Why state must cede power to communities

Source– The post is based on the article “Why state must cede power to communities” published in the Business Standard on 1st February 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Economy. GS1- Society

Relevance– Developmental model across the world

News– The article explains the reason for the broken state of affairs across the most advanced societies. It also explains the importance of community in achieving development

What are the reasons for the broken state of affairs across the most advanced societies of the world?

Large parts of the blame can be put on two types of liberalism —classical liberalism and left liberalism.

Classic liberalism believes in excessive individual rights and freedoms, free markets and a limited state. This led to the rise of inequality and the concentration of wealth and power.

It helped the rise of left liberalism, or progressive liberalism. It ended up expanding the power and role of the state even more.

Liberalism was built on the implicit assumption that traditional social institutions like family, tribe, caste, and religion were oppressive. They need dismantling. These institutions did become oppressive as a result of giving them excessive power.

Currently, it is the liberal state that is the most oppressive institution. It is leading to broken societies.

What is the importance of communities?

The way out of this state of affairs is to re-empower older and newer institutions that build community. So, the role of community becomes important.

Communities should be given more powers to provide the basic services like health and law & order.

Community organisations will expand livelihood opportunities at a far lower cost and with greater alignment with community objectives than government.

Outside Europe and America, the countries that actually managed to address issues like jobs, education were “illiberal” and largely monocultural countries in Asia. Examples are Japan, Asean and China.

The list of “broken” countries now includes most of the developed West. Family, community and other social organisations have broken down in these countries.

What is the way forward for the development of Indian society?

There is a need to always focus on strengths. India’s strengths are our strong family, caste and tribal values and affiliations. With reform and empowerment, they can deliver better social and economic outcomes.

Taxpayers can be encouraged to contribute a specific proportion of their post-tax incomes to a community organisation of their choice. These contributions will surely need social audits.

There is a need for inheritance tax on wealthy persons who do not leave at least 50 per cent of his posthumous wealth for charitable or social purposes.

There is no case for an annual wealth tax. It will just encourage the wealthy to evade and shift to tax havens.

An inheritance tax, with generous exemptions for property and cash left for family, will offer incentives for contributing to the betterment of society.