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DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION IN
URBAN GOVERNANCE
Vijayendra K
M2013CODP035
A project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts in Social Work (Community Organisation and Development Practices)
Centre of Community Organisation and Development Practices
School of Social Work
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Mumbai
2015
i
DECLARATION
I Vijayendra K hereby declare that this dissertation entitled lsquoDemocratic Participation in
Urban Governancersquo is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of Dr
Janki Andharia Professor Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management Tata Institute of
Social Sciences Mumbai It has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree
diploma or certificate of this Institute or of any other institute or university I have duly
acknowledged all the sources used by me in the preparation of this dissertation
4 March 2015 Vijayendra K
ii
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled lsquoDemocratic Participation in Urban
Governancersquo is the record of the original work done by Vijayendra K under my guidance and
supervision The results of the research presented in this dissertationthesis have not previously
formed the basis for the award of any degree diploma or certificate of this Institute or any
other institute or university
Dr Janki Andharia
Professor
Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
4 March 2015 Mumbai
iii
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE NO
Declarationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i
Certificatehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii
Contentshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii
List of figureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv
Acknowledgment helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v
Chapters
1 Introduction and Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
2 Objectives Methodology and Field Engagementhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12
3 Participation through Structures ndash As seen in Vidyaranyapurahelliphellip 23
4 Understanding Informality and its Contribution to Participationhellip 32
5 Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 42
Appendix Interview schedulehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45
Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Title of figure Page No
Figure 11 Ladder of Participation 3
Figure 21 Representation of respondents 13
Figure 31 Ward Committee Gazette 29
Figure 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures 37
Figure 42 Map of Governance 39
Figure 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship 40
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals
and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly
I would like to thank Dr Janki Andharia for her continuous support patience and valuable
guidance without which I could not even have imagined this research in its current form
My family members are my pillar of strength and I would like to thank them for all their
blessings support and wishes This journey would not have been possible without the support
of you people
My friends are the biggest asset I have I would like to thank each one of you who have been
there for me and have contributed directly or indirectly in making me what I am today
Last but not the least the people without whom this research is nothing I would like to thank
all the respondents who took out time from their busy schedules to participate in the study
Vijayendra K
4 March 2015
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
i
DECLARATION
I Vijayendra K hereby declare that this dissertation entitled lsquoDemocratic Participation in
Urban Governancersquo is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of Dr
Janki Andharia Professor Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management Tata Institute of
Social Sciences Mumbai It has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree
diploma or certificate of this Institute or of any other institute or university I have duly
acknowledged all the sources used by me in the preparation of this dissertation
4 March 2015 Vijayendra K
ii
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled lsquoDemocratic Participation in Urban
Governancersquo is the record of the original work done by Vijayendra K under my guidance and
supervision The results of the research presented in this dissertationthesis have not previously
formed the basis for the award of any degree diploma or certificate of this Institute or any
other institute or university
Dr Janki Andharia
Professor
Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
4 March 2015 Mumbai
iii
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE NO
Declarationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i
Certificatehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii
Contentshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii
List of figureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv
Acknowledgment helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v
Chapters
1 Introduction and Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
2 Objectives Methodology and Field Engagementhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12
3 Participation through Structures ndash As seen in Vidyaranyapurahelliphellip 23
4 Understanding Informality and its Contribution to Participationhellip 32
5 Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 42
Appendix Interview schedulehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45
Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Title of figure Page No
Figure 11 Ladder of Participation 3
Figure 21 Representation of respondents 13
Figure 31 Ward Committee Gazette 29
Figure 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures 37
Figure 42 Map of Governance 39
Figure 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship 40
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals
and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly
I would like to thank Dr Janki Andharia for her continuous support patience and valuable
guidance without which I could not even have imagined this research in its current form
My family members are my pillar of strength and I would like to thank them for all their
blessings support and wishes This journey would not have been possible without the support
of you people
My friends are the biggest asset I have I would like to thank each one of you who have been
there for me and have contributed directly or indirectly in making me what I am today
Last but not the least the people without whom this research is nothing I would like to thank
all the respondents who took out time from their busy schedules to participate in the study
Vijayendra K
4 March 2015
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
ii
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the dissertation entitled lsquoDemocratic Participation in Urban
Governancersquo is the record of the original work done by Vijayendra K under my guidance and
supervision The results of the research presented in this dissertationthesis have not previously
formed the basis for the award of any degree diploma or certificate of this Institute or any
other institute or university
Dr Janki Andharia
Professor
Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
4 March 2015 Mumbai
iii
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE NO
Declarationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i
Certificatehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii
Contentshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii
List of figureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv
Acknowledgment helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v
Chapters
1 Introduction and Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
2 Objectives Methodology and Field Engagementhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12
3 Participation through Structures ndash As seen in Vidyaranyapurahelliphellip 23
4 Understanding Informality and its Contribution to Participationhellip 32
5 Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 42
Appendix Interview schedulehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45
Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Title of figure Page No
Figure 11 Ladder of Participation 3
Figure 21 Representation of respondents 13
Figure 31 Ward Committee Gazette 29
Figure 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures 37
Figure 42 Map of Governance 39
Figure 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship 40
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals
and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly
I would like to thank Dr Janki Andharia for her continuous support patience and valuable
guidance without which I could not even have imagined this research in its current form
My family members are my pillar of strength and I would like to thank them for all their
blessings support and wishes This journey would not have been possible without the support
of you people
My friends are the biggest asset I have I would like to thank each one of you who have been
there for me and have contributed directly or indirectly in making me what I am today
Last but not the least the people without whom this research is nothing I would like to thank
all the respondents who took out time from their busy schedules to participate in the study
Vijayendra K
4 March 2015
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
iii
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE NO
Declarationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i
Certificatehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii
Contentshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii
List of figureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv
Acknowledgment helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v
Chapters
1 Introduction and Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
2 Objectives Methodology and Field Engagementhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12
3 Participation through Structures ndash As seen in Vidyaranyapurahelliphellip 23
4 Understanding Informality and its Contribution to Participationhellip 32
5 Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 42
Appendix Interview schedulehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45
Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 48
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Title of figure Page No
Figure 11 Ladder of Participation 3
Figure 21 Representation of respondents 13
Figure 31 Ward Committee Gazette 29
Figure 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures 37
Figure 42 Map of Governance 39
Figure 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship 40
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals
and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly
I would like to thank Dr Janki Andharia for her continuous support patience and valuable
guidance without which I could not even have imagined this research in its current form
My family members are my pillar of strength and I would like to thank them for all their
blessings support and wishes This journey would not have been possible without the support
of you people
My friends are the biggest asset I have I would like to thank each one of you who have been
there for me and have contributed directly or indirectly in making me what I am today
Last but not the least the people without whom this research is nothing I would like to thank
all the respondents who took out time from their busy schedules to participate in the study
Vijayendra K
4 March 2015
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Title of figure Page No
Figure 11 Ladder of Participation 3
Figure 21 Representation of respondents 13
Figure 31 Ward Committee Gazette 29
Figure 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures 37
Figure 42 Map of Governance 39
Figure 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship 40
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals
and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly
I would like to thank Dr Janki Andharia for her continuous support patience and valuable
guidance without which I could not even have imagined this research in its current form
My family members are my pillar of strength and I would like to thank them for all their
blessings support and wishes This journey would not have been possible without the support
of you people
My friends are the biggest asset I have I would like to thank each one of you who have been
there for me and have contributed directly or indirectly in making me what I am today
Last but not the least the people without whom this research is nothing I would like to thank
all the respondents who took out time from their busy schedules to participate in the study
Vijayendra K
4 March 2015
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been possible without the support of the following individuals
and I wish to thank them wholeheartedly
I would like to thank Dr Janki Andharia for her continuous support patience and valuable
guidance without which I could not even have imagined this research in its current form
