Chapter IV PARTICIPATION IN GRAMA SABHA The democratisation of planning is reflected in the participation of people in different stages of planning. Participation becomes effective only when the participants have control over the decisions. Democratic decision-making requires equal control over the decisions, in which all sections of the society participate. The decisions shall reflect the views of all the sections. If the participants are a few, then decisions reflect only the interests of a few. The number or rate of participation is important; but Inore relevant is the quality of participation- whether participation is active 01. passive. Genuine participation is empowered participation in which the vitality, energy and commitment of the people have a stamp on decisions. In such case there is a shift in power (Nelson and Wright 1995) in favour of the people. The number of participants, their occupation, age, level of education, sex etc are important in influencing decisions. An important dimension other than the rate of participation to be reckoned is the trend of participation over the years, which reveals whether people show increased or decreased interest towards the grama sabha. Equally important is to know whether participation is inclusive or not. Therefore, the participation of the marginalised sections of the society, especially that of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population and women is important. The popularity for participatory development is due to the shortcomings of past development strategies, which did not make much difference in the lives of large segments of the population especially the poor, women, tribes and the scheduled caste population. Participatory approach is expected to reorient development in favour of the vulnerable sections of the society (Mathur 1995). The participation rates of the scheduled castes and women are important indicators of the 'inclusiveness'. It is also interesting to examine whether the political affiliation of the ruling party in the panchayat has any relation in terms of performance in participation.
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Chapter IV
PARTICIPATION IN GRAMA SABHA
The democratisation of planning is reflected in the participation of people
in different stages of planning. Participation becomes effective only when the
participants have control over the decisions. Democratic decision-making requires
equal control over the decisions, in which all sections of the society participate.
The decisions shall reflect the views of all the sections. If the participants are a
few, then decisions reflect only the interests of a few. The number or rate of
participation is important; but Inore relevant is the quality of participation-
whether participation is active 01. passive. Genuine participation is empowered
participation in which the vitality, energy and commitment of the people have a
stamp on decisions. In such case there is a shift in power (Nelson and Wright
1995) in favour of the people. The number of participants, their occupation, age,
level of education, sex etc are important in influencing decisions.
An important dimension other than the rate of participation to be reckoned
is the trend of participation over the years, which reveals whether people show
increased or decreased interest towards the grama sabha. Equally important is to
know whether participation is inclusive or not. Therefore, the participation of the
marginalised sections of the society, especially that of the scheduled caste and
scheduled tribe population and women is important. The popularity for
participatory development is due to the shortcomings of past development
strategies, which did not make much difference in the lives of large segments of
the population especially the poor, women, tribes and the scheduled caste
population. Participatory approach is expected to reorient development in favour
of the vulnerable sections of the society (Mathur 1995). The participation rates of
the scheduled castes and women are important indicators of the 'inclusiveness'. It
is also interesting to examine whether the political affiliation of the ruling party in
the panchayat has any relation in terms of performance in participation.
In this chapter, we examine the participation of the people in grama sabhas
of sample panchayats in Thrissur district. The chapter has three sections. Section I
deals with the participation and its trend. In section 11, the characteristics of
participation are examined and section 111 analyses the quality of involvement of
the participants.
SECTION - I
Direct participation of the people in decision making is possible only in the
case of the lowest tier of the local bodies - grarna panchayat, municipality /
corporation - since there is a legal structure for participation in the form of grama
sabha 1 ward sabha 1 ward committee. In the case of block or district panchayat,
direct participation is difficult due to the absence of an institution with statutory
backing.
The grama sabha is the most important participatory space provided in the
Kerala experiment. The details of powers, functions and the rights of grama sabha
are listed in section 3A of KPA 1994. The right to formulate the proposals and
fixing the priority of schemes and development programmes to be implemented in
the village panchayat vests with tl~e grama sabha (Section 3 KPA 1994). The
beneficiary selection of all projects including centrally sponsored schemes (CSSs)
and state sponsored schemes (SSSs) is made at the grama sabha.
