Representation, all the way up

Source: The post is based on the article “Representation, all the way up” published in the “The Hindu” on 1^st August 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 Issues and Challenges Pertaining to the Federal Structure, Devolution of Powers and Finances up to Local Levels and Challenges Therein.

Relevance: Local Self Government; Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs)

News: Recently, Droupadi Murmu, an Adivasi woman from a humble background, was sworn in as the 15th President of India. It has become possible due to various constitutional reforms after independence. The article highlights some major reforms and analyses them.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments towards democratic decentralisation has played a key role in diversifying representation in politics.

Merits of the Constitutional Reform

The reforms mandated the creation of rural and urban local governments with functions, funds, and functionaries. It enabled them to function as “institutions of self-government” at the local level across the country. These reforms were aimed to meet the stated ends of economic development and social justice. 

These amendments signaled a realisation of a long-held vision of Mahatma Gandhi and his followers to make the village the core unit of governance.

These reforms have provided Intersectional reservation, which refers to reservation for SC Women, ST Women and OBC Women. It mandates the reservation of seats to members belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and STs, in the elected councils of Panchayats and Municipalities. Further, a minimum of one-third of seats have to be reserved for women.

Such reservation has succeeded in broadening the representative character of the Indian state by increasing the total number of elected representatives and diversifying its constituents.

In fact, some states have gone beyond the Constitutional mandate by increasing women’s reservations from 33% to 50% and introducing reservations for OBCs.

Issues in the local-self-governance

Despite 30 years of these constitutional reforms, the local governments have still not become powerful “units of self-government”. The reasons include:

(1) There are issues in the design and the implementation of the Constitutional Amendments.

(2) The expansion of the reservation to other social bases has been relatively ignored in academic and policy debates.

(3) The judiciary has been quite sceptical about diversifying representation in local governments, like OBC reservation in local government elections.

The Judiciary has upheld various amendments that prescribed educational qualifications for contesting local body elections on the ground that it is for the “better administration of the panchayats”.

(4) Some believe that reservations in local governments do not substantially benefit the marginalised groups. For example, women are sometimes proxies for their husbands in reserved constituencies.

What should be done?

Empirical studies have shown that women-led panchayats invest more in public goods, prioritize infrastructure more relevant for women, and increase women’s involvement in village affairs.

The SC has given direction that diversifying reservations to OBC should be justified by “empirical findings” of backwardness.