My family members are my pillar of strength and I would like to thank them for all their
blessings support and wishes This journey would not have been possible without the support
of you people
My friends are the biggest asset I have I would like to thank each one of you who have been
there for me and have contributed directly or indirectly in making me what I am today
Last but not the least the people without whom this research is nothing I would like to thank
all the respondents who took out time from their busy schedules to participate in the study
Vijayendra K
4 March 2015
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
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httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
vi
बलनदियोन को छन की खवानिश रखता ि निी
खवाब बस इतना िखता ि की रासत ढढ़त िव गनििश निल जाए किी
- नवजयदर क
I donrsquot dream of reaching the heights
All I dream of is in the quest of a path I stumble upon the skyhellip
- Vijayendra K
Dare to Dreamhellip
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
1
Chapter 1
Introduction and Literature Review
11 Introduction
In Community Organisation Social Action Legislative Action and Political
Action are discussed as three approaches to social change (Mandros 2005)
Commonality between these three approaches are that all the three talk about transfer
of power and resources to improve conditions for people and there is the assumption of
an organisation that tries to bring about the change and only the change actors differ in
their roles but the objective of social change is intact While social action talks about
targets of change being the people who are responsible for the problem legislative and
political action speak of ensuring necessary legal provisions and ensuring that capable
people who will deliver the necessary goods for the society are elected
There are change actors who play an important role in all the three approaches to bring
about the change Some actors might adopt lsquoinsider strategiesrsquo while others might opt
for the lsquooutsider strategyrsquo depending on whether they are trying to work within the
system or they are pushing for action from outside In most cases both the strategies
have to work in tandem to ensure best results for the society In all these processes one
of the key aspect is of community participation be it in form of agents who adopt
insider strategy and catalyse change or through collective action from outside which
force the people with power to bring about change The way the change agents here
perceive their role as participants and how the people with power perceive the change
agents participation goes a long way in determining the way these two interact and also
bring about the change
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
2
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the southern states in India
111 Definitions of Participation
While many scholars have argued that it is not possible to have a universal definition
of participation some interpretations of it are available
According to Lele (1975) ldquoParticipation means in its broadest sense to sensitize people
and thus increase the receptivity and ability of people to respond to development
programmes as well as to encourage local initiativesrdquo On the other hand Uphoff and
Cohen (1979) suggest that ldquoPopular Participation in development should be broadly
understood as the active involvement of people in the decision-making process in so far
as it affects themrdquo
These two definitions highlight different approaches to participation in practice One is
participation as a means essentially describing a state or an input into a development
programme while the second approach is that of participation as an end which refers to
a process the outcome of which is meaningful participation (Oakley amp Marsden 1984)
It is clear that while the first definition sees participation as a mean which is an
instrumental approach the second definition sees it as an end which is an empowerment
approach The empowerment approach of participation is an interpretation in which
participation is seen as a process to achieve power The power here might connote
access and control of resources
The significance of participation can be envisioned from the origin of the idea of
lsquodemocracyrsquo which emphasizes power in the hands of the people It has always been
advocated that better participation is necessary in order to improve the working of the
democracy as a political system Participation here definitely goes beyond just casting
onersquos vote during election and calls for involvement at various levels be it as a lsquomeansrsquo
to ensure better working of various systems or as an lsquoendsrsquo approach to empower the
basic units of democracy
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
3
There are various challenges to participation which differ according to the perception
of participation one is referring to There are three major areas of obstruction mentioned
by Oakley and Marsden (1984) - Operational Cultural and Structural which might not
be mutually exclusive While operational difficulties are with respect to the ldquomeansrdquo
perspective the cultural and structural challenges refer to challenges with respect to the
ldquoends perspectiverdquo In the absence of a universal definition one can examine various
perceptions of participation from people who experience it in order to get a better
understanding
112 Levels of Participation
One of the typology of lsquoCitizen Participationrsquo (Arnstein 1969) has 8 different grades
of participation arranged in a ladder pattern with the lower rungs of the ladder denoting
non-participation evolving to degrees of citizen power as we move up the ladder These
typologies are explained using examples from three federal social programs ndash Urban
Renewal Anti-Poverty and Model Cities The classification in ascending order of the
ladder rungs are as follows Manipulation Therapy Informing Consultation
Placation Partnership Delegated Power amp Citizen Control
Fig11 Ladder of Participation
Source Arnstein 1969
The first two categories lsquomanipulationrsquo and lsquotherapyrsquo are placed as non-participative
provisions where the author claims the real objective is not to enable participation but
to enable power holders to ldquoeducaterdquo or cure the participants The next three rungs ndash
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
4
lsquoinformingrsquo lsquoconsultationrsquo and lsquoplacationrsquo are said to be a progress from
nonparticipation to tokenism which facilitates the participants to voice their concerns
But the participation is limited and has no assurance of desired impact as there is no
direct transfer of lsquopowerrsquo at any level Placation is the highest level of tokenism which
allows participants to advice but the power lies with the authorities The last three rungs
ndash lsquopartnershiprsquo lsquodelegated powerrsquo and lsquocitizen controlrsquo are the ones that empower the
citizens to negotiate and share the power of decision making with the authorities
making it the highest form of participation on the ladder
The limitations of these typologies are that they assume the powerful and powerless as
homogeneous groups ignoring the different perceptions and perspectives of both the
groups from their standpoint Further the typology does not go on to analyse the
hindrances (to both the power holders and the power seekers) that exist in achieving
these levels of participation There are also arguments against community control such
as accusition of supporting separatism balkanisation of public services cost inducing
but less efficient etc
113 Perceptions on participation
Participation might connote different significance and meanings to different sets of
people One of the ways to explain and understand might be through shared experiences
of lsquoparticipationrsquo which have derived positive results to communities across the
geographical boundaries which is what some scholars (Morse Rahman amp Johnson
1995) tried to evolve out of a workshop where they tried to connect individuals engaged
in participatory organisations across nations The workshop titled Peoplersquos Initiaitives
to Overcome Poverty connected 15 individuals working with various communities from
countries like India Phillipines United States Canada Thailand and Bangladesh What
is interesting to note here is that each of these participants talk of certain attributes of
participation that they perceived and utilised in their respective communities
Through their varied experiences participants speak of self-discipline and how
organising responsibilities can go on to form the core of the struggle against structural
factors They see participation as a process of becoming independent (move away from
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
5
dependency) self-reliant and accountable which they experienced by co-operation
enhancing their knowledge through education choosing local political representation
amongst themselves empowering themselves with financial resources and accessing
information We thereby have a wide range of perceptions of participation (not
exhaustive by any means) which these individuals and their communities have These
forms of participation has resulted in them experiencing benefits as a community and
enhancing their resource utilisation Space for participation is also seen as one of the
key aspects in determining the quality of governance We shall therefore examine the
concept of governance and quality of governance next and try to see how participation
is viewed by different scholars within the ambit of governance
114 Governance and Quality of Governance
Governance is defined (Fukuyama 2013) as a governmentrsquos ability to make and enforce
rules and to deliver services regardless of whether the government is democratic or
not The argument is that good governance and democracy need not be mutually
supportive as they have not been empirically demonstrated One significant point to
note is that there is an effort to delink two concepts lsquogovernancersquo and lsquoquality of
governancersquo from one another While seeing governance as a principal agent
relationship it is more of performance of agent and not about the goals that the
principles set Thus governance here relates to the execution of the planning and not
the planning itself This definition plays an important role of generalising governance
to both authoritarian and democratic regimes Since lately use of terminologies like
lsquogood governancersquo are on the rise Good governance might refer to the quality of
governance
However it is useful to examine how certain institutions popularise concepts like ldquogood
governancerdquo with specific consequences The term lsquogood governancersquo was coined by
the World Bank in 1990s (Nanda 2006) International aid providers like International
Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank and the United States started insisting upon
performance and good governance before providing aid They call this practice
ldquoselectivityrdquo The recipient state is expected to demonstrate its seriousness to commit
for economic and social reforms Though there are no objective standard for good
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
6
governance some aspects to determine good governance are political stability the rule
of law control of corruption and accountability The conclusion provided here is that
for the success of governance reforms there is a need to reform and strengthen the state
and governing institutions effective democratic institutions established effective
participation ensuring strengthened accountability and enhanced rule of law to ensure
that the good governance is sustainable It would be interesting to look at the various
kinds of participation that exists and the extent of its influence on governance
Peoplersquos participation is central in a democracy and it takes place in a context Who
participates and why What is the quality of that participation What kind of outcomes
are envisaged These questions are sought to be explored in this study The answers to
these questions also depend in a large measure on spaces available to participate within
a democracy What are these structures of democracy What are the forms of
governance Do they encourage or thwart participation These questions inform this
study which is being undertaken in Karnataka One of the four southern states in India
12 Rationale
Peoplersquos participation is subsumed under citizen engagement which is a much
narrower understanding In a democracy participation needs to be viewed within the
institutional perspective of the ability to influence policies that effect lives of people
In a large country like India and US decentralisation is seen as an important aspect of
enhancing peoplersquos participation This provides insights into how participative
democracy functions
121 Participative Democracy in India
In India there has been attempt at participative democracy in rural governance One
interesting case has been the operationalization of Gram Swaraj in Madhya Pradesh In
January 2001 The Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Adhiniyam (Act) 1993 was
renamed as Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam 2001 This
