The silent revolution

By M H Ahssan

Despite the severe social and political constraints in our country - caste system, feudal setting, patriarchy, illiteracy, uneven development - the last 10 years have witnessed notable progress in women holding office in panchayats and municipalities.

More than 10 years ago, on December 23, 1992, when Parliament amended the Constitution (the 73rd and 74th Amendments) making the panchayats and municipalities "institutions of self-government" - reserving not less than one-third seats for women in these bodies - it was hailed as the beginning of a silent revolution.

The two constitutional amendments became laws on April 24 and June 1, 1993 respectively. In 1994, all Indian states passed the Conformity Act reshaping their Panchayati Raj system according to the new amendments. Today, thanks to these amendments, out of 3,200,000 members elected every five years to the panchayats and municipalities, more than 1,000,000 are women. Women head one-third of all the local bodies. Quite naturally, April 24 is celebrated as women's political empowerment day in India.

Stories of empowerment can be found in many states. Geeta Rathore (44) belongs to Jamonia Talab gram panchayat, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh. She was elected sarpanch in 1995 from a reserved seat; but in 2000, the village people rewarded her for her admirable work by electing her again - this time to a non-reserved seat. From a humble housewife, Geeta has grown into a leader displaying political farsightedness - she has harnessed the collective energy of her panchayat to renovate water tanks, build a school building, construct village roads, fight against domestic violence and atrocities against women, create environmental awareness, encourage afforestation and water management in her village.

But in the same state, there was Sukhiya Bai - the tribal sarpanch of Gubrail panchayat in Betul district. A year ago, she died in a hospital in Bhopal with 80 per cent burns. Sukhiya tried to struggle against the corrupt officials who demanded a cut for releasing money for development work. Simultaneously, she was under pressure from the villagers who demanded the money due to them for their labour. She had even borrowed Rs 4,000 from a relative to pay the panchayat secretary who had been demanding a bribe for releasing the money for a well that had been constructed by the villagers. Unable to bear the constant tension, she set fire to herself.

In Tamilnadu, Leelavathi contested the Madurai municipal elections in 1996, promising to bring water to the ward. She was elected as councillor and within six months water came to the area. This threatened the mafia of the water tanker owners, who had a flourishing business in the area. Within days of her victory to get water in the area, Leelavathi was murdered by those who lost their water business.

After the decadal journey, although leaders like Geeta Rathore have emerged, the big concern is the way this silent revolution is being threatened by the same forces it set out to defeat - patriarchal violence, inequality and discrimination. Why did the journeys of Sukhiya and Leelavathi have to have a violent end? They contested the elections according to the Constitution of India, occupied the constitutional positions and attempted to discharge their duties as per the law of the land.

But despite the severe social and political constraints in our country - caste system, feudal setting, patriarchy, illiteracy, uneven development - there are several aspects we can be proud of. The last 10 years have witnessed a steady progress as far as the inclusion of excluded sections of Indian population in the decision-making process from the village to the district level is concerned. About 3 million women are contesting the elections to panchayats and municipalities. This is no mean achievement in a hierarchical and male-dominated society.

With this, we have shown to the world that Indian women are not politically passive or uninterested in public life. Today, many women who fight the elections are from poor economic and backward social backgrounds; breaking social, cultural and economic barriers.

The notion that women's political connections matter and only the kith and kin of known leaders or those connected to them will enter the local bodies has been proved wrong in the recent past. The common refrain that it is the menfolk in the families who control the women elected members may be partly true; but studies show that the situation is rapidly changing. Some state governments have already taken measures to ensure that sarpanch patis (husbands of women office bearers) don't interfere with their wives' duties.

The number of women getting elected from general constituencies (defeating men) is also increasing. For instance, in Karnataka, 43 per cent women are now getting elected to local governments. Taking advantage of the new ethos, innovative and creative experiments in local governance involving women, like gender budgeting and self-help groups, are taking place in several states.

However, there are structural and systemic problems that women face. For instance, if women panchayat presidents do not yield to pressures from powerful landowners or contractor lobbies, no-confidence motions are moved and they are removed from office.

In some cases, the women panchayat members have had to face violence, intimidation and harassment for questioning male dominance and asserting their rights as elected representatives. Although society has by and large accepted the concept of women in the panchayats, women sarpanches in socially conservative areas face obstacles every day in their work.

Further, several states have passed legislations whereby those having more than two children cannot hold office and if a child is born when they hold office, their membership in the panchayats or municipalities ceases to exist. This is a discriminatory law, only applicable to panchayats, and women in the villages are at the receiving end.

In certain areas, male officials do not hold elected women members/presidents in high esteem because of their low social status. Women are thus doubly disadvantaged: carrying the burden of household chores and demands from the community as well as the office they hold.

Ten years is a short journey. Even if the representatives have not worked wonders, they have made small but significant beginnings. And even for these small beginnings, they have had to pay a huge price. We cannot and must not allow the sacrifices and dreams of the Sukhiyas and Leelavathis to fade away, although the insensitive would like to have it that way.

This is the biggest challenge facing India today: can she turn the present phase of women becoming victims of oppressive structures into one of gender equity and create a public life with dignity for all? It is encouraging that enlightened citizens, NGOs and media are taking the initiative to meet this challenge with some measure of success. If the trend continues, India will soon have Geeta Rathores occupying 50 per cent of public offices and positions of power.

Audacious Rural Girls Talk Power And Politics In Tamilnadu

By Siddique Azad | Chennai

The small village of Thazhaiyattam in Gudiyattam panchayat in Tamil Nadu’s parched district of Vellore is likely to be overlooked as yet another nondescript rural hamlet that dot the state. But an intriguing political initiative is taking shape here, giving a new spin to the term ‘grassroots politics’.

A group of young women have come together to spread the message of democracy and rights in Thazhaiyattam and its neighboring villages like Ananganallur, Melallattur and Gudanagaram, among others. They get young people to speak about the promises they want their political leaders to fulfill, initiate lively discussions on the various social and governance problems they are up against, and even motivate them to come forward and join local panchayat bodies.

TAMILNADU'S PARADOX - Alarming malnutrition pushing children out of school - II

By M H Ahssan

NGOs have fared better than the government in tackling iron deficiency in poor children. Activists, policy analysts and funders want a convergence of various departments as opposed to boxing nutrition into the health-sector alone.

