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Is there citizens role in local governance?
Written By idontspam - 17 July, 2011
Bangalore governance BBMP RTI urban development Media Reports egovernance public consultation
Muralidhar Rao, Member, Praja, said that under the ambit of the Right to Information Act, citizens are allowed to visit the offices of city civic organisations and look into the files. He also adds that they can obtain photocopies of specific information. But he feels that there needs to be a citizen forum that will help organise a meeting between citizens across the city and the officials.
This I think is the way to go. I think it is shameful to be "exploring" this concept or public participation in a so called democracy when the rest of the world has embraced public consultation as a part of governance.
I just fell off my chair laughing at the ignorance of the deputy mayor (same guy who has made sankey road widening his life mission) when he made this comment
"We are open to citizen participation. In fact, we are planning an e-governance initiative where all project details will be uploaded on the internet for citizens to see," said S Harish, Deputy Mayor. He spoke of the Web Based Project Management System that has been revamped recently to help people keep track of various projects under BBMP
Either he doesnt know that the so called egovernance project has been rolled out 2 years ago or he is not aware how "revamped" the WGPMS really is. Because he hasnt seen it or even use it for his work. It is just a media showpiece. Maybe they thougt in the tech city everybody will sleep thru their nonsense doings.
COMMENTS
psaram42 - 29 July, 2011 - 09:09
I would like to share my experience during my visit to DULT. During my conversation with Mr. Shailendra Singh on Road Standards, I heard him saying if public wants any information RTI is there. Why we should discuss with the public about our projects, or share our reports in soft copies.
Smt M Manjula an IAS officer is the Current commissioner of DULT. DULT has released a “foot path standard”. I could not get a hard [Xerox] copy. It was not possible for our friend Singh, to give me the soft copy ie CD, either.
Is RTI making government officials averse to discuss with general public about their projects?
Concept of public participation
psaram42 - 29 July, 2011 - 08:59
This I think is the way to go. I think it is shameful to be "exploring" this concept or public participation in a so called democracy when the rest of the world has embraced public consultation as a part of governance. - IDS
I would like to remind IDS that Ours is a 3 tier democracy.
- Gram Panchayat / Wards
- Legislative Assembly
- Parliament
74th Constitutional Amendment Act provides for / mandates a local ward committee in City wards, as compared to a gram Panchayat in rural context. All local developmental work originates and is executed at level 1. The other 2 tiers are basically responsible for making required legislations, meaning they are the law makers. They naturally are responsible for conceiving and executing state and national level projects obviously. The same is true about law making and governance.
Public consultation is there from the beginning. It is the so called public which is taking it lying low.
Ward Committee and Panchyati Raj
psaram42 - 29 July, 2011 - 08:56
Panchayats have been the backbone of the Indian villages since the beginning of recorded history. Gandhiji, the father of the nation, in 1946 had aptly remarked that the Indian Independence must begin at the bottom and every village ought to be a Republic or Panchayat having powers. Gandhiji.s dream has been translated into reality with the introduction of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system to ensure people.s participation in rural reconstruction.
The recent 74th ammendment brings the concept into the (BBMP) wards of a city (Bangalore) or metrpolice in line with the gram Panchayats. My earlier coment above Refers.
sanjayv - 29 July, 2011 - 12:43
PSA sir. The 74th amendment was in 1992. I think it is time to drop the adjective "recent" when referring to it. 19 years later, we (India as a whole and Bangalore) is still nowhere close to implementing it in spirit. Notice that 19 years is almost 5 full terms for governments, if they last that long.
We the citizens are not up to the mark
psaram42 - 30 July, 2011 - 03:38
Thanks Sanjay for pointing out my slip. However the point I was trying to make is about the structure of our democratic set up which is bottom up. People have a direct say with their corporater as far as local amenities and governance is concerned. The Corporaters in turn can influence the MLAs to address the larger issues and so on. In essence we the people have enough teeth in governance, once in every 5 years. I was only expressing my surprise at the atrocious question put by IDS.
Is there citizen’s role in local governance?
Answer is in the affirmative.
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