evolved as a result of replication of political system distortion that existed at state and
union levels at the gram panchayat level which the state government went on to
recognised Gram Swaraj is a new level of local self-governance which moves from
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
7
indirect to direct democracy by giving the power to the people and not their
representatives The operationalization was done by strengthening the gram sabhas by
giving them power of decision making and also constituted eight standing committees
and additional ad hoc committees which were supposed to look into implementation
So the gram sabhas had additional power apart from those of gram panchayats
Thereby we can see the difference in the functioning of gram panchayat and gram
sabhas lied in the powers that each of them enjoyed with gram sabha being the more
empowered one To negate the hierarchical social order and balance the power
equations certain provisions were provided It was mandatory to have at least one fifth
of the total members of the gram sabha (out of which at least one third should be women
and SC and STs should represent according to their population proportion of gram
sabha) for the quora of the gram sabha to function Without this minimum requirement
fulfilled the gram sabha was not empowered to take any decisions Decisions were
expected to be unanimous but in case of differences in opinions a provision for a secret
voting was provided Women and marginalised community representation in ad hoc
and standing committees was ensured via reservation Also a provision to appeal against
any decision to a three member committee was made Also while gram panchayats in
Madhya Pradesh usually constituted more than one village gram sabhas were made
separate for each village but at the same time provision for a joint gram sabha was also
made if required to take necessary decisions affecting the entire gram panchayat
What was interesting in the evolution of this model based on Gandhian Ideology was
a deliberated refinement and dialogue based approach On one hand there were
extremely noted Gandhians on the task force like Anna Hazare Nirmala Deshpande
Subba Rao B D Sharma etc and also the model was shared with people and civil
society at divisional headquarters and their queries and suggestions were incorporated
into the final model In that sense participation started from the way this model
evolved Critiques claim that gram swaraj is an attempt to dilute and disempower the
panchayat raj institutions on account of political reasons and the threat the panchayat
system posed to political class However the task force members defend by stating that
the gram swaraj is operationalized with a sole purpose of giving the power to the hands
of the people and not due to any political class concerns (Beher 2001) A reappraisal
of the gram swaraj model tells us that the potential space for change has been
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
8
underutilised due to lack of proper communicational channels from the state
irregularity in functioning of gram sabhas due to non-fulfilment of minimum criteria
failure of the government machinery and the bureaucracy to internalise the restructuring
of the government system etc (Behar 2003) However the slow and cautious
beginning is attributed to non-sustainability of the strong political will which was
instrumental in operationalizing the model
This is a case where the state government responding to a popular demand identified
the need and created space for direct empowerment through participation of people in
rural governance Following this example what is the space available for people to
participate in urban governance is what this study seeks to explore
122 Space for Participation in Urban Governance
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) paved way for Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) as the decentralized form of local self-governance in India According to the
CAA1 depending on the size and area municipalities can be of 3 types
Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area
Municipal Council for smaller urban area and
Municipal Corporation for larger urban areas
These municipalities have elected representatives expected to govern the city The act
also made provision for the constitution of ward committees in all municipalities which
had minimum 3 lakhs population (74th CAA) But this does not provide adequate
representation for people in cities whose needs and demands vary greatly Moreover
the enforcement of this provision cannot be seen in majority of the cases As a result
citizens have to look at other avenues for participation to ensure their interests
adequately represented in the governance of the city and the affairs that influence them
One of the popular avenues for citizen participation in urban governance for the middle
class are the neighbourhood associations of which Resident Welfare Associations
(RWA) form a major part RWAs and other neighbourhood associations are seen as
1 httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
9
actors who can stake claims as institutions that represent peoplersquos voices In an attempt
to study the institutional limitations of local democracy (Lama-Rewal 2007) it is found
that lsquoneighbourhood associationsrsquo (RWAs cooperative housing societies etc) as an
activism of the middle class for the middle class The author further goes on to state
that the vocal demands of these neighbourhood associations for transparency
accountability and participation does open up some avenues to improve the functioning
of representative democracy However these remain voluntary associations and does
often do not represent the need or voices of the marginalised in the city such as slum
dwellers migrant workers and others
Scholars have pointed out various limitations and scope that exists with respect to the
RWAs In a study (Kamath amp Vijayabaskar 2009) which focuses on the limitations and
possibilities of middle class associations as urban collective actors the varied nature of
the participants of RWAs that arise due to various factors like diverse geographical and
economical positioning of their localities non-homogenous nature of middle class etc
are highlighted They evolve a typology of middle class RWAs by classifying them
into segments such as Elite middle class RWAs upwardly mobile middle and lower
middle class RWAs Traditional middle class RWAs amp New Elites They bring out the
varied priorities and issues identified by these different segments of RWAs which is a
result of various factors like job profile of members varied locations of these
associations etc The varied priorities can be underlined by an example The elite
RWAs concerns are around the property value and ownership Upwardly mobile and
lower middle class RWAs are concerned with enhancing the exchange value of their
property Traditional middle class RWAs are interested in conserving local culture and
organising religious programs and finally New elites who are insulated from problems
as they live in lsquogated communitiesrsquo Not just identifying the problems but the kind of
access to policy makers that these RWAs have also are different Differences in
interactions between RWAs at core (in Malleshwaram for example) and at Peripheries
are also pointed out The elites may establish informal contact with a formal mayor
while playing golf while for an upwardly mobile RWA the point of contact with the
bureaucracy might be a mid lower or a field level officer
While there are possibilities as well as limitations for citizen participation through
spaces like RWAs the participants are majorly the middle class section of the society
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
10
The marginalised section of the societies hardly find space for direct participation
through associations like RWAs and have to rely on the NGOs and other organisations
who are willing to represent their voices Thus it would be worthwhile looking at how
the existing spaces for participation are utilised by the middle class and the challenges
that they face and compare it with the space available for the marginalised section of
the urban spaces Therefore we would be looking at Bangalore as a case study and
examining the space for participation of people (middle class and the marginalised) and
see how they utilise them and also see the functioning of Ward Committee which is the
latest step in decentralisation in Bangalore
123 Area of Study - Bangalore
Bangalore came on the global map after the advent of the Information Technology (IT)
sector since the 2000rsquos has seen a population growth of 4668 from 20012 and is the
second fastest growing city in India after Delhi It is the IT capital of India which is
also known as Silicon Valley of India3 As per Indian Institute of Science while 30
of Indiarsquos IT sector workforce lives in Bangalore around 25 of its entire population
lives in Slums which tells the other side of the story On one hand the city hosts a range
of IT giants like Infosys Wipro etc creating wealth for many and on the other hand
still 2 million people live in poverty in the city (The Guardian 2012) The city has the
presence of various active organisations like Janaagraha CIVIC (Citizenrsquos Voluntary
Initiative for the City) and Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities
(BATPIC) Network that try to work with citizens and the government to better the
quality of life of the citizens With the changing dynamics of the city how do the citizens
experience participation would be interesting to look at
Bangalore city has been divided into 198 wards and Vidyaranyapura (Ward 9) falls
under the Assembly Constituency of Byatarayanapura and Parliamentary Constituency
of Bangalore North Its vicinity to public sector enterprises like Bharat Eectronics Ltd
(BEL) and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) private sector establishments like the
Manyata Tech Park in Nagawara and its accessibility to the new International Airport
2 (censusindiagovin 2011) 3 (The New York Times 2006)
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
11
has made it one of the sought after residential areas around this part of the city With
an area of 979 Sq Kms and a population of 57195 (Male ndash 29382 Female ndash 27813)4
the ward has seen a population growth of 147 against the city population growth of
45 between 2001 and 20115 With such surge in population and a residential area
which is sought after it would be interesting to examine the kind of participation
various sections of people experience here The entire research would be conducted in
Vidyaranyapura Ward In addition to the unique characteristics mentioned above
factors like the ease of access knowledge about the area (being a resident here) and
time constraint also played a role in selecting this particular ward
4 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapura 5 httpwwwichangemycitycomwardsvidyaranyapurabudget
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
12
Chapter 2
Objectives Methodology and Field Engagement
21 Research Objectives
It is clear that participation as a concept when put into practice empowers people
at various levels and results in a better functioning of the political system and its
interaction with other systems The objective of this research will be to
Explore the ways and means of how citizens participate in urban
governance ndash In order to understand what structures are available and how
people identify them it is important to explore the ways and means of how
citizens participate The existing structures available to participate and its forms
needs to be looked into
Understand the perceptions on participation and see if they are related to
processes andor outcomes - Participation can be best understood by
understanding how people experience and perceive it to be The perceptions
might also indicate the willingness of the people to actually participate Having
a space to participate does not guarantee participation because if an individual
is not willing to participate this space will remain as a gap and yield no results
At the same time perceptions might change depending on the space available
Explore the working of a participatory model if any exists ndash Based on the
experience in the field try to understand the working model of participation if
at all there exists one The existing structures and participants
22 Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is Exploratory in nature and will be using Qualitative Methodology to
address the research objectives The tool used were semi-structured interviews (three
sets of questionnaire were prepared keeping in mind the objectives of the study and the
varied background of respondents) and being a non-participant observer
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
13
Selection of Sample
The sample used throughout is Purposive Non-probabilistic Snowball Sampling
Initially a set of individuals and organisations were identified through secondary
research who might be probable respondents Further respondents was identified with
the help of these respondents thereby making it snowball The respondents were mainly
divided under three categories of people -
Ward Committee MembersElected Representatives