Community-based outreach
Where the juggernaut of the government faltered, voluntary organisations have prevailed. The few of them that have focussed on public health communication campaigns have had better success in reducing iron deficiency anaemia. Nalamdana Trust's five year project in the fishing hamlet of Urur-Olcott Kuppam, in south Chennai has shown that with mere information and without the free supplements it is possible to improve nutritional status.

Nithya Balaji, Executive Trustee of Nalamdana, says her project used the popular medium of theatre to introduce behavioural changes and ownership for health and nutrition projects. “At Urur kuppam, initially we got a private donors to add an additional Rupee per child per day to the ICDS expenditure to add a few locally available vegetables, dhal and oil. The children's growth charts showed an impressive increase in the first two months of nearly 1.5 kg. This scheme is currently being supported by local sponsorship, but can easily be transferred to the parents if the state permits it," she says.

The other target group of the project was adolescent girls. “As a pre intervention indicator, we measured the anemia levels of 95 girls and held regular meetings for 8 months. The sessions covered issues of understanding one's body, pre-puberty issues, reproductive health and importance of nutrition. Only accurate information had been given- no doles, no tablets. Their Hb levels had increased from 8 and 9 to 11 and 12, respectively. They had adopted better hygienic practices, started eating breakfast and also included greens, vegetables and one affordable fruit in their daily diet," says Nithya.

When the project was evaluated in 2004, after a year of information and education campaigns, Nalamdana found that haemoglobin count increased by an average of 1.5 and in girls with severe anaemia up to 5.6 counts. In a second project area in Subbu Pillai Thottam (in Central Chennai), both adolescent boys and girls were targeted with information and education campaigns done mainly through one on one interaction and street theatre. There again, the Hb levels increased by an avearage of around 2 counts. The scheme implemented in partnership with other NGOs is being continued despite the original donor agency withdrawing from the project.

Nalamdana's findings are anecdotally affirmed by the Anganwadi staff. Tamizhagi says mere supplementation showed only marginal improvement in the moderately anaemic adolescent girls. “The eating habits have changed drastically in the last two decades, moving towards a rice-based diet. Traditional iron-rich food like drumstick greens thovaiyal or curry leaf thovaiyal have become devalued and pushing those through the nutrition eduation programme often backfires with adolescents," she adds.

Nalamdana circumvented this issues by involving the community in their own nutritional improvement. Recipe clubs were formed in the study area with the women being given basic information about nutrition dense food. With help from nutritionists and students, the women innovated their own healthy recipes, thus making their integration into daily diets an easy affair, says Nithya.

Juxtapose this with a study by the National Nutrition Monitoring Board that came to the conclusion that national nutrition programmes have failed in achieving their goals largely due to lack of nutrition education with poor outreach. A study of Vitamin A deficiency among rural preschoolers done in 2007, established high prevalence of subclinical deficiency largely due to poor nutrition and that nutrition education component covered a mere 14 per cent of the target population.

No night-blindness, but Vitamin A deficiency still high
In the rural survey, NNMB, an arm of the Indian Council of Medical Research, found that nearly half the children in the under-five age group were found to have sub-clinical VAD or vitamin A level of less than 17 micrograms per decilitre. This is despite that clinical Vitamin A deficiency (night blindness, Bitot's spot and conjunctival xerosis) is prevalent in less than 0.5 percent of the children in this age group, in part due to the massive dose Vitamin A supplementation in the neonatal period (at birth) and near total institutional delivery.

In their book, Gillespie and Goddad say Vitamin A deficiency causes increased morbidity and mortality among infants, children and pregnant women, poor growth of children. It also contributes to anaemia, they say. The NNMP survey results linked poor nutritional habits and weaning food choices to the sub-clinical deficiency.

Interestingly, this study linked the higher prevalence of clinical manifestations of Vitamin A like Bitot's spot in the eye to the mother being illiterate and to populations without access to sanitary toilets. Ascaris and hookworm infestation are often leading causes for Vitamin A deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia in the state.

Poor sanitation undermining nutrition thrust
All nutrition interventions have to go hand in hand with improvements to sanitation and access to protected drinking water, believes Dr Devashish Dutta of UNICEF. “As much as 83 percent of rural homes in Tamilnadu, according to NFHS-3 surveys, do not have access to sanitary toilets and defecate in the open. ‘Sanitary toilet’ refers to one where is not just clean inside, but also where refuse is cleanly disposed off, as in through a septic tank, sewerage.

A large percentage of students do not use footwear while going to school. Hookworm enters the body through the feet of the person walking on an area contaminated with faecal matter. The worms anchor onto the small intestine and the blood loss over a period of time also leads to anaemia," he says. Though the state has its deworming programme, it could be scaled down and resources used elsewhere if people were to wear footwear before the stepped out of their homes, he adds.

Even in urban areas, only 33 per cent have access to flush toilets that are connected to sewerage, septic tank or pits, according to NFHS-3. A whopping 40 per cent have seen no improvement since the last survey of 1998 and continue to use toilets which are either shared between households or have no flushes/poured flushes. Twenty-six per cent continued to use open spaces for toilets.

This was no different even in targeted nutrition interventions like the ICDS. According to 2000-2001 study by TN-FORCES of the Anganwadis in 150 areas in Chennai showed that 87 percent of them had no access to toilet, an overwhelming 90 per cent did not have potable water, 90 per cent had no electricity and only 50 per cent were well ventilated with windows. “Often, the centres are right next to public toilets or sometimes right next to garbage collection points, making hygienic Anganwadis a rarity," says Shanmughavelayutham of TN-FORCES.

In their 2007 study of 45 best practice Anganwadis, the State ICDS Project Office reiterated their older study: 26.7 per cent had no toilets, 20 per rcent had no access to drinking water, 22 per cent had furniture for early development activities, 20 per cent had no separate kitchen and 4 percent used classrooms for cooking, 62.2 per cent had asbestos sheets for roof and 33 per cent had no indoor and outdoor space marked for grossmotor activities for the 0 to 3 age group. “This is the state in the best 45 of the 10,000-odd Anganwadis in the state. There are no norms or standardisations, no child-friendly toilets or safe areas or even adequate ventillation, says Shanmughavelayutham.

