Pressure Groups for Strengthening Grassroots Democracy
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150308 |
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PRESSURE GROUPS FOR STRENGTHENING
GRASSROOTS
DEMOCRACY
G. PALANITHURAI
A unique
pressure
group
initiative
emerged
to make the
presence
of
elected women representatives felt
in
the rural local
bodies
of
the state
of
Tamil Nadu. The process
of
federating
the elected women representatives began
at
Gandhi gram Rural
Institute in Rajiv Gandhi Chair
for
Panchayati
Raj
Studies with
the initial support from the Ford Foundation, while the Rajiv
Gandhi Chair
for
Panchayati Raj Studies took the responsibility
of
coordinating the activities
of
the Federation helping it come
on its own as an independent body. This article documents how
an academic research institution could weave together a loose
network
of
civil society organisations created with the active
involvement
of
activists
and
civil society organisations. This
gave the outfit a non-political character, provided needed skill
and
capacity-building, honing
of
the issues
and
much needed
identity as social capacity. A record
of
the activities
of
the
Federation, working as a pressure group
for
the panchayati
raj institutions breaks the myth that lobbying
by
such groups
can be only within political, social
or
cultural domains. The
group works
for
deepening the decentralised democracy on
quasi-administrative issues related to local governance
and
development. The distinctive nature
of
its activities charts a new
course
for
pressure groups 'relevance
and
focus
for
community-
level democratic institutions.
INTRODUCTION
THE
73n1
and
the
74th
Amendments
to
the
Constitution
of
India have created
a
new
chapter in
the
annals
of
governance in India
at
the grassroots
level.
The
hope
it raised
for
the poor
and
marginalised
is
unparalleled and hence
it
has
cleared
several
roadblocks
in
the
process
of
empowering
the
institutions at
the
grassroots.
Since
it
is
an
exercise.oftransfer
of
power,
the
challenges before
the
institutions and their representatives are huge. They are
to
be
responded
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