Civil Society Organisation members (Formal and Informal) and
People from Marginalised Communities
Fig
21 Representation of respondents
Ward committee of Vidyaranypura consists of 10 members who are residents of the
ward (representation of RWAs Women and Backward Communities are taken care
of) Some of the Ward Committee members were approached for an interview to
understand the functioning of the committee and the members view on participation
and decentralisation
A list of probable civil society organisations (formal as well informal) were identified
and contacted Further Snowball method was used to interview probable respondents
through the contact of these members leading from one respondent to another
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
14
With the help of individuals and some organisations that work in the area some
individuals from the marginalised communities were interviewed to get their perception
and understand their space to participate This included both males and females
Secondary Data
Secondary data was collected from various sources which included scholarly articles
newspaper articles and the internet to gather information about the area of study and
also some of the organisations
23 Overall Experience on Field
The time spent on the field for data collection were one of those learning phases
which provided me an opportunity to interact with people from various fields be it
individuals representing various associations the Ward Committee Members or the
individuals from the marginalised communities in the ward From the early morning
cycling rides hoping to find a respondent to the Sunday weekly engagement to clean
up the lakes and witnessing some citizen initiatives yielding results from the visit to
the Jakkur Lake along with one of the corporator to visiting homes of the ward
committee members hoping for an interview each of these engagements was a unique
experience in itself
There were days when one respondent would lead me to couple of more respondents
and there were days when I could not tap anyone for almost two weeks Even after
spending weeks trying to engage with some of the potential respondents when they
back off as soon as they get to know you seek some information from them amidst the
disappointment of losing out on a respondent after investing so much time it also was
an opportunity to see the issue from the stand point of that individual and try to
understand why they are so scared to even talk to people who might not exactly be
strangers but still not close enough to reveal any detail As a normal day to day
conversation with a stranger they may reveal many things because they are not
conscious about what they talk but the moment you state that you want to know about
their life a little in detail in order to understand their lives they may completely restrict
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
15
your vicinity possibly fearing that you are one of those media reporters who just wants
a news item which they might not be willing to be a part of
On the other hand the three hours spent at the MLAs office was a unique experience
altogether Seeing the wide range of people from parents coming to seek the MLAs
lsquoblessingsrsquo as well as career guidance as their son had fared well in exams to the
brothers who wanted to invite the MLA to their sisters marriage and not to forget all
those party workers moving in and out continuously I witnessed a very diverse crowd
Amidst all these people were some who had come to address their grievances of various
kinds (bad roads water shortage etc) to the MLA Even though I was disappointed
that I got just 3 minutes after waiting for 3 hours the point to note was that the elected
representative made effort to meet each of those 60 odd individuals who had been
waiting since the morning Even though I have still not received any response from his
office to the questions I mailed them which he had agreed to answer one significant
factor was that his office is accessible to the people in need
231 Initial Engagement Struggle
The first challenge faced during data collection was in getting the first couple of
interviews Initial few days went in cycling around trying to find out the location of the
Resident Welfare Associations the Ward Committee members and keeping an open
eye for any organisation that works with the marginalised communities in the area I
was also on the lookout for any potential respondents from the marginalised
communities be it street vendors auto drivers or construction workers
Though this phase made me see many changes in terms of well-built government
schools primary health care centres parks and lakes in the area I could also witness
the effect of a dispute between the lsquoPaurakarmikarsquo workers who were not paid their
dues by the contractor who is in charge of cleaning the garbage in the ward when the
streets in the area were filled with stinking garbage as the workers went on a strike
Online options were also explored in trying to get a breakthrough of some sort which
materialised with the first RWA member interview which was obtained via active social
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
16
media presence of the association The first interview was with one of the Ward
Committee member which resulted after multiple visits to his home These initial
respondents further paved way for other respondents and the data collection eventually
gained some momentum
232 Experience with the associations
The first interview was with a new RWA called lsquoNamma Vidyaranyapura Residents
Welfare Associationrsquo The interaction with the President of the RWA brought to the
fore front many aspects most important of them being the emergence of groups like
BPAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) which was building leadership skills
and equipping the individuals to handle governance issues in their wards The
respondent further directed me to a group which was working to revamp the 3 lakes
(names being Narsipura 1 Narsipura 2 and Dodda Bommasandra)
This lsquoinformal group of friendsrsquo as they refer themselves to and have a social media
presence in the name of ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo was one of the significant discoveries of
this field work The conception of the idea of informal groups and the way it is
functioning on the field raised a lot of curiosity in me as a researcher How an informal
group with people from various expertise can act as a pressure group and derive the
support of the elected representatives at the same time was a very interesting case to
look at The fact that they got the corporator to join them to visit the Jakkur Lake to see
how they could revamp the lakes here on the same lines showed the kind support and
the attention the group had managed to get despite not being any formal association
Also what was interesting was the way in which they used the social media for their
cause Interaction with the members of this informal group put forward some views as
to how RWAs can become a vehicle of vote bank for a political party compromising on
the issues to address Also what was interesting was the way in which the group had so
far managed to keep its focus on the issue at hand despite differences of opinions which
will also be the challenge it faces in the days ahead
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
17
Interaction with a member of the same group who is also the member of an RWA put
forth the importance of both formal and informal groups and how in some sense both
kinds if associations have a role to play Another association was the Hiriya Nagarikara
Vedike (Association for the senior citizens) Interaction with one of the senior members
of this association highlighted the importance of the space that is required for the senior
citizens to spend some time with each other and also the role that they played in guiding
some groups on various issues with their experience The senior citizens were one of
those advisors who advised the ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo to remain as an informal group on
the ground that the political and other groups will find it difficult to disrupt their agenda
of lake development as they cannot track them since they are not a formal association
It is clear that the associations represented a majorly middle class participation
however there were individuals who were willing to be the voice of the marginalised
(which was evident by the active participation of some individuals during the
negotiations between the paurakarmika workers (garbage collectors) and the
contractor)
Apart of the organisation Swachha that works in partnership with the municipality to
segregate the garbage in the ward I could not see the presence of any other organisation
actively working for the marginalised in the ward nor could any of the respondents refer
me to one as it seemed that even they were not aware of any organisation working
actively in the area
233 Experience with marginalised communities
The most difficult part of the data collection process was to manage interaction with
the marginalised people The experience exposed me to the challenges of data collection
and how the amount of time you spend in trying to build rapport with the probable
respondents may go in vain It was definitely easier to talk to the association members
and even to the ward committee members to an extent but not the deprived section of
people I spent weeks trying to build rapport with many individuals like tender coconut
vendor construction worker tea vendor but all of them backed off significantly the
moment I asked them if they I could know something more in detail about their lives
Some individuals would tell me they will speak to me on a particular day at a particular
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
18
time and would never turn up It was a disappointment when they would not turn up but
at the same time I sometimes used to wonder if I were in their position would I be
willing to talk about my life to a stranger whom I had known via casual talks The
absence of organisations like the NGOs in the dominantly residential ward of
Vidyaranyapura is a point to examine and I have been thinking of probable reasons for
the same during my data collection but have not been able to answer the question
satisfactorily
During the two interactions I managed in April-May (A Scrap Dealer and a garbage
segregator) and the three interactions in November I could sense that these people are
very open once they get to know that you are not someone who intend to harm them
Both the individuals had a series of questions to ask me before agreeing to talk to me
They also told me that their friends would not talk to me as they fear I would be a media
person and they might lose their livelihood if their bosses got to know about it They
also were not aware of any NGO or similar organisation working in the area The kind
of awareness the scrap dealer had about politics amused me and made me admire him
and his family as they were aware of the happenings One the other hand the other
women I interviewed believed in the philosophy of ldquome and my familyrdquo and her
confession that ldquoI get scared inside a polling booth and run out of the room as soon as
I press some random button on the EVM but I vote as my husband asks me tordquo Her
confession in the end that she agreed to talk to me as I did not mind sitting down with
her and converse and did not demand a chair in their garbage segregation center made
me think about how much our actions as interviewers mattered to create a perception
of us in the eyes of the respondent
But managing just two interviews in this section was a disappointment But the time I
spent trying to build rapport with the street vendors and my limited interaction with
them also made me see their perspective and struggles with day to day chores Also
observing the kind of customers the tender coconut seller attracted (I spent considerable
amount of time there as it was a meeting point for a lot of daily labourers auto drivers
and tea vendors) some regular customers and some new visitors every day and listening
to the kind of discussions they have with each other was a very fascinating experience
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
19
234 Experience with ward committee members
The three ward committee members I spoke to give a unanimous answer regarding the
limited powers that the ward committee enjoyed and more or less the corporator made
all the calls They also unanimously agreed that the ward committee should enjoy more
power in decision making However they had different versions when it came to the
number of meetings that had taken place Some of them were clearly trying to defend
the corporator and also told me that the meetings happened every single month but some
were very honest with the number of meetings that happened There was also lack of
awareness about the guidelines given to the ward committee in the gazette I was told
that public is ldquonot allowedrdquo to attend the meetings and only the nominated members of
the ward committee and the corporator were allowed while the gazette clearly mentions
that all the ward committee meetings were open to public But all the members were
very clear that they would not talk to any random person and agreed to interact with me