And that is why activists, policy analysts and funders alike say nutrition cannot be just a health-sector issue and have been working with the government in bringing about a convergence of various service delivery departments. All sectors like health, social welfare, nutrition, school education, women's development, civil society, water and sanitation, rights groups, universities and colleges, elected peoples representatives and the media at all levels need to make anaemia a priority as its effects are widespread, contributes significantly to a huge number of preventable deaths and illnesses and is expensive to deal with during pregnancy alone.

UNICEF is also working with the government in scaling up projects that link poverty alleviation to better nutrition. “The simple fact is a person who is born with low birth weight, goes through childhood being undernourished will do poorly in school and perhaps drop out. When he is not educated, he will make poor choices for his family about nutrition and will perpetuate the cycle," adds Shanmughavelayutham.

Others agree. Iron tablets and nutritious mix are welfare-based schemes, and at best they can be a temporary solution to a problem that needs an inter-sectoral solution.

(Click here to read - PART-1)

Special Report: 'Who Cries When A Mothers Die?'

The probability of an Indian mother dying during childbirth is roughly 10 times that of her Chinese counterpart. Reducing the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) by three-quarters in 10 years is now a Millennium Development Goal. Why is MMR in India so high and how far are we from the goal? INNLIVE unravels the many challenges to saving mothers' lives.

Lhamu, a mother of twelve, lives in a remote village in Western Tibet. Three of her children died within a month of birth and the four year old strapped to her back looked as small as a one year old. She gave birth all alone, at home, all twelve times.

New Initiative: Humble Jackfruit Eyes Haute Cuisine Status

By Swetha Reddy / INN Bureau

Of the abundant quantities of jackfruit grown in India annually, an estimated 70 per cent rots away, due to lack of awareness and difficulties of usage. Now, a joint initiative by an academic institute and a farmers' group seeks to change that. Sixty seven-year-old Prema Bhat Thottethodi, a farmer woman, was restless. Leaning on a walking stick, she was busy running around in the massive kitchen. Age and her knee-ache couldn’t deter her spirit. Later in the day, she stole the show by demonstrating many ‘unknown’ preparations.

AGAINST ALL ODDS: OF SPORTS, PASSION AND REALITY

By Venugopal / Kottayam

Meet M B Santosh, one of India's only three FIFA-accredited referees, who drives an auto-rickshaw and works as caretaker of an apartment in Kottayam, Kerala to support a family of five. Here, he shares the incredible story of his life and passion with INN.

A day in the life of Santosh, FIFA referee, at his hometown Kottayam, in Kerala Santosh is up and about early in the morning. He goes to the stadium ground for an hour of rigorous work-out; drops his daughter at school; takes out his auto-rickshaw and operates in the town for a few hours before reaching the Skyline apartments, of which he is the caretaker. He is back once again with the auto rickshaw in the afternoon; returns to the apartment in the evening and attends to the routine work there. Also takes up assignments as a personal driver on hire.

The Changing Face Of Tamil Nadu’s Muslim Politics

By Syed Maqdoom / Chennai

Over the last year, agitations by radical Tamil Muslim groups have effectively influenced the Tamil Nadu government’s policies. In September 2012, the Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) and Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) protested against the film, The Innocence of Muslims, and laid siege to the U.S. Consulate in Chennai. In early 2013, in the face of similar protests, Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam was first taken off the screens and exhibited only after cuts were made.

A Bond with Bones

By M H Ahssan

The traditional system of mending bones practised by some of the hakims in the Old City of Hyderabad has a loyal clientele which seems to increase by the day.

Accidents can happen to anyone. They could take place at home or even when one is out on the roads. Minor or major, injuries on the body can leave one writhing in pain and rushing to the nearest doctor. For most people, allopathic cures are the easiest option, because of advances in medical technology. However,

when bones break, the hefty bills slapped upon hapless patients by the orthopaedic hospitals, is perhaps much more painful than the fractured limb itself. Some may not have the wherewithal for such expensive treatment and there are the ones who go in for traditional systems of healing. The Puttur (near Tirupati) bone setters being a case in point. In the city, there are people who have set up clinics in the old city area and have a devoted clientele. The hakim's hypnotic gaze and a touch of ice anaesthetises the affected part. His dexterous fingers spot the fracture and set it right in a jiffy while the assistant applies a paste, bamboo stick patti bandage. It is all over in a few minutes. They come with tears but go back with smiles. This system might prima facie appear crude but all this ultimately boils down to aiding nature's own healing mechanism.

Though bone setters have mushroomed all over Hyderabad, the families of hakim Ghulam Rasool Khan and Quadri of Shahalibanda only have gained international recognition. Ghulam Rasool Khan, the ninth generation orthopaedician, traces his lineage to Hakim Ghulam Ahmed, the Royal Jerrah (orthopaedic) to Emperor Aurangzeb. His father Hakim Mohammed Moin was the Royal jerrah of the Raja of Khairpur. Khan, who believes in transparency of the whole system, recollects with pride a BBC documentary on his art by Dr. Michael Yorke.

The Quadri family, on the other hand, has a mass appeal having treated over 40 lakh cases in 67 years for which they have written to the Guinness Book of Records, with evidence, for an entry.

The late G.A. Quadri learnt the unique art of treating orthopaedic problems with mere manipulation of fingers over the affected part along with massage of herbal oil and specially prepared pastes. Perfecting his skills in Secunderabad and Mumbai in the early 1940s, senior Quadri set up the present clinic in Shahalibanda which is now being managed by his almost dozen strong siblings including a lady Mrs. Rafath Aziz.

In order to gain recognition from the modern medical fraternity, the Quadris are maintaining systematic records of the patients. These contain the initial prescription of the allopathic doctor, medicines prescribed, X-rays and other reports before the commencement of the traditional treatment. An X-ray record or even a video if the case is very complicated, is kept after the cure. Their dream is to set up the world's best Ortho-neuro Techniques Research Institution which will be a fusion of the traditional and modern orthopaedic systems. Patients come from faraway places like Delhi, Maharashtra, TamilNadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan with several orthopaedic problems like sciatica, prolapse disc, backache, cervical spondylitis.

