Local politics

In 1992, when the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments institutionalized Panchayati Raj, many criticized the legislations as utopian. Many doubting Thomases said rural India was not ready for self-governance. Today, states are outdoing one another by reserving quotas for women and offering incentives to other excluded groups. Panchayati Raj seems to have travelled a distance.

But has the journey been useful? Have Panchayati Raj institutions become viable instruments of self-governance? Do the sops really reach the excluded? There are several case studies on the efficacy of Panchayati Raj in India. But most of them are state-specific. So making generalisations remains a hazardous task.Given the complexity of the country, it is the many shades of grey that perhaps tell the real story.

This volume fits in here. The result of research commissioned by the Institute of Social Sciences in Delhi, it brings together field studies from more than 40 panchayats in 12 states to show how decentralization works in Indian villages.

Much of the debate on Panchayat Raj is about reservations. The contributors to this volume do not get into this debate; they do focus on the effectiveness of the panchayats in giving a voice to excluded groups.

The results are a mixed bag. In most cases, dominant castes don't approve of the reservation accorded to the Scheduled Castes. But they also know that reservation cannot be undone and have found ways to undermine the positions of Scheduled Caste members and heads of panchayats. Women do participate on the economic front through self-help groups but when it comes to political participation, they are no better. Society still considers political participation a male domain and believes that political participation would give women too much power, which they do not deserve.

Ketaki Nandy is at the Calcutta University