Participation rate is an indicat-or of the democratic involvement of people in
local development. Crook and Manor (1998) concluded that participation had
positive effect on performances of local government. But, some of the studies
reveal a dismal picture of grama sabha participation (Bandyopadhyay and
Mukherji 2004). The World Bank (2005) study on four South Indian states
revealed that only 20 per cent of the household respondents ever attended the
grama sabha. In Madhya Pradesh often the quorum was not reached and the
attendance of women and the poor was very low (Behar 2003). The grama sabhas
functioned just as a formality in Haryana and Rajastan and often the attendance
was below quorum. No important issues were discussed and the participation of
women and scheduled castes was very low (Nambiar 2001). Ghatak and Ghatak
2002) pointed out that the participation rate of the well-off sections in the society
in grama sabha, in West Bengal was higher than that of their population share. In
Kamataka, grama sabhas were not taking place or were delayed and the attendance
was very low. In Kerala, the participation in grama sabha is falling. (Chaudhari et
al. 2004; Narayana 2004).
The details of participation of people in grama sabhas were collected from
eleven grama panchayats in Thrissur district- Arimpur, Chelakkara, Kadappuram,
Majority of the respondelits agreed that there was a decline in the
participation trend of scheduled castes in the second sub-period compared to the
first.
Thus, the overall assessment of respondents was that there was a decline in
the participation trend in grama sabhas in the second sub-period compared to the
first. The primary survey confirms our doubts regarding the reliability of the data
on participation reported in the minutes books of grama sabhas.
Perceptions of Rate of Participation
We used our primary survey to get some idea of the perception levels on
trends of participation. A family 011 the average consists of three voters. Normally
participation from a family is limited to one. Then, 113~ participation of voters is
an excellent level having the representation of all the families. For assessing this,
ten per cent participation of voters in a grama sabha was considered as the
'average' level. Participation above 20 per cent of voters was 'very good' and a
participation rate between 15 to 20 per cent was considered 'good'. A participation
rate below 5 per cent was treated as 'very low' and a rate between 5 per cent to 10
per cent was treated as 'low'.
Table 4.14 depicts the perceptions on rate of participation of the
respondents. The table has two parts, A and B. Part A depicts the perceptions for
the first sub-period and part B shows the same for the second sub-period.
As regards participation of the general category, women and scheduled
castes, the majority reported that the participation rate was 'average' in the first
sub-period. But for the second sub-period, the response of 'average' rate had
declined. Regarding the participation of the general category of voters, 47 per cent
reported that the participation rate was 'low' and in the case of women, 35 per cent
reported that participation rate as 'low'. A majority agreed on the point that the
participation rate of scheduled castes was 'average'. In the first sub-period, there
was no response for rate of participation reported as 'low', but in the second sub-
period, there were many such reports.
Table 4.14 Percevtion of Rate of Participation
Second Sub-period: Percentage reported as:
Source: PrimiSurvey 2004
Thus, the overall perception is that, there was a decline in participation in
the grama sabhas in the second sub-period compared to the first period.
Quality of Involvement in the Grama Sabha
Mere attendance is not enough; active participation requires involvement in
discussion and decision-making in prioritisation, beneficiary selection and social
auditing. It is very difficult to quantify this. Hence, we have attempted to
understand the quality of invol\rement in various functions of grama sabha. The
results are presented in Table 4.15.
Table 4.15 Quality of Involvement in Grama Sabha
Source: Primary Survey 2004
The results present a picture of general deterioration in the quality of
participation. The proportion of our respondents marking 'high' for involvement
in discussion was 53 per cent for the first sub-period. The proportion of
respondents who considered involvement as 'low' was nil in the first sub-period.
The proportion of respondents marking 'low' increased to 30 per cent in the
second sub-period. The same pattern of deterioration can be seen in the case of
quality of discussion, prioritising local needs, beneficiary selection and social
audit. The proportion of respondents marking 'low' increased substantially for the
second sub-period.
There is another interesting dimension on quality of participation emerging
from Table 4.15. According to our respondents, quality of participation was
generally better when involvement in discussion and beneficiary selection were
considered. The ranking given by the respondents is generally lower for quality of
discussion, prioritisation and social audit. This is on expected lines because
increasing the quality of discussion, prioritisation and social auditing is more
demanding.