only after I showed them my ID card and the letter provided by the institute One of the
members who was initially very sceptical to allow me inside spent considerable amount
of time talking to me about my education and also forced me to have a cup of tea before
leaving While it was understandable that they would not allow some random person in
their house it was also evident that they were trying to avoid the interaction when
consulted via telephone At the same time some would talk at length once they agree to
give an interview I could clearly sense some very frank answers and some diplomatic
answers depending on the kind of relation the members enjoyed with the corporator
During the additional round of data collection the interview with the Corporator of
Vidyaranyapura ward was possible Though not before a number of visits to the home
cum office of the lady Corporator the interaction was indeed an experience
235 Challenges during Data Collection
Finding respondents was the major challenge undoubtedly Identifying potential
respondents building rapport with the individuals trying to convince them to spend
some of their valuable time dealing with hostility and finally documenting the
interviews taken the data collection period was not just challenging but also
demanding Trying to reconstruct the conversations (which were sometimes in
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
20
Kannada) on the same day so as to not to lose out on important aspects of information
making short notes while interviewing so as to capture pointers which would help me
reconstruct the statements was very challenging indeed The biggest challenge was
probably in making the initial break through (as many later interviews were derived
from snowball method) and managing the two interviews with the marginalised
community
236 Resident Welfare Associations
The findings here was a mixed bag as there were cases of some active RWAs which
came across like they were doing decent amount of work by engaging with the
government structures and acting as a facilitator for governance mechanisms and there
were also RWAs which functioned as a source point for political parties Some
respondents had the view that apart from organising some basic annual events like
festival celebrations the RWAs were virtually invisible But with effective functioning
the space for middle class participation does exist
237 On Decentralisation and Ward Committee (Formal Structures)
Other side of the study which was directed at looking at the functioning of ward
committees and exploring the possibility of further decentralisation has exposed me to
the following realities
The current functioning of ward committee (at least in the ward that my study
was restricted to) does not have a great scope for participation and is rather more
like a formality that needs to be completed to satisfy the court orders
Even though the existing ward committees were set up mainly to deal with the
solid waste management and decentralize its management so that the garbage is
taken care of at ward level itself there is provision and scope for extending the
functions beyond this issue But for various reasons the ward committee is not
even able to function the existing minimum functions
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
21
The awareness of a Ward Committee being formed is very minimal and the
public is not even aware of its composition and functions Further though the
gazette clearly mentions that the meetings are open to public the committee
members (at least some of them) seem to think otherwise This captures the lack
of awareness of its functions among the committee members itself
There are some members who represent the interest of the common public and
have an issue with the inadequate functioning of the committee but their small
number and limited power does not give them enough scope to make any
effective contribution
There was consensus among all the committee members interviewed regarding
the issue of scope of functioning of the committee and the lack of power
currently in the hands of the members Therefore even though the committee is
supposed to be a form of decentralization the power and authority is still very
much centralised with respect to decision making
These observations (not exhaustive) reflect the fact that the existing ward committee
functioning is not really a success for advocating decentralisation for various reasons
But there is definitely scope to increase the functioning of the existing structures and
extend the level of participation in urban governance There are structures in place but
participation still is lacking the reasons for which needs to be looked at
238 New Spaces and Alternate Avenues of Participation
(Informal Structures)
Something that came across unexpectedly during the field engagement was the
successful participation of people through informal structures The informal group of
friends which calls itself ldquoFriends of Lakesrdquo (FoL) has managed to create a space for
participation where the issue forms the centre and there is no formal structure like the
RWAs to manage the group Rather they function in such a way that anybody who
wishes to attend can attend the meetings and their votersquos are the onersquos that count But
the outreach of this informal structure to even the Corporators shows that they can
function informally yet engage with the formal governance structures and provide a
space for people to participate to facilitate better governance The informal
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
22
neighbourhood groups also stood by the sides of the marginalised ldquoPourakarmikardquo
workers when they were fighting for their wage rights
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
23
Chapter 3
Participation through Structures ndash As seen in
Vidyaranyapura
The study throws light on many importance aspects regarding the avenues available for
participation of the citizens in ward 9 (Vidyaranyapura) in the city of Bangalore
While these findings are extremely important with respect to the locality of
Vidyaranyapura it also becomes essential to understand the concept of participation
which can be taken ahead beyond just the ward and even the city of Bangalore if some
similar models of participation are to be analysed The key findings are discussed in
this chapter Majorly the structures available for participation can be divided into two
categories ndash Formal and Informal
31 Modes of Participation
There are two modes of participation that were identified during the study These are
the structures which enable a citizen to engage with the governance process They can
be classified as Formal Structures and Informal Structures Each of which are discussed
in detail ahead
311 Formal Structures
The formal structures comprise the following associations and organisations One need
to be elected or be a member under these structures to be able to participate These have
been in existence since long and have changed in terms of composition of members as
the ward has evolved and new organisations have come in to play the role of a mediator
between the residents and the elected members and take the voices of the citizensrsquo
demands to the representatives The traditional associations have also been acting as
bulk vote bank for multiple political parties which forms one of its limitations The
associations decide that voting for a certain party will help their agenda of meeting their
respective demands So they guide their members accordingly The composition of the
area and the various associations mainly the RWAs play a role and incline towards one
of the three major parties depending on the ideology ndash The Indian National Congress
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
24
(INC) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janta Dal Secular JD(S) However the recent
party like the Aam Aadmi Party have started questioning this traditional approach as
some of the respondents indicated Looking at the associationsorganisations
individually one can identify certain characteristics and the same are discussed below
Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs)
The RWAs can be categorised into two groups for our convenience depending on when
they were formed The Old and the New While the Old RWAs are found to be
politically inclined to one party or the other thereby restricting their demands to be
heard only if the party they are inclined comes into power the New RWAs are formed
by the working youth and look at issues that exists in and around their areas The New
RWAs are formed as the new members of the existing RWAs found the working of the
RWAs to be dissatisfactory Some of the respondents from the newly formed RWAs
had the following to say why they thought of making away from the traditional oneshellip
ldquohellipEven I used to blame the councillor as I did not know that there
were people who were directly accountable to the telephone
connections the quality of roads that were built the garbage that
were collected or any other civic issue Once I got to know there were
separate departments in charge within the BBMP and there were
mechanisms in place to address complaints about specific issues I
understood and rightly so that the elected members like the
councillors were just peoplersquos representatives Unless people
themselves demanded accountability no one would bother to be
accountable It is important to complain Who is going to complain is
a bigger problem The problem in todayrsquos world is that in our country
people are not aware If a lizard dies in their home they clean their
home by throwing it outside But if a dog has died in their street no
one bothers to complain about it to the concerned authorities They
are not even aware of the provision for such issues that exist So
awareness is a key aspecthelliprdquo
- RWA Member
The above narrative talks about how the RWA has by experience learnt the process of
grievance redressal that exists in the municipality within the ward Various aspects are
highlighted about the empathy towards the elected representatives which is not
acknowledged by many The fact that they are in a better situation to understand the
working of structures has in all likelihood played a role in them taking up
responsibilities instead of just involving in blame gaming
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
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74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
25
ldquohellipWe are answerable to the next generation So we have to be
responsible Again it is about civic sense Youngsters have zero civic
sense today When we think why this happens we might say may be it
is because the people they look up to the older generation have been
bad role models The elders donrsquot practice this We need to set
examples I am someone who preaches what she practices My 5 year
old granddaughter today tells older kids not to play in parks meant
for kids This is something she has learnt by watching me telling older
kids As long as she is learning the right things I am ok with it But if
I do something I am not supposed to be doing I am setting a bad
example We at least need to give back what we received from our
older generation gave us I doubt if we are doing ithelliprdquo
- RWA Member and Ward Committee Member
This respondent who is a RWA member as well as a Ward Committee member talks
about setting example to the next generation For example if the kids see their parents
are throwing garbage on the streets they will assume that there is nothing wrong in
doing so The parents are the biggest role models and hence have a huge responsibility
While the above responses mention the need for individuals to act responsibly the
following narrative talks about how to resolve the problem of garbage segregation
ldquohellipI have spent around 9 months on how to effectively solve the
problems of solid waste management It ends up that the best way to
implement it is have decentralised units starting from households In
our area I have installed a demo bio gas plant in the temple premises
to create awareness regarding the issuehelliprdquo
- RWA Member and FoL Member
These responses from different respondents indicate that the current RWAs have had a
focus on creating awareness among the residents about issues and the solutions that are
available They have also self-determined and self-moderated solutions for many
issues Thus the new RWAs are focusing on creating a model where awareness drives
the issues focussing on the solutions to be brought by each individual thus fostering
citizen participation in the governance However the discussions portrayed that there
is a long way to go before achieving the desired objectives However the important
aspect is that there has been a shift in focus from reliance on political parties for problem
solving to try and be self-reliant
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
26
Non-governmental Organization (NGO)
There were number of NGOs which could be found online but while on the field only
one was found to be working in the ward under study The NGO works on the issue of
Solid Waste Management and also advocates for the issues with respect to the
community of waste segregators (Pourakarmikas) The participation of this NGO is
