For long now, many of us have been involved with specific initiatives like solid waste management, water conservation, renewable energy, street garbage, parks, public toilets, etc etc.
No matter what the subject, one common thread is that all these services and facilities are supposed to be run by government at one level or another, mostly city government. These initiatives bend their backs to TRY and get the government to listen and then HOPEFULLY implement some of them. Civil society is a beggar at the doorstep of their own government.
And no matter whether these civic initiatives are carried out by individuals, groups, RWAs, NGOs, Rotary, Lions, Round Table or other societies, the they have to run from BBMP Officials to Corporators to MLAs to use their influence to TRY and get their own government to act. So civil society are beggars at the hands of their own elected people.
There are some well meaning people in all these forms of power centers – Bureaucrats, Corporators and MLAs. It would be wrong to paint all of them with the same brush, as most of us know. However, these kinds of people in power are a micro-minority and are often stopped by the vested interests who have garnered the majority in these power networks.
The root cause of this malady is that we are a vote-only democracy instead of a participative democracy. The responsibility for this lies with us – the voter – with our political parties and their own lack of internal democracy and accountability, and, ofcourse, the sustained subversion of the federal nature of our constitution.
Our civic minded active citizen has thus far acted through individual channels that focus mostly on one issue, be it solid waste management, water conservation, renewable energy, street garbage, parks, public toilets, etc. Thus their clout is dissipated and like the Accenture TV commercial shows, the little fish have to run for cover when the political heavy weights enter the area.
All this usually results in everyone throwing up their hands in disgust, dismay or some similar emotion. Perhaps quite justifiably. But it also means the educated, emancipated active citizen has abdicated. The gap between a vote-only democracy and a participative one can and should be bridged. Waiting for ‘the system’ to change would be tantamount to abdication.
The Brazilian model where the NGOs et al got together and actually contested the municipal elections on a single platform in a bid to influence if not run local government not only enable successful transformation of their cities but has progressed to the national level. The silent citizen got an avenue to speak up and also determine their own candidates to local government.
It’s time that Bangalore showed the way in participative, local government.
So much for now. Comments most welcome!
Regards,
JS
+91 9880020366
Twitter: @jsvasan
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust