they will have every reason to participate in meetings of their community.

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What if the proposals received at a meeting of Mohalla Sabha/Gram Sabha are much more than can be funded available budget?

Lokaraj Andolan advocates a totally democratic way of making decisions on how available budget should be spent. A Mohalla Sabha or Gram Sabha will decide democratically, if need be, through a vote, what are the pressing needs of the community and how those needs should be prioritized and met with the limited funds.
Since a majority vote can theoretically prevail in all decisions on how funds should be spent, there should be special provisions for minorities.

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Who is behind the Lokraj Andolan? Is it a political organization?

The people behind the Lokraj Andolan are citizens and social activists who are concerned over failure of governance on many fronts. They believe that governance in India is failing because a few people – mostly elected political leaders, bureaucrats and moneyed interests -- have taken a vicious hold on all decision making.
Seen in the current context of undemocratic and corrupt governance, the idea of Lokraj is a creation of our times. It sounds compelling because it’s badly needed.
In its appeal for direct democracy and citizen-centric governance, Lokraj Andolan does not affiliate itself with any political organization, but seeks support from all political groupings and the society at large.

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