Ironically, the efficacy of the Quadris orthopaedic wizardry has been proved by the same fraternity of modern doctors who ridicule them the most. Suffering from an advanced stage of `cervical spondylitis', Dr. Ghansyam of Yawatmal got relief in just three sessions. When pain-killers failed to stop the shooting sciatica pain, Dr. Shook Kumar, a noted surgeon, reluctantly approached the Quadric where he got "relief by a gentle touch of Quadric.'' while the sceptics might find umpteen flaws in Quadric `crude' cure, the rush for grabbing a token for day's treatment seems to be unabated.

CJ REPORT: Voters’ Rolls Found In Waste Paper Mart

By CJ Ramalingam Shetty in Chennai

The staff of Tambaram taluk office in Chennai, Tamilnadu, were busy at a local waste paper mart —  in a bid to recover 10 bundles of electoral rolls that went missing from the taluk office.

Revenue staff had che­­cked the bags of te­m­porary workers, who cleaned the taluk office, and were shocked to fi­nd voter rolls. Ten of total 20 such bags, in which were stocked dr­a­ft voters rolls, were found missing. The sea­r­ch led to a waste paper mart and eight bundles of voter rolls were reco­ve­red.

Local RDO P. Ettiappan admitted the incident but allayed fears as they were only draft rolls dating back to 2008. The draft roll bundles were intact and the attempted sale thwarted. The stationery had been discarded but the issue was being probed, he added. 

Financial Irregularities: Annamalai University VC Suspended

INN published a news report "Irregularities Unearthed At Annamalai University" on March 14, 2013 in these columns. The authorities and Tamilnadu government has ordered a high level enquiry an this issue and result: issued orders of suspension of Annamalai University Vice Chancellor and other officers and sacked many more responsible officers. 

Following financial irregularities at the 84-year-old Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu governor K Rosaiah suspended its vice-chancellor M Ramanathan. The action comes two days after the state government appointed IAS officer Shiv Das Meena as the university administrator. 

A special audit team had found that university funds were diverted, appointments were made in excess and provident fund money was not deposited. 

The lapses occurred due to maladministration and lack of proper control over the functioning of the university, read the government order signed by the governor. "As principal executive officer of the university, vested with various powers including the power to appoint clerical and other staff, the vice- chancellor is responsible for proper functioning of the university. 

It has become necessary to investigate into the matter in detail, from all angles and in particular with respect to the working of the institution, persons responsible for the maladministration and the role played by you as the vice-chancellor," read the order. 

The suspension will come into effect immediately and will stay till further orders. 

The sate government had constituted a special audit team under Section 28 of the Annamalai Universtiy Act, 1928 to assess the financial and other irregularities in the university. After inspection, the team submitted its report to the government, in which it mentioned about diversion of funds running to several crores of rupees and misappropriation of funds.

Loksatta Is Flexing musles Over Electoral Reforms

As the Lok Satta party, with its crop of image-defying politicians, raises hopes for a new brand of politics, INN catches up with party leader Dr Jayaprakash Narayan on the party's hopes at the Karnataka polls and possibilities of a larger wave of political reforms in the country. 

The Lok Satta party headed by Jayaprakash Narayan is flexing its muscles in Bangalore as the state gets ready for elections in May. The party has so far named 15 candidates for MLA elections in the state; more are expected. Nine are contesting in Bangalore city itself, and the rest from other parts of Karnataka. Lok Satta has a reformist positioning in the Indian political sphere. It supports clean governance, setting up of a strong Lokpal, liberalising agriculture, closing of populist subsidies, FDI in retail, and so forth.

Jayaprakash Narayan, 57, the charismatic leader who is more widely known in Andhra Pradesh than Karnataka, is the sole MLA of the party anywhere in the country. He ran and won his seat in AP assembly elections from Kukatpally in Hyderabad. In AP, Tamilnadu and Maharashtra, there are a handful of local representatives (in municipal councils and panchayats) of the party.

Given the cynicism around the state of politics in India, many consider the chances of candidates with strong credentials and track records to enter legislatures to be very low. However, in the past few years, India, and urban India in particular has seen a surge of demand in the streets from a largely frustrated young citizenry. There has been an outpouring of protests around the country on several counts. From the huge wave of public support for a Lokpal bill for fighting rampant corruption to the most recent protests over the Delhi gang-rape incident, the yearning for change among large sections of the Indian populace has been evident.

Lok Satta has been at the forefront of many such change campaigns from a time when public angst had not even made itself so visible. In Bangalore for example, Lok Satta party volunteers were originally involved in sparking off Saaku, an anti-corruption movement in the city that peaked during the support campaign for Justice Santosh Hegde. During his tenure as Lokayukta, he had exposed the BJP government's ministers including former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. Many volunteers who were part of the India Against Corruption (IAC) group that campaigned for the Lokpal bill in the city during Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi were also Lok Satta party cadres.

Better known as JP, Jayaprakash Narayan is no mean achiever in public life. He is a doctor by training, and a former IAS officer with a long track record of accomplishments. He is well known for his campaign and role in bringing electoral reforms to India in 2002 that made disclosures by candidates running for office mandatory.

Prior to founding Lok Satta as a political party, he founded it as a movement for better governance in Andhra Pradesh. Lok Satta's work on electricity reforms became visible as it took over and operated four power distribution stations in the state to demonstrate the efficacy of several reform measures they had advocated.

In Bengaluru today, Lok Satta party candidates, most of them reasonably well known in their neighbourhoods and the city, are running for MLAs. Jayaprakash Narayan or JP as he is called has been moved by the upsurge in Bangalore and says it has the most cosmopolitan electorate in the country. “Bangaloreans are more likely to transcend old loyalties and parochial power that mainline parties have,” he says.

As the campaigns in Bengaluru have begun to peak, INN caught up with JP for a detailed conversation. He spoke many things and seems passionate, thoughtful, clear and yet restrained. Excerpts of the Interview.

You have been the single MLA for Lok Satta in AP. What are your hopes for the next AP election (2014)?

Being a single MLA in the assembly is not such a bad thing. We have shown that it is still possible to influence significant public policy outcomes.

We feel 15-20 per cent of the electorate certainly wants change. But there are systemic compulsions in India because of which even if you have good support base, and strong credibility, conversion to votes is not easy.

