AS THE general elections approach, a number of independent
initiatives to influence the mainstream political process are
coming up. The overriding concern of most of these initiatives
by the non -governmental organisations (NGOS) - who are
generally opposed to the prevailing model of development,
and want to redefine development in. non -exploitative, equitable and ecologically sound terms - is to bring the environmental and developmental issues on to the real agendas of the
political parties. In the process, they are also underscoring the
fact that, except for possibly paying lip-service in the form of
ritualistic mention in the manifestoes, no one, not even the left
parties are genuinely concerned.
Today, when ideology has become a dirty word, most of
the political parties seem to be bereft of ideas or vision as to
what needs to be done in the short or long terms. In the
absence of internal democracy, lacking in grassroots membership, no one seems to question them. And
since all of them have variants of the same
economic or environmental policies, or
rather the lack of it, there is little to choose
from for the common voter. In such a situation, the political environment will have to
be set right by NGO initiatives for voters'
education and action.
There have been some successes for the
NGO movement in the recent past. The construction of the Narmada dam has been
stalled; so has been the move to give forest
lands for captive plantations through a successful campaign by the Centre for Science
and Environment and other organisations.
The agitation by the National Fishworkers Forum has halted
the policy aimed at allowing the intrusion of big trawlers in
coastal waters. But these remain stray cases. Overall, the NGOS
have failed to induce basic policy formulations aimed at sustainable development.
When it comes to larger national issues, it is more difficult
to find examples of successful and sustained, national efforts.
The reasons for the failure are not far to seek. It is only sustained, multi-pronged, united, mass-based efforts, backed by
sound research, on the part of the peoples initiatives that can
succeed in changing government policies. Given the ideological moorings of the mainstream parties, the NGO movement
cannot expect them to come up with pro-people agenda and
policies for sustainable development. The NGos have to come
up with their alternative policies, through serious research,
and generate mass pressure to get the regimes to accept these.
A case in point is the Bhuria committee report. Without
doubt, the Bharat Jan Andolan and other efforts have been
successful in getting the high-level Bhuria committee formed.
The committee has also recommended that the tribal communities be given sovereign powers in managing their natural
resources. But almost two years after the report was tabled,
one sees no united, effective effort on the part of all the peoples
organisations to get the recommendations implemented.
Now, new initiatives are coming together from all over the
country to forge alliances of peoples organisations to effectively
intervene in the superstructure of the political process. The
National Alliance of Peoples Movements is one such initiative.
Coalitions of dalit, women and construction labour organisations are also trying in their own ways to influence government policies. Bharat Jan Andolan, Shosit Jan Andolan and
Jan Vikas Andolan are some of the attempts. There are some
others in a few states, too, especially one in Madhya Pradesh.
Two such coalitions have formulated their own manifestoes
and decided that they will question the candidates and political parties and get commitments from them on the issues in their respective manifestoes.
Last month, another group of organisations
called a meeting in Delhi to question the
political parties on their water and forest
policies.
But a successful and effective intervention will require all such coalitions to come
together and formulate mutually agreeable
agenda, action plan and strategy. This obviously cannot be limited to the intervention
in the coming elections, although, that has
to be first the stepping stone. But it will have
to go much beyond this year's elections and
become a sustained effort. It also cannot be
a part-time affair, and policy change will have to be backed by
sound policy research. There is also need to collaborate, in one
way or other, with all the existing peoples organisations working on similar lines. That such efforts can force the mainstream parties to move towards a greener agenda has been
amply demonstrated in many Northern countries.
Some of the issues on which alternative policies have to
formulated are the right to information, forest and water
rights, opposition to existing land acquisition legislation and
effective opposition to undesirable economic aggressions by
the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, etc.), the multinational and national corporations.
As far as the coming elections are concerned, particular
care has to be taken to record the promises of the political parties and candidates, at both national and local levels, and specific commitments sought on how and by when the commitments would be realised. Let us, at least from now and henceforth, ask, act, and, thus, expose the lies of the political parties.
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