strongly associated with the formation of the Ward Committees and it acts as a
mediating agency between the Pourakarmikas and the employees while also keeping
the elected representatives from the government connected with the issues concerning
the citizens
ldquohellipWe work on garbage issues and people definitely lack awareness
about simple things like the importance of segregation We get all kind
of garbage here when we open plastic covers People are not even
sensitive to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in newspapers We
repeatedly tell them to wrap sanitary napkins and diapers in a
newspaper and mark them with a red cross but hardly anyone cares
for these guidelines We open plastic covers and find all sort of stuff
I canrsquot blame these Paurakarmikas for that They are anyways
targeted by BBMP and Citizens If I too start blaming them they would
have nowhere to gohelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Garbage Segregation
Once can clearly see the operational difficulties that exist in the issue of solid waste
management within the ward The NGO which has been outsourced this work also
mentions the plight of the garbage segregators due to lack of awareness among residents
It is evident that the kind of sensitivity and empathy that exists in this NGO may or may
not be seen if it was any other profit making company which had been hired as a process
of outsourcing the issue of garbage management
ldquohellipFirstly Awareness through door-to-door campaigns Secondly
we identify lsquoblack spotsrsquo What happens is the point where garbage is
loaded to transport vehicles from tipping vehicles has some garbage
fallout Then this place starts attracting garbage from in and around
area So we try to identify such spots through RWAs and volunteers
We have identified 18 so far in Vidyaranyapura alone Through
awareness we have managed to remove 3 of them so far in last 2
months But it is a slow process Children are very enthusiastic in
these issues and school awareness program generally yield best
resultshelliprdquo
- NGO Member on Issues Addressed
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
27
The above responses indicate the focus being again on creating awareness and how by
experience they had to shift the target audience from the parents to teachers to bring
effective change These measures combined with the experiences that the new RWAs
are undergoing are bound to yield results in the future
Other Civil Society Organisations (Association for the elderly and
others)
The other neighbourhood organisations that are present are for specific groups like the
elderly The senior citizens find a space for themselves here and also act as an advisory
body for many other organisations (both formal and informal) with their experience
coming from diverse backgrounds They act as a much needed lot of experience from
diverse fields
ldquohellipsince we have a diverse background of senior citizens like army
men government officials members who have served on various
panels we act as advisory body to a lot of voluntary associations
RWAs also informal groups wherever people seek our advice on
governance environment or any other issue Some of us have
knowledge about lakes so we are overlooking the attempt by residents
to revamp the lakes Some of us are working on pavement and footpath
issues etc The advice is given mainly on issues like providing
information on whom to approach for a particular issue devising the
plan of action procedures to follow etc If people seek our guidance
we are more than willing to contribute but we avoid direct
involvement (formally) as it involves lot of travelling (to meetings
visiting officials etc) So we stick to the advisory part of ithelliprdquo
- Member from Association for Elderly (Hiriya Nagarikara Vedike)
They provide necessary guidance where required and also keep themselves
meaningfully occupied by being part of the association All the members in this
organisation being elderly it helps them to find space to spend some time together
keeping them active and busyThis is very essential for them individually while helping
the other civil society organisations at the same time making use of their experience
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
28
Ward Committee
The structure of each ward committee is that it consists of 10 members including the
ward Corporator It is the Corporator who lsquonominatesrsquo the other 9 representatives who
are chosen from various sections comprising of Women Representatives RWA
members SC and members apart from other residents
People are largely unaware of the provisions of ward committee but structurally there
is a provision for citizens to participate and engage directly with the elected
representatives of their wards and voice their concerns
ldquohellipThey do not happen on a regular basis or as per any timetable
They happen like once in two months or once in three months when
members are informed and issues discussedhelliprdquo
ldquohellipWe meet every month and the Chief Engineer and other BBMP
members are also present Sometimes ward number 9 10 11 have
combined meeting and sometimes we have independent meetingshelliprdquo
ldquohellipThe Ward Committee meets once a month generally And if there
is a necessity and any urgent issue to be addressed we even can have
meetings once in 15 dayshelliprdquo
ldquohellipI think we are supposed to have a meeting every month but we just
had 3 or 4 meetings till nowhelliprdquo
As we can see the responses given by various ward committee members are
contradicting Some claim that meetings happen every month and some claim they have
barely met more than 4 or 5 times This raises some serious questions on how
effectively the ward committee is able to function
The guidelines to function are given in a Gazette which can be found below
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
29
Fig 31 Ward Committee Gazette
Source BBMP Website
312 Participation through Informal Groups
In both the forms the participation happens majorly by the middle class section of the
society while the issues addressed can be varied from lakes to foot paths to non-
payment of salary for the lsquopourakarmikasrsquo The informal group that exist was Friends
of Lakes (FoL) chose to remain anonymous thus creating a space for informal
participation
The success of FoL is the key focus of this section
Why the need to go informal
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
Can this model work on a large scale
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
30
Why go Informal
The formal groups mainly the RWAs are inclined towards a particular political party
which makes them dependent on favourable party to come to power On the other hand
they are used as a vote bank by the political parties Thus the conscious decision by
some members who were part of RWAs to form an informal participatory group with
initial focus to clean up lakes The group meets on Sundays and holidays engages with
cleaning up of lakes and acts as an entry point of engagement Anyone is free to
participate Further other micro as well as macro issues are identified and efforts are
made to engage with the concerned authorities While this form acts as a
complementary mode to that of formal structures it has yielded results as far as lakes
are considered in the ward and now finding its feet across the wards of Bangalore by
forming similar groups in other wards as well like FoL Singapura FoL Attur etc which
can be found active on Facebook
How is informal participation able to sustain itself
It forms an entry point to engage with the problem for citizens Once they engage they
get to know the complexities that exist This is the philosophy of the group It is
important to understand that the informal structure does not substitute the formal
structure but rather complements it The demand taken forward by a group of say 70
odd people to the Corporator on a relevant issue backed by formal organisation
representatives has till now managed to attract the eyes of the elected representatives
Firstly it is a group which is informal so political affiliation plays little role Secondly
if problem is solved the representative can talk about it as their involvement Sometimes
inputs by experts come as useful suggestions which the Corporator can put forth to the
municipality Also the instances when the agenda moves ahead than just lakes the
other section of people who may otherwise not find it feasible to participate in the
activities of the group come to know about the group As in the case of garbage
segregators when the informal group sent its representatives to support the garbage
segregators and also ran an online campaign to bring the plight of the unpaid workers
to the limelight it got the workers support as well
Can this model work on a large scale
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
31
While there has been a similar model of participation which is involved in cleaning up
the vital parts of the city and also outside (The Ugly Indians) and managed quite a stir
on social media their main objective of creating cleaner public spaces is quite rigid
Thus the people who participate there are only a section of middle class and the lesser
powerful marginalised do not find a say or cannot relate to the objective of the group
However the decentralised informal groups if they wish to have successfully taken
stances on various issues
If the two forms of groups formal and informal are imagined to act as a facilitating
process for people to participate it can be distinguished that the formal structures act
as a means of providing information and accessibility (be it through political
engagement or via tools like RTI) to find ways to solve local problems On the other
hand the informal structures are acting in the ward as pressure groups which is creating
a peoples demand Both of these complement each other and have managed to address
the issue of lakes in the ward as of now
On the other hand decentralisation through ward committees have not been totally
effective due to various factors like anomaly over how the ward committee is appointed
Currently it functions as a nomination procedure which means the Corporator
nominates 9 other representatives This is not seen as a very effective way of
appointment as there is always the question of favouritism The lack of knowledge
about the powers of the ward committee amongst the ward committee members
themselves which was visible during data collection raised doubts about the functioning
of the committee
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
32
Chapter 4
Understanding Informality and its Contribution to
Participation
ldquohellipInformality has certain power and the power is of nebulousness which is good
because it is a power of the idea and not the power of a lead grouphelliprdquo
- One of the founding member of Friends of Lakes
(FoL)
The idea of participating informally which was visible in Vidyaranyapura was
something which made me very curious as a researcher Though some aspects of
informal participation has already been discussed about in the previous chapter this
chapter will look at understanding the informal mode from its origin and the macro
level factors (be it the Aam Aadmi Party or The Ugly Indian) which acted as a push
factor for something like the Friends of Lakes to originate The contribution this form
of participation is making in this ward to ensure good governance needs to be
understood and at the same time a theoretical lens will give a deeper understanding of
the same
41 Origin of the Idea of Friends of Lakes (FoL)
The origin of FoL is dated back to 1988 when many of the existing members were in
schools It was the enthusiasm of these school going kids to plant saplings and take care
of them that first invoked a feeling of common community space or a meeting point for
the young residents of Vidyaranyapura
ldquoldquohellipIt might not be possible to believe but the first meeting of FoL
took place in 1988 when I a couple of existing members along with
many others who are still active in the group met as school children
and worked on planting around 1000 saplings around the lake and all
across Vidyaranyapura (many trees that you see now) We were in 6th
standard and 8th standard and used our free time to plant these
saplings and made sure we provided adequate amount of water
required for them It was much easier to water them then as we had
the lake as a source But those were school days and we all got busy
with our lives after thathelliprdquo
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
33
- Member FoL
The above narrative by one of the members of the group who has been associated with
the group since the planting of saplings explains their initial engagement with the lake
as kids who used to water the saplings using the lake water As stated above all of
them became busy with their academic life and careers after their schooling But this
initial idea of collective effort probably had a huge influence on them now coming
together to work for the same lake which was on the verge of dying It was recently that
the friends just met as a get together and decided to do something about the state of the
lake The first activity that the group took up is described in the following narrative by
the same member
ldquohellipWe had a friend then called Rashmi6 who had planted saplings all