We are considering issue-based alliances for the AP 2014 elections. If there is an iron clad guarantee on specific issues from a bigger political party in constituencies where we are strong, we may transfer our support to them.

These are issues on which we will seek issue-base alliances:

• Full decentralisation of power to local government at the ward and panchayat level.
• Services guarantee law, with compensation to citizens when there is delay or denial
• Radical change in the power sector
• Agricultural reforms – liberalisation of agriculture, not merely giving short term freebies, but long term benefits
• Anti-Corruption agenda – A Lokayukta for AP with real independent power
• Education and Health care reform.
• We currently have strong presence in 80 constituencies in AP, and there are around 20-25 people who have been working hard in these areas for the people. They may become the MLA candidates for LS in 2014.

What significant outcomes have you been able to influence as MLA, even as a lone representative in the AP assembly?

There are several concrete outcomes. There is a robust Societies Act in use in AP. The Congress party wanted to amend it in a way that would bring in far more controls. The amendment was unconstitutional according to me. I have stood against this and held it up for the past four years in the legislature and have got the rest of the opposition to stand against it as well. The Congress could have passed it by brute force and has not because of the opposition I have led.

Next is the Citizen Services Delivery Guarantee bill. While this is not enacted yet, there has been debate on the bill and the rules the government needs to put in place for it to function effectively. This has already resulted in real action on the ground, even without the bill being passed.

There is a now a Lokayukta bill pending in the AP assembly. This is also my party's work and we have pushed for it. It is not enacted yet, but we will continue to push for it.

In the 2010 elections in AP, Lok Satta had a well articulated vision with many reform points that the Congress party copied from us. Our party has a lot of credibility in the state in arguing its points and other parties have drawn from us whenever they want. That is also impact.

Tell voters what the Lok Satta party has done for Bangalore and Karnataka that legitimises its claim that it is ready to fight big electoral races such as MLA elections.

The Lok Satta party has already contributed to Bangalore, in three areas.

First, through Ashwin Mahesh, whose work on transportation and traffic control for Bangalore is remarkable, especially for its focus on strengthening public departments. He has also been leading the water management efforts, including lake revival.

Second, it has covered a lot of ground in waste segregation and management: N S Ramakanth and Meenakshi Bharath have been doing stellar work in this area. This is part of our focus on urban planning.

Third is the Saaku movement itself. Lok Satta volunteers were at the core of triggering off that movement in Bangalore earlier, with an initial focus on safeguarding the institution of the Lokayukta. The IAC happened immediately and naturally after that.

More broadly, Lok Satta members are at the core of virtually all the civil society-led changes in the city. That is a very good thing. Politics and development should be strongly connected, and the example of our Bangalore party unit is a very good one in this regard.

Some voters think that too often in elections, people run to make statements, satisfy their egos, etc., even though chances of winning are considered slim. This has happened to parliamentary races before. What will you say to Bangalore voters this month who worry that Lok Satta candidates 'might not win'? How should citizens think about 'winnability'?

You have hit the nail on the head. Winnability does seem to dominate during elections. And with our first past the post system (FPTP), winning for new candidates is a challenge. Our political parties – when you talk to individual politicians -- are themselves not so terrible. Many of them also want the right candidates to run, but they are concerned about winnability.

But when people worry about new candidates not being winnable – they should look at the following.

Congress has won in Karnataka, the state is still in a mess. BJP has also won, that is they are winnable too, and they have also not fixed the mess in the state. Likewise with JD(S). So it is not as if the winners of the past have been able to bring about serious reforms or bring down corruption.

Lok Satta candidates, even though they are fewer in number, offer a genuine alternative. Moreover, Bangalore city offers a unique opportunity. It has the most cosmopolitan electorate in the country. Voters in Bangalore are more likely to transcend old loyalties and parochial power that mainline parties have. Secondly, because of the way Karnataka politics has gone, there are now many factions and hence fragmentation of votes. There is an opportunity for Bangaloreans to vote with their heart for candidates with an excellent track record.

There is also a difference between unattached independent candidates who do not belong to parties and party-backed candidates. Parties can articulate an agenda, they have organisational memory which they can bring into the Assembly even if they have only one or a few seats in the legislature. Single independent candidates cannot do that.

Your manifesto makes a promise that implies that 12-hour three-phase power supply in rural Karnataka in possible. How?

It is possible. First we must separate rural electricity feeders from agriculture feeders. Secondly every consumer of electricity, even a farmer who gets free power has to be metered. Long back, when Lok Satta was an NGO, we took over four distribution stations and ran it for the AP government. We brought about an 18 per cent reduction in line losses from 27 per cent to 9 per cent. These are all audited figures, publicly available.

There are around 9.75 lakh transformers in the AP power system. 5-7 per cent of these usually fail each year and when taken down for maintenance, it takes several days for them to come back online. Lok Satta showed that we can spend a few hundred rupees to fix these transformers and bring them back online much sooner which helps in running the power system with less outages.

Separating agricultural power from the rest of rural power itself can ensure that 12 hour supply is possible. This provides a boost to SMEs in rural areas because otherwise they have to come to the cities. Making more rural power available will boost rural investment and employment, and cut back on migration to the cities.

Gujarat is the best example for all this. By taking this approach they have already managed 24-hour single-phase power in all of rural Gujarat. So it is possible to promise and deliver 12-hour single-phase power in rural Karnataka.

An opposing candidate from some mainstream party is going to promise very low-cost housing or some freebie to low-income citizens in his constituency. Are you going to compete with that? People are used to a patronage relationship with their MLAs, you know this.

Yes, Promises will be made. After all elections are all about public money. Lok Satta candidates will explain an alternative vision. Our option is to explain to people that short term freebies are not making problems go away.

Our plan also is go to educated voters and youth, and especially women to get their backing.

We are hearing this view from several people – that women are supporting new candidates who stand for change, more than men. Why do you think this is so?

This is an important question and it must be studied. I can only hazard a guess.

Ultimately men see these battles as power games. Patriarchy, caste, linguistic and regional affiliations are above all about power won over identity and parochial loyalties. Men who already have power as part of patriarchy become concerned about who will win. Once issues are boxed into identity politics, there is no coming out.

Women on the other hand do not have power; they tend to be concerned about survival, and what will happen to family, prices, schooling of their children, etc. So they tend to be more open to voting for change. Women and youth definitely helped us win the MLA seat from Kukatpally. So men are concerned about who, and women are concerned about what.