The Reasons of Low Participation
The respondents were asked to report the reasons for low participation
according to their perceptions. The reason cited by most members in a particular
category is ranked first and the second highest response is ranked as second and so
on. The reasons cited by them by each category are presented in Table 4.16. All
categories of respondents opined that the grama sabha is seen as a forum for
beneficiary selection. As a corollary to this, most participants expect some benefit
from participation. There were divergent views among the three categories of
respondents as regards the third important reason. The ward members cited the
third reason related to the first and second, as once a benefit is received, helshe is
less likely to get the benefit the next time. So hetshe may not report for the next
meeting. Similarly, if a collective want such as a road is met, then those
beneficiaries are less likely to come for the next meeting. Activists opined that the
third major reason was lack of information regarding the convening of the grama
sabha. The ward members may not give enough publicity for grama sabha, so that
many voters are unaware of it. Many ward members may also like to have less
members of his choice to avoid many uncomfortable situations. The fall in the
number of projects with individud beneficiary oriented distributive projects have
contributed to the fall in participation, according to the officers. The activists were
of the opinion that the inconvenient timing, lack of interest of the ward members
etc were other important reasons. According to activists, political bias in decision-
making restrains many voters from participation. The ward members or the
officers did not raise such an issue.
Table 4.16 Ranking of Reasons of Low Participation
Reasons Rank Members ( Officials I Activists
Grama sabha is seen as a fomn of 1 1 1
Source- Primary Survey 2004
Moreover, there is an opportunity cost for participation. The opportunity
cost of employed persons is high Therefore, their participation is low. Another
reason is the feeling of the people that the scene is dominated by the political
activists and that the opinions of '2thers are not counted. Dissatisfaction with the
grama sabha, since many of the issues raised there are not addressed, makes
people disinterested in participation.
Conclusion
Grama sabha is the important space in the planning process, which
provides opportunities for participation of all the voters. The number of
participants, their socio-economic characteristics and their involvement in the
decision-making process are important factors influencing the outcome. Studies on
the participation of people in g rma sabhas in different states in India show a
dismal picture. The participation of the selected grama panchayats in Thrissur
district is examined, dividing the period in to two sub-periods - 1995-2000 and
after 2000. The average participation of the voters increased in 1997, which is the
first year of the People's Plan Campaign compared to the previous year. There was
a decline in average participation after 1997.The average participation rate of the
voters in the first sub-period was only 7.5 per cent and the highest rate recorded
was 9 per cent in 1997.A noteworthy feature of grama sabha participation in
Kerala was the proportionately higher level of participation of the scheduled
castes. Another feature is the increased participation of women, which was around
40 per cent of the total and in some of the panchayats it was over 50 per cent.
The education level of the participants showed that around 90 per cent of
the participants are either illitcaates or having education below SSLC. The
educated class is less keen in attending the grama sabhas. The younger generation
is also less interested as compared to higher age groups in local planning. The
average participation in grama sabhas convened for beneficiary selection is higher
than those for planning or other purposes. The political dimension of participation
is important and we could find that the participation rate in the LDF panchayats
was higher than in UDF panchayats. The primary survey showed that there was
deterioration in the 'quantity' as well as in the 'quality' of participation in the
second sub-period, although data show a higher participation, which we suspect is
due to data manipulation. There was deterioration in the quality of discussion,
prioritising local needs and beneficiary selection. Some of the reasons cited for
low participation are: a) grama sabha is seen as a forum for beneficiary selection;
b) participation is with the expectation of benefit; c) fall in projects with individual
beneficiaries; d) political domination in grama sabha; e) lack of information
regarding grama sabha and inconvcnient timing; f) absence of the initiative of the
ward member in mobilising the people. But, there are divergent views as regards
the relative importance of the reasons among the panchayat members, officers and
activists.
Notes
' This is a secret that almost everybody knows. Manipulation of grama sabha records has become quite widespread. This general observation is hue in the case of most panchayats selected for our study as well. The focus group discussions also confirmed this proposition.
2 The participation of scheduled tribes is not available 'om the minutes books; hence the study does not consider their participation. The total number of ST population in sample panchayats was only 381 (1991Census). Of this 315 was in Matlathur panchayat.
The officers of the village panchayat shall attend the meeting of the grama sabha as may be required by the president (section3A KPA 1994). But the participation of the officers is very poor.
The regression analysis was constrained by some important data limitations. For instance, we do not have data on apparently important independent variables at the ward level. But there is considerable variability in participation across wards. The limitation of the analysis points towards the need to have more systematic efforts to unravel the underlying relationships.