around the Canara Bank Bus Stop I think the bus stop even today has
her name mentioned She unfortunately passed away after she came
under a BMTC bus We had named some trees in her memory
Recently when a restaurant came up named lsquoAdigasrsquo right next to the
lake they chopped off some trees to increase visibility But then since
the group is re-established now around two months back we decided
to act and not see things around us stay in status quo It just took us 3
weeks (Sundays) to clean this lake (Narasipura ndash 2) Now we will
move to next lake Narasipura ndash 1 in next few weeks before heading to
Doddabommasandra lake which is the biggest These are the 3 lakes
in this area and we plan to connect them and revamp them We have
experts on water issues also as our lsquofriendsrsquo in FoLhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
This event acted as a trigger for the group of friends to regroup and lsquoactrsquo against the
existing status quo What is interesting to note is that their inherent childhood
attachment to the lake which was the source of water for the saplings they had planted
is what brought them together There by the belief of a ldquocommonrdquo property which is
owned by everyone in the area (every member who planted a sapling had a feeling that
he is a stakeholder) which then makes them think about how to take care of this resource
42 Factors that had an Influence
6 Name Changed to maintain confidentiality as per the request of the respondent
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
34
There are factors along with the ones mentioned above which had an influence on how
the group took shape as being one of the major voice of the people on local issues (with
initial focus on lakes)
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
- Member FoL
As explained in the above narrative the influence of happenings in the previous
monthsyears be it the Anna Hazare Movement against corruption or the evolution of
Aam Aadmi Party which was the resultant of the movement reinforced the essence of
peoples participation for better governance Also initiatives like The Ugly Indian (TUI)
have inspired the group Another aspect is the role of social media Like in the case of
India Against Corruption (IAC) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or The Ugly Indian (TUI)
social media played a huge role in the case of Friends of Lakes (FoL) Facebook forms
the major form of communication about their activities Be it the RWAs the local
Corporator or the local MLA all are added to the group The elected representatives are
also keen to show their active participation which cannot be ignored Vidyaranyapura
has a Facebook group of more than 7000 residents Something which is unique to this
ward and cannot be found for any other ward in Bangalore The group also acts as an
effective pressure groups and members from various political parties are active on the
group which discusses issues ranging from bad roads electricity lakes to non-payment
of wages to the garbage collectors by the contractors
ldquohellipAs I told earlier we just meet as any other friends and talk about
issues There needs to be a consensus and a majority of 34th obtained
if we have to work on any issue The fact that we are not a formal
organisation means that no one like the Councillor MLA or any
individual can target us If you are an RWA or any other organisation
you can be targeted and people may hamper your intent to work on
issues We are almost like an anonymous group now You might have
heard about lsquoThe Ugly Indianrsquo which are small an anonymous groups
cleaning up the city and now spread all across the country Very
similar idea ndash you cannot be targeted but the work gets done And
since we have experienced people as well as ex-bureaucrats we
cannot be set aside by telling us this cannot be done They guide us
on procedures to follow and the work no one can deny us We know
for a fact that the MLA and others are trying to find out who this
Friends of Lakes are but they will get 70 answers that ldquoWe are
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
35
Friends of Lakesrdquo and they cannot ignore such a number in a ward
And also when we go for negotiations we do not encourage individual
meetings There have to be at least 3 members even children who are
part of this group will do This is to eliminate any individual influence
that might arise and hamper the issue on handhelliprdquo
- Member FoL
The fact that the members from FoL have also been part of RWAs and have seen the
shortcomings in that structure has made them realise the role of anonymity that an
informal structure has to offer In addition there are experts from various fields who
reside in Vidyaranyapura and are active part of FoL makes it that much more effective
The group is very diverse in its constitution From children to experts in the field From
youth to the elderly Their common interest to get sustainable solutions through existing
mechanisms has what kept them going The understanding of the informal and
anonymous groups by one of the expert member of the FoL can be understood by the
following narrative
ldquohellipWhen community groups organise themselves one likes to see what
forms they take and how they can be guided People are not clear what
should be done So FoL came to us because we have been living here in
this area Both in the case of TUI with which I was associated in its initial
days and the FoL the idea was that we should not formally start a group
because formality has certain characteristics which is advantageous but
also disadvantageous Informality has certain power and the power is of
nebulousness which is good because it is a power of the idea and not the
power of a lead group When FoL started we decided it would be an
informal group which we see on facebook page It would engage the
citizens to participate as citizens that is the act of cleaning up of lakes
the act of planting trees the act of gathering together and discussing
what the key issues are But the primary focus would be to move the
government institutions responsible to hold up to their accountability So
that is the way it has been going on In this business you donrsquot take credit
You only nudge ideas perhaps A lot of people then take action Through
the ideas of FoL there are other groups formed at Jakkur Singapura
another one is being formed at Attur These ideas spread and people
champion them Informality therefore has this advantage of not
associating an idea or a project with an individual but the group You
have problems but that is the way it goes we need to find wayshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban
Planner)
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
36
The success of the group lies in its anonymity sense of ownership towards
ldquocommonrdquo resources outreach through social media accessibility to experts
access to elected representatives and their responsiveness
43 From lsquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrsquo to lsquoThe Comedy of Commonsrsquo
The concept of sustainable development is often critiqued based upon the argument of
ldquoThe Tragedy of Commonsrdquo (Hardin 1968) which is an economic concept put forth by
Garret Hardin In his paper Garret argues that in the individual interest of individuals
their actions act against the common interest of the group as a whole The overall
argument is against reliance on the mutually beneficial conscience The counter to this
argument is a model named ldquoComedy of the Commonsrdquo (Rose 1986) which state that
the community will contribute their varying knowledge to bring about a common good
for the society
In the case of Vidyaranyapura Ward the various interests from various groups like the
elected representatives RWAs FoL Social Network Groups etc have resulted in
bringing about a common good for all The residents are now having three lakes
revamped the elected representatives have a tick mark on their task the social
networking sites buzz with enthusiasm every week with a new activity being discussed
the group FoL acts as a voice of people who are marginalised by standing by the
ldquoPourakarmikasrdquo who are not being paid their salary by the contractor Though the last
issue is still going on the group FoL has managed to claim a active space in
participation for various section of people be it environmentalists like bird watchers
children who lack play ground or garbage segregators ndash The Pourakarmikas This model
of informal participation is at present ensuring that various stakeholders are kept in
consideration when any decision is taken by a Corporator Thus the tendency in this
case is found to be towards The Comedy of the Commons
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
37
44 Role of Informal and Formal Structures in the lsquoLadder of
Participationrsquo
Fig 41 Ladder of Participation and Structures
Source Arnstein 1969
The space created by groups (both formal and informal) in the ladder of participation
as mentioned by Sherry Arnstein in her work ldquoA Ladder of Citizen Participationrdquo
(Arnstein 1969) can be understood by the previous figure
The ladder has been edited to potray the role played by formal and informal structures
in ensuring participation which further enforces a move towards good governance in
the ward under study The blue borders indicate the role informal structures (FoL) is
providing in the ladder The orange borders indicate the role formal structures (Ward
Committee RWAs NGOs Etc) are able to provide While FoL has managed a sense
of providing partnership and consultation with the elected representatives who are the
lsquodecision makersrsquo in the current structure of governance the RWAs and other formal
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
38
structures act as a supporting structure by providind information and delegated power
(in case of Ward Committees)
Thus we can understand that the formal and informal structures are more of
complementing each other in ensuring that the practice of good governance takes place
effectively
45 The Inter-linkages of Formal Informal and Political Structures
We have discussed about the various stakeholders of governance which include
participants from elected sphere formal structures and informal structures The
importance of each of these avenues of participation cannot be undermined While they
may have individual goals for each of these structures their functioning cannot happen
in isolation This is because the individual goals somewhere tend to intersect with larger
goals of better governance for the people resulting in the stakeholderrsquos
interdependence
The Inter-linkage
The three set of people interviewed were ndash
The Ward Committee Members Elected Representatives
Neighbourhood Association Representatives (Formal Informal)
Marginalised Community Representatives
The Elected Representatives The ward committee members have their term and are
expected to show productivity to be re-elected Specially in todayrsquos world where a
representative and any individual for that matter is visible to the public sphere on such
a wide range of options (social media being the recent one) it becomes necessary for
them to act as per the demand by the people of their respective constituency
That is where the increased options of available structures in recent times play a crucial
role The neighbourhood associations (RWAs NGOs Informal Group of Peoples) act
as a medium to take the demand to the representatives They also perform the act of
monitoring and are the connecting thread between local residents and the elected
members
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
39
The marginalised communities be it the scrap dealer garbage segregator or the auto
driver are service providers to the local people Thus their voices more often than not
reach the elected representatives through the neighbourhood associations because any
disruption in the daily course of work of these communities affect all the residents of
the locality
Individual vs Collective
Fig 42 Map of Governance
The individual goals of these three communities may differ to a great extent For the
elected member it may be the question of retaining his position or moving up the ladder
of the political career Politics cannot be de-linked from the public There by the verdict
given by the public is what decides the future of this representative Hence the
representatives dependence on the other structures of participation The demands need
to be heard for representatives own good
For the neighbourhood associations it is more about taking the local concerns to the
concerned authorities so that the local issues can be resolved But knowingly or
unknowingly they also function as monitoring agencies of the representatives The
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
40
outreach of these groups are widespread and any displeasure about any representative
gets easily communicated to vast section of people They are the medium of voice for
the marginalised as well As the lives of marginalised directly affects the wellbeing of
the locality there arises the need to look after their voices as well
The marginalised communities may not have a direct voice but their voices are carried
forward by the neighbourhood associations The accessibility of neighbourhood