The first-past-the-post system voting system in India presents serious challenges to new parties. Comment on the chances in the Karnataka elections for your Bangalore MLA candidates.

Yes, FPTP for India is a huge challenge. But I have some good news to report here.

Look at India’s most influential states for parliamentary seats: UP, Bihar, Bengal, TN, Maharashtra and AP. Except AP (even there, Congress is shaking), in none of these states has the BJP or the Congress been able to win on their own. Together these states contribute 65 per cent of Lok Sabha's seats. This is because of the FPTP system; it has already caused serious problems for these parties.

In UP for example, Rahul Gandhi invested a substantial amount of time and strategy. See the results though. Samajwadi Party got 3.7 per cent more vote share and got 127 more seats in the last elections. Even though Congress got 3 per cent more vote share, it got only 6 more seats. In Maharashtra, Congress cannot come to power on its own either.

The FPTP system is hurting the national parties in the most influential states.

But leaders of parties should be alive to this problem, it cannot be that they do not understand all this…?

Parties have not taken a hard look at this problem till now. The reality is that leaders do not have time. They are mostly caught up in day-to-day running of the party and the problems that keep emerging. But this is changing now.

The Congress Party has set up a high-powered committee under Ambika Soni, with Veerappa Moily, Mani Shankar Aiyyar, and others to look at reviewing FPTP. There is discussion on this issue also within the BJP at a mid-level. Left parties are already on board to change the FPTP system.

What is interesting is that this does not require a constitutional amendment or even a change in the law. It is just a rule being used to run our elections. If the parties agree, the rule can be changed.

What would you like the FPTP system to change to? You have advocated proportional representation; does that also mean you will support multiple representatives per constituency?

As a winner-takes-all system, FPTP overweighs the views of the winner and ignores all others. This is true even if the winner himself gets only 15 per cent of the vote, as we saw in one recent case. A proportionate system would correct this, and give voice to a greater diversity of views. This is all the more important when, as in India today, we are seeing an increasing fracture of the vote among different parties. Ideally, an elected representative even in a single-member constituency should represent 50 per cent of the voters at least. That's clearly not the case today; in fact it is the exception.

A number of solutions, including multi-member constituencies, run-offs and other options can be considered. Once we accept that FPTP is hindering the broad representation of public opinion in elected houses, a lot of other things will become possible. It has taken many decades for parties to come to this realisation. Now we must act on this, and strengthen democracy by a new system with greater inclusion of voices and views. 

You mentioned Arvind Kejriwal. What happened between Aam Aadmi Party and Lok Satta that they could not come together?

There are genuine issues we have to iron out.

One is the whole approach AAP has about good and evil. An approach that says one side is always good and the other is always evil is not right in a democracy. I have always held that our political parties are not evil and they cannot be blamed for everything that is wrong in India. Yes, our parties have bungled, no doubt.

We have to recognise the historical process we have gone through as a nation. Federalism, states, peaceful transfer of power, and universal adult franchise have all come to stay in the country, and our political parties have seen through this. So it is not right for AAP to make this contest one about good and evil.

The good and evil approach also caused us to lose an opportunity earlier. Take the Lokpal bill. In 2011, the bill that went to Parliament was 80 per cent of the bill “we” wanted. But Hazare and IAC did plenty of grand-standing that it could either be 100 per cent or zero. Media also made it into a big deal. In such a negative climate for the government's bill, the path became clear for other parties to use the ruse of 'states rights' to kill the Lokayukta provision. So now, while the Lokpal bill has Lokpal provisions, mandatory Lokayuktas for all the states is gone from it. But 80 percent of corruption impacting people is at the state level, not central. We have lost the chance for getting that option through the central bill.

We all want an ethical india. But the fight against corruption alone can only be a minimum qualification for politics, it is not the maximum. There needs to be more. AAP, for instance, does not support our positions on FDI in retail, and also on power sector reforms.

Having said this, our differences need not be blown out of proportion in the media. In a democracy, there is always a need for a spirit of accommodation. We have not written off working together. 

How they fool us, the outraged

As long as we engender a society that allow law enforcers to get away with their own crimes, law breakers will only be emboldened. We must make Police Complaints Authorities around the country meaningful.

Outrage is a good thing, when it is against injustice. It shows that society does have a line it does not want crossed. It also puts pressure on the system to respond. Here's the problem with it though, it tends to ignore what is already unclear. No new clarity emerges from either the outrage or the response. Media coverage of outrage does not help with clarity either, unless the media is looking deeper.

So it will be with the entire rape debate in India. In fact even before public fury over the Delhi gang-rape has quietened, as it inevitably will, media has already started breaking more rape stories from around the country. More accountability will be demanded, as will the death penalty.

Yet, if there is one government authority that is laughing all the way to the bank, it's India's police. Here is why.

The Delhi HC has reportedly asked the local police to show it the chargesheet before initiating proceedings in the gang-rape. Why would a High Court do that? Chalk it up to experience. For years the accused in rape cases have not been sincerely prosecuted, and people have been let go with lesser charges or sentencing than was to fit the crime. The Delhi Police has a particularly soiled reputation already, and responding to this week's outrage as it were, the High Court stepped up the ante.

If a High Court in the capital territory of the nation does not trust the police's due process, what does that tell you? Let me come back to this question in a different way.

Each day in India, in buses, trains and crowed public places, women are groped, fondled, teased and made the subject of lewd remarks. Eve teasing is so common, women have simply resigned themselves to it. Women just try to avoid being in situations where they will be groped. They do not hope for much else. They do not bother going to the police. Such is the reputation our police have in handing their cases.

The police need to first accept complaints from women. Instead, as is widespread in India, they dilute complaints, humiliate the victims, and eject them from the stations. Their starting point is a judgement of the victim. And much of the problem lies here. When it comes to women, most policemen are part of the original problem. Sexual harassment of any kind - the most violent kind or a lesser kind - is about the power that one sex wants to show it can wield over the other. Usually it's men over women.

Still, the outrage in the nation is missing what the police and the governments are hoping will not come up.

