James Pochury
WHAT IS THE PRIORITY
Participatory Democracy should be the basis of Representative Democracy. Deeper and stronger the participatory democracy, the better would be representative democracy. Sans which, there would be nothing left to fight for. Because, vested interests across genders would still facilitate usurping our existence as a distinct peoples, our sovereignty over tangible and intangible spaces. Much of it has been appropriated since Nagaland attained Statehood in 1963. And the resource politics continues unabated. This needs to be arrested before it is too late. Most of the laws focus on power to elected representatives and representative democracy ignoring participatory democracy and weakening where they exist traditionally.
WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT
Ensuring Participatory Democracy ought to be the priority, from the Clan upwards, with women representatives on board, through amendment to our customary laws that today restrict women in decision making spaces,. This is so because a watershed moment throws up before us in the given conflicting state of affairs all over Nagaland between the State and pro-ULB elections with 33% reservation to women versus the leaders supposedly representing unelected Naga traditional bodies.
Reservations are not acts of service on sympathetic grounds but should be viewed as an affirmative action for social justice, gender equity and equality. Nagas are a nation in the making vying for world attention to be at par with the comity of Nations and these values and principles are the pillars of Nation state building processes.
But I would like to make a serious case for participatory democracy because reservations per se will not emancipate us as a distinct people.
Granted, that had Jaipal Singh Munda, a London educated adivasi leader, not been part of the Constituent Assembly, where he actively campaigned and laid the foundation for the rights of scheduled tribes, the revolutionary Panchayat Extension to Schedule Areas Act, 1996 (PESA) would not have come into being – albeit, with a lot of struggles and sacrifices. PESA ensures self governance (self rule) through traditional Gram Sabhas ("unelected" but supreme peoples’ assemblies) for people living in the Fifth Scheduled Areas of India. The structures above the Gram Sabhas are not to encroach into the powers of the Gram Sabhas giving them autonomous power over certain essential subjects. PESA stipulates that the pattern of the Sixth Schedule should be followed but nowhere this is even legally developed; instead the general panchayat structure of the states are imposed on the Fifth Schedule undermining the powers of the Gram Sabhas. On the other hand, the Sixth Schedule areas in the Northeast have powers vested in the elected representatives, certain legislative, judicial and administrative power without any linkage or relationship with the traditional structures or traditional peoples’ assemblies in effect undermining the powers of the village assemblies The tragic reality is that, the elected members of the respective bodies in the fifth and sixth schedule areas wield unjust and unequal powers. The Fifth and Sixth Schedule provisions are failing the people. The special constitutional provisions for Nagaland under Article 371-A stipulates that any law enacted by the Indian Parliament with respect to the religious, social practices, customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal Justice involving decision according to Naga customary law, and ownership and transfer of land and its resources shall apply to the state of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution decides. However there are no laws, structures and systems for the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland to determine the will of the people through the village assembles, the Naga Hoho, the youth organizations and civil society organizations. As a result the Naga elected representatives want to have their way, much against the purported or real wishes of the people represented by the Hohos and Youth organisations. The vicious cycle then continues, of the wide disconnect between the electors and the elected resulting in pervasive abuse, accumulation and entrenchment of power and resources.
There is no meeting point in the two verticals that mark the way our societies are governed. And this is a damn serious problem that needs to be addressed head on before taking the most deserving affirmative action for women’s access to and control over decision making spaces, at all levels, not just Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). There is no organic and structural link between the “elected” and the “electors” (the masses) that bind both in an inseparable loop of accountability. The masses have almost no say and control over the legislators for the next five years post election. This is now being extended to the urban bodies with no linkage to the people in the Wards except in voting to power their representatives. This is antithetical to the very ethos of Naga governance traditions.
Allocating 33% reservation to women at this juncture in our Naga society, therefore, is akin to putting the cart before the horse. The cart being the elected and the horse being the traditional unelected people’s institutions.
CONSEQUENCES IF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY IS NOT ACCORDED A PRIORITY
The SMART Cities project, for instance, will have a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which will be registered as a Company. The SPV will have two conditionalities: 1. The SPV will have 50% of the seats represented by members of Multinational Companies and, 2. That the state has to give it in writing and sign on the dotted lines saying that the democratically elected Municipal and Town Council members would have to abide by the decisions of the Special Purpose Vehicle. Here lies the crux of the problem. The alien system of governance controlled by the Corporate would control not just the elected representatives (by paying their way out) but, by extension, the traditional Naga institutions would be rendered practically powerless and useless. As it is, the authority and credibility of our traditional institutions are increasingly being eroded, thanks to Government of India’s doles, handouts and packages that benefit a few giving rise to fragmentation and continued divide and rule policy.
Special Economic Zones (SEZ) is another area where land alienation and erosion of powers of traditional institutions have been evident and is inevitable in the future.
The bigger picture being that Smart Cities and SEZ (giving massive tax holidays and sops to multinational companies) are part of the neoliberal agenda of the Washington Consensus model of globalization. A model that promotes free market economy with free movement of capital, goods and services across international borders but highly restricted movement of peoples. Strict visa rules and trade regimes render a skewed level playing field in favour of the "advanced nations".
In such a scenario, where elected Urban Local Bodies that are not linked structurally and organically to the traditional bodies, it is but highly important and urgent to ensure we leave no stone unturned to protect and promote the long term interests of the Nagas.
One long term interest would include transition from a predominantly subsistence-based agrarian economy to a manufacturing one. And this transition has to be rigorously planned so that a level playing field tilted in favour of Naga entrepreneurs is available to a cross-section of Nagas, especially the marginalized Naga tribes. A robust 30 or more year long term Industrial Policy needs to be thought through and planned, sooner than later, through possible Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). But we need to be wary of the FDI myths. Rick Rowden cautions Myanmar in his article “Free Market Myths”. He says, “One myth is that any FDI is good FDI, which is wrong. There are at least three main types of FDI: greenfield, brownfield (extractive industries) and short-term speculative investment (stocks and shares market). Greenfield is the best type because it usually involves creating new businesses, building new factories and creating new jobs, and tends to be longer-term in nature”. THE WAY FORWARD Push for a legislation that will ensure participatory democracy in the true letter and spirit of Naga democratic socialism. Having done that, facilitate processes in the respective villages and upwards to the tribal councils/Hohos to amend the customary social practices to have one woman and one man represent their own clans (one clan has one woman and one man) in the Village Councils. After that, bring about a resolution to legislate an Act to have clear mechanisms for the Village Traditional Body extend its powers to the Town and Municipal Councils. The nomenclature could be “So and So Town Council” or “So and So Municipal Council” but the most important thing is for the traditional village bodies to have an organic and structural link to the elected ULB representatives. Without establishing this organic link, no cause would be worth fighting for.
Organised by Naga Scholars Association, Delhi January 29, 2017 (Nagaland House)