Police Complaints Authorities

In 2006, the Supreme Court ordered the state governments to create one PCA per district in every state and a PCA at the state level headed by a retired judge. Human Rights groups called it landmark order. The apex court of the nation wanted PCAs to look into complaints citizens had against police misconduct or abuse of power. It could be everything from custodial torture or death or rape to not accepting FIRs to falsifying evidence.

The SC had wanted policemen to be penalised for not doing their job. It also wanted to reduce government-interference in police transfers. It wanted PCAs to act against errant officers after hearings and investigations.

Imagine this: The Supreme Court of this nation believes, that unless there was an authority to check the police, India's police would not serve its taxpayers. It would continue to operate to 'control' and 'keep order', for its political masters at state and centre, the way the British had setup the system.

Just from the woman's point of view, here is how PCAs with teeth, had they come into force, would have made an impact in bringing down rape and crimes of lesser nature. Women today would be able to file complaints against police officials with the PCA when they do not act in fairness with them at a police station. They would able to walk into police stations with dignity after a crime to get protection, not further abuse.

If errant officers were penalised quickly, police would not themselves not behave with the kind of impunity they do now.

Yet, the majority of India's states have ignored the SC's order. Only six states setup so-called "PCAs" and mostly toothless ones, and with shady appointments that violated the principle of independence the SC wanted. Delhi set up its public grievance commission as its PCA, precisely what the SC did not order. India Together reported on all this in August 2012, as a review on whether states had complied with the SC's order. In the few states with PCAs, police officers ignore hearings and go about their business as usual. State governments themselves do not follow their own PCA verdicts to act against abusive officials. Television media have mostly let this story go.

Have you even once heard of action against police official for not investigating a complaint by a woman? Are the police who mangle charge sheets, FIRs,and file false charges every prosecuted? 

In the meantime, thousands of men freely roam around the country to grope and molest women at will in public places. It takes a lot of force and pressure to get a complaint registered, even with witnesses. It is no one's case that PCAs will fix all our problems. There is much else in our society's attitude to women itself that needs attention.

But if police do not act on the most basic violations, it is a free ride for men. It sends a message of what the real social rules in the country are, not the ones on the books. The culprits feel that it is a natural order for them to be able to do what they want and get away with it. And if PCAs with teeth kept a watch on the police, it would send out the opposite message that as a society we will uphold the dignity of our women.

I do not buy the death penalty argument. From outrage to revenge is a short hop. You can sentence as many losers as you can to the gallows. More will appear, especially from amongst those who have little to lose, with a very low sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

As long as we engender a society that allow law enforcers to get away with their own crimes, law breakers will only be emboldened. This is why corruption is such a problem in this country. Like our other authorities, our police system does not have an integrity of its own to justify doing the right thing, or to remedy a wrong done to restore public faith. The PCAs will not fix all the problems but they would have sent a message to outraged women that someone would listen to them and dispense justice. That is one course-correction our society needs.

The Delhi gang-rape case is also chance for the media to get its act right. For all the coverage that rape cases get (read: ratings), very little coverage if any has been given to how state governments everywhere from Delhi to Tamilnadu have said 'we don't care' to the Supreme Court.

It is easy to drive up fury. The illumination really needed is on what the governments and police do not want you to know, and therefore not demanded. The demand for death penalties in fact is a lovely distraction for our babus and cops. 

Complaints? Who's listening? 
Six years ago the Supreme Court issued a detailed order listing the steps needed to insulate police work from politics, and to make it more accountable. But the progress since then has been slow. 

Last November, the Bangalore city police booked a case against three citizens, charging them for assaulting a traffic police officer. The main accused was Amulya Somashekhar, a volunteer of the civil society movement India Against Corruption (IAC). Amulya, her mother and friend were charged. Amulya, in turn, said that the officer had assaulted her for refusing to pay a bribe.

The local IAC volunteers asked for an independent inquiry, only to realise that there was no independent body which accepts complaints against the police. The police, instead, were preparing to conduct their own internal inquiry into the matter.

It was in 2006 that Supreme Court ordered that every state and district should have an independent authority to handle citizens' complaints against the police. This body, named Police Complaints Authority (PCA), is to be headed by a retired judge and can hold hearings on allegations of police misconduct and atrocities. Its final order would be binding on state governments. Karnataka still does not have a functioning PCA; although the government has - under pressure to comply with the SC order - appointed a head of the Authority, it does'nt have any staff or office yet!

Other than setting up PCAs, the SC ordered six key measures for police reform, in its 2006 judgment in Prakash Singh Vs Union of India. The reforms include establishing minimum tenure for senior officers and a procedure for appointing DGPs, setting up a body to make policy decisions on policing, and another to decide on promotions etc., so that political interference decreases in routine police work. Since police is a State subject in the Constitution, the states were supposed to bring these reforms.

Around the same time as the SC order, the central government-appointed Soli Sorabjee Committee prescribed a Model Police Act for states to follow. This committee was among the many that successive governments had set up since 1977 to recommend police reforms. Most states were following the archaic Police Act of 1861. The new state Police Acts were to have provisions for PCAs as well.

Only a few states have Police Acts now; those that have PCAs are even fewer. Six years after the SC order, only six states have PCAs - these are Assam, Haryana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Goa and Kerala. Of this, only Kerala has district-level PCAs, in addition to a state-level PCA. Meanwhile, cases of illegal detention and custodial torture by police continue to be reported across the country.

Five Union Territories - Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Delhi, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli - also have PCAs. Of these, Chandigarh's has been the only well-functioning PCA. Pondicherry's PCA has been defunct since its Chairman's retirement in June 2011. Delhi does not have a separate PCA; instead its existing Public Grievance Commission (PGC) - an independent body that accepts complaints on all government agencies - was given additional responsibility as a PCA. A single PCA has been set up for both Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Existing PCAs ineffective

State governments have done much to tweak the composition and powers of PCAs. The court order had clearly prescribed how PCA members should be selected, and how investigations should be carried out in response to complaints.

Each PCA is to be headed by a retired High Court/Supreme Court judge, selected by the state government from a panel suggested by the serving HC/SC Chief Justice. Other members should be similarly selected from among members recommended by the State Human Rights Commission, State Public Service Commission, or Lokayukta. Appointments should never be done directly by the state government.

But so far, all state governments have made only direct appointments, which are perceived as political appointments. The directions on the composition of the PCA have been blatantly ignored, like in the case of Haryana, where the PCA has only a single member, the Chairman, who is a retired IAS officer.

PCAs are supposed to have only one retired IAS and IPS member each, and no serving officers are allowed. But Kerala state PCA has two serving officers - Principal Secretary and Additional DGP - as members. Its district PCAs have the Collector and district SP as members. Having serving officers, especially from the police, defeats the purpose of an independent, approachable public authority. It also violates the court's order that all members should work full-time for PCAs.

In the case of Kerala and Haryana, the violation of the court order is written to the state laws itself. Their state Police Acts prescribe the current composition. Tripura Police Act has followed the SC order in principle, but violated it in practice. Tripura has two retired police officers in its PCA, as opposed to one such officer allowed as per the Act. Goa is yet to its Police Act; the PCA in that state was set up based on a Government Order.

The SC order also prescribed that at least one member in the PCAs should be a woman. But only four PCAs - Uttarakhand, Pondicherry, Tripura and Chandigarh - have women members. This is as per the NGO CHRI (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative), which was an intervener in the Prakash Singh case, and has been following up on the SC order implementation.

Another problem that makes PCAs ineffective, is the investigation process. Only Assam has its own independent investigators, as mandated by the court order. All other PCAs forward complaints to the police department, asking it to investigate its own officers. Most complaints  are on illegal detention, refusal to file FIRs, custodial torture, filing of false cases, and extortion. The CHRI report says that many complainants reported being threatened by police, on filing the complaints.

In most cases, the police report would say that the officer is not guilty, and PCA would dismiss the case. Retd Justice T A Wilson, Chairman of seven district PCAs in Kerala, says that 95-97% of cases get dismissed based on police reports. "It is only in remaining cases that any hearing happens."

"Police Acts/GOs have no provisions for independent investigators. So PCAs cannot demand these from the government," says Devika Prasad, Senior Programme Officer for police reforms at CHRI.

PCAs also have no power to take action against police officials who do not cooperate. Often police officers do not attend hearings, and cases may lag for years.

Hardly any police officers punished so far

The number of complaints to PCAs is high, but action against officers is rare. In many cases where PCAs ordered punitive action, the order was ignored by the government. PCAs can order either a departmental inquiry or filing of FIR against officers, and government is bound to follow this. Governments ignore the order using a provision in State Acts/GOs that allow them to 'disagree' with PCA orders. The Acts say that "recommendations are binding unless the state disagrees with the order."

Devika Prasad says that this loophole is often used. "Even if government disagrees with an order, a departmental inquiry should be held before closing the case. But cases are closed or neglected. There have been hardly any cases in which action was taken," she says.

Chandigarh PCA, one of the more active authorities, had recommended suspension of many officers. According to Chandigarh administration's official website, the PCA received 237 complaints from September 2010 (when it started) till June 2012. It disposed of 204 of these, recommending disciplinary action in 50 cases, against 90 policemen.

But no action was taken against these officers, and a PIL came up for hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court this June, saying that the PCA should be given more teeth. At the hearing, Chandigarh Administration clearly responded that PCA was already exceeding its jurisdiction by ordering suspensions and transfers. It said that PCA was only a recommending body, and that government could disagree with its recommendations.

Lack of government support also prompts PCAs to pass weak orders. It took Haryana PCA one-and-half years to pass its first order for punitive action. Most PCAs also choose to recommend departmental inquiry, rather than filing of FIR. Since departmental inquiries are easier to ignore, most have been lagging for years.

There is no clear data on what action was taken on PCA orders; most often PCAs themselves are not kept in the loop. Only Goa PCA has been proactively asking police to submit action-taken reports.

Justice Wilson says that he has recommended action in 10-15 cases since May 2010 (for all seven districts combined), but was not informed of action taken. "I only heard some rumours;  the concerned officials have not informed me. The problem is that government does not want to take action," he says. Even then, these district PCAs continue to get cases, some of them as much as 30-40 new cases per month.

The CHRI report quotes some complainants as saying that the PCAs'Â weak orders were not worth the risk of complaining against the police, and that such orders would work against them if they went to court later.

No funds, no rules

Many PCAs do not have well-equipped offices, staff or funds. Police Acts and GOs do not mention anything about funding of PCAs, and sometimes no allocation is made. For instance, Kerala's district PCAs still function from the offices of each Collector, who also gives them discretionary funds. There is no state government funding, and the Chairmen are not given vehicle allowance to travel across districts.

Also, the rules for daily functioning of PCAs have not been made, making it difficult for the public to understand or question them. The format for filing complaints, communication on hearings etc., are randomly prescribed. When a case is dismissed, the reason for dismissal is not clearly mentioned in the orders. PCAs themselves are supposed to make the rules and get them approved by government. Only Uttarakhand PCA has sent draft rules to state government so far. PCA sent the draft in 2008, but the government returned them without approval in 2011.

States like Assam and Haryana have laws that make it difficult to file compaints - in these states complainants have to file a sworn statement against the accused, along with a fee. If the complaint is judged frivolous, the complainant can be punished with a fee or penalty.

Other states stuck

According to CHRI, five states - Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Tamilnadu and Uttar Pradesh - have ignored the SC order completely. Others have drafted Police Acts, or passed notifications on PCAs, but will have PCAs with similar problems as the existing ones.

Gujarat PCA, for example, is to have serving police and government officers in state PCA; its district PCAs will have district SPs as Chairmen. Himachal Pradesh's Lokayukta will act as its state PCA.

The Supreme Court had set up a committee earlier to monitor implementation of its order. This committee, headed by retired SC Justice K T Thomas, submitted its final report in 2010. The report blamed states for their unwillingness to set up PCAs. The SC then sent notices to some states asking for explanation. Prasad says that there have been no hearings of late.

Existing PCAs too are facing more hurdles, while some are becoming more proactive. The Goa government now plans to dissolve its PCA through its new Police Bill. The Bill, yet to be passed, says that Lokayukta will act as the PCA. On the other hand, Assam and Tripura PCAs recently published their performance reports. The Tripura authority has outreach programmes now to create awareness. The Haryana PCA has a website and accepts complaints online.

The autonomy and routine functioning of these bodies, as envisaged in the Supreme Court order, remains a distant dream.