associations is much more easier than the elected representatives Also the fact that the
activities of these associations somewhere includes these communities as well The
meetings and the activity themselves (be it lake cleaning cleanliness drive or awareness
campaigns) connect the other residents with the marginalised communities Here is
where they can address their concerns Thus the neighbourhood associations (be it
formal or informal) have a vital role here because their absence or ineffective presence
may delink the marginalised section and the common man from the governance process
Interdependence ndash A boon or a bane
But is this interdependence necessarily a boon Well in areas where all the three units
are functioning to some extent it is a boon The Vidyaranyapura ward is an example of
this One stakeholderrsquos vigilance will make sure the others also function But in areas
where one or more of these structures are not functioning the interdependence means
that the inefficiency of one leads to the overall compromise on the issues of concern
Fig 43 Interdependence ndash A Linear Relationship
Local Residents including the Marginalised Communities
Neighbourhood Associations (Formal and Informal)
Elected representatives and Ward Commitee Members
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
41
As we see the interdependence is bridged by a linear relationship This is because the
neighbourhood organisation acts as information providerseeker which bridges the gap
between the other two Thus ineffectiveness of one or more of these break the linear
connection resulting in compromise of governance outcomes
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
42
Chapter 5
Conclusion
Citizen participation has been a much talked about concept in last couple of years From
the Anti-corruption Movement by Anna Hazare which garnered unanticipated public
support to the culmination of a political party which talks about Mohalla Sabharsquos to
engage citizens with governance issues Like trickledown effect these macro level
developments have played a role in increasing participatory avenues for citizens in
unimaginable ways
51 Redefining Citizen Partnership and its Contributors
The key components of this research was the informal mode of participation Be it the
FoL at the ward level or the TUI at the larger level one can clearly see the role that this
form of participation has to play One significant contributor to the development of FoL
in the ward is the Aam Aadmi Party The political movement has redefined politics for
many in the country The political ambitions which looked distant for a common man
now is far more accessible Be it the issue of transparency in fundingrsquos or talk of giving
space for people in governance (through Mohalla Sabhas which forms one of the key
aspects of Aam Aadmi Partyrsquos successs mantra for good governance) the party has gone
on to re-invent itself over the time between its poor performance at the National
Elections to the Clean Sweep it recently had in Delhi by sweeping 67 seats out of 70
and virtually knocking out both the Congress (which scored a zero) and the BJP (which
took the three remaining seats) The emphatic victory in many ways symbolises the
common manrsquos role in political arena From the symbolic lsquoAam Aadmirsquo being included
in the name of the party to the party symbol of lsquoJhadoorsquo one can clearly relate to the
party if they identify themselves with being the lsquocommon manrsquo The auto drivers to the
sweepers the young first time voters to the old loyal voters it was clearly visible that
the party had volunteers from all the spheres of the society
It is significant to note that apart from the direct role being played by the party now in
governance it has inspired many to actively participate in the democracy The
following narrative by one of the founding member of FoL in itself speaks about the
indirect contribution that the political movement of AAP is making in various
dimensions of governance
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
43
ldquohellipOff late the recent happenings like the Anna Hazare Anti
Corrruption Movement and the Aam Aadmi Party has brought this
aspect of participation to the forefront again Probably many of our
members are inspired by these eventshelliprdquo
52 Forms of Participation
The structures both existing and evolving are making way for participation of citizens
in unique forms These forms and spaces are accessed by citizens based on their
accessibility to these spaces The accessibility also determines what participation may
mean to each of these For example to a poor citizen who has to think about feeding
herhis family participation may mean going a d voting in any election For a citizen
who can afford to devote time there are spaces available like the formal and informal
structures
43 The Question ndash Who Should Participate and Who Can Participate
While we have discussed the role that these informal and formal structure are playing
to ensure peoples participation it is strikingly visible that the participation is
dominantly from a particular class of the people in the society People who have access
to social media people who can spend their weekends discussing issues about the lakes
and people who can negotiate with the elected representatives One question that as a
researcher I could not find answer during my study was whether these new models of
participation are restricting and further pushing a section of the society to the periphery
The marginalised communities be it the Garbage Segregators or the Scrap Dealers can
not afford to spend their weekends to clean the lake For them their concern is their day
to day chores
The following narratives indicate the stance of the marginalised communities that were
interviewed during the study
ldquohellipI work here all day and once I go home I have to work there too
There is not really a lot of free time to keep track of the MLAs
Corporators and all that I vote and do my part but I do not know
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
44
who our representatives are Never thought that was so important that
I should try to find out about themhelliprdquo
- A women worker at the garbage collection center
ldquohellipThe MLA is Mr Krishna Byregowda and the Councillor is Ms
Nandini Srinivas They come here during elections but as this time it
was MP elections the visits were not really essential They care for
people living in houses and flats Why would anyone worry about us
As long as they allow us to stay in the area we have no problemhelliprdquo
- Scrap Dealer Head of the Family (Male)
While the narrative from the women worker clearly indicate that the time and space
available for these citizens to participate is minimal the second narrative is a case of
an individual who is aware about the happenings around but whose participation is also
restricted In both the cases the individuals are concerned about their livelihoods shelter
and their survival Can they afford to think about nurturing the lake or raise a voice
about bad public transport system when they are not sure about their own shelter Well
let the question remain rhetoric
The views of one of the members of FoL when asked about Participation of the
Marginalised is as follows He also happens to be an Urban Planner
ldquohellipSo what is participation is what has to be defined Should you be
involved in day to day activities Should you be monitoring every
investment Should you oversee the functioning of every government
schools hospitals etc These are clearly different classes at different
times with different priorities There are limitations to democracy
Especially the way power structure is handled the way it is just a
representative So in that sense participation by every unit is very
difficult But it is things like public hearings area sabhas which
provide the space for the people But it then at the hands of the people
too to decide Whether they want to participate But there has to be
structures which enables them to if they want to Which is what we
need to work towardshelliprdquo
- Member FoL (Civil Engineer and Urban Planner)
Whether I agree to him or not is something I have been deliberating ever
since I took the interview
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
45
Appendix Research Questionnaire ndash Semi Structured
Interviews
Semi-structured interview for RWA
a Explain the organisation structure selection procedure of position
holders in the association
b Describe the last RWA meeting that took place and the issues
discussed
c How often do the members meet to discuss these issues Who can
attend these meetings
d How do you prioritize the issues on which the RWA will work on
e What actions have been taken on any of these issues Which of them
do you think have been successful Why Why Not
f How have various options like RTI Media Voluntary
Organisations elected representatives been accessed to address
these issues
g What are the formalinformal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
h What is the proportion of households in your area that are members
of the RWA
i What are the various activities taken up by the association during the
course of the year
j What are your experiences with the elected representatives ward
committee members
k What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of your
RWA
l What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
m What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
46
Semi-structured interview for marginalised people
a Do you and other members of your family vote in the elections
b What are the major issues that are of concern to you
c What are the measures taken by local officials on these issues that
you are aware of
d What facilities are you currently availing from the government
e Are you aware of all the current government schemes that you are
eligible for
f Are there any organisations (NGOsCBOs) working in this area
g Do elected representatives ward committee membersany other
individuals visit the area to know about your issues
h Are you aware who your elected representatives are
i What are the attempts made by you to raise these issues to any of the
representatives (RWAsNGOsCBOsward committees) in this
area
j Explain a few things that you would want your representative to do
k What is your view on lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
47
Semi-structured interview for Ward Committee MembersElected
Representatives
a Describe the last ward committee meeting that took place
b How often do these meetings take place
c What are the issues generally discussed
d What are the roles and responsibilities distributed among members
e What are the key areas of concern in your area currently according
to you
f How do you see the effectiveness of the ward committee
g What are your experiences with the elected representatives other
ward committee members
h What are the formal informal ways for people in your locality to
address grievances
i Are any NGO CBO consulted involved in the meetings
j Do you think the ward committee successfully represents the
diversity of the residents and their various needs
k What are your views on further decentralising the functional powers
of wards
l What are your views of lsquoparticipationrsquo of people in a Democracy
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
48
References
74th CAA 1 (nd) urbanindianicin Retrieved from 74th Constitution Amendment Act
httpurbanindianicinprogrammelsg74th_CAApdf
Amitabh Kundu Soumen Bagchi amp Debolina Kundu (1999) Regional Distribution of
Infrastructure and Basic Amenities in Urban India Issues concerning empowerment
of local bodies Economic and Political Weekly 1893-1906
Arnstein S R (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 216-224
Bardhan P (2002) Decentralisation of Governance and Development Journa of Economic
Perspectives 185-205
BATPIC Network S (2012 July 17) ESG India (Environment Support Group) Retrieved Dec
20 2013 from wwwesgindiaorg httpesgindiaorgeducationcommunity-
outreachpressbangalore-road-widening-and-other-urban-html
Behar A (2003 May 17-23) Experiment with Direct Demcracy Time for Reappraisal
Economic and Political Weekly 1925-1927
Beher A (2001 March 10) Gram Swaraj Experiment in Direct Democracy Economic and
Political Weekly 823-826
Bovaird T amp Loumlffler E (2003) Evaluating the Quality of Public Governance Indicators
Models and Methodologies International Review of Administrative Sciences 313-
328
C Ramachandriah (2009) Maytas Hyderabad Metro and the Politics of Real Estate
Economic amp Political Weekly 36-40
censusindiagovin (2011) Census of India Retrieved January 08 2014 from
httpcensusindiagovin2011-prov-resultspaper2data_fileskarnataka4-
population-8-19pdf
Economic Times (2011 February 18) How much does India invest on infrastructure
Retrieved from httparticleseconomictimesindiatimescom2011-02-
18news28615645_1_infrastructure-investment-climate-gdp
Fukuyama F (2013 July) What Is Governance Governance An International Journal of
Policy Administration and Institutions 347-368 Retrieved from
httponlinelibrarywileycomdoi101111gove12035full
Hardin G (1968 December 13) The Tragedy of the Commons Science Magazine 1243-
1248 Retrieved from httpwwwsciencemagorgcontent16238591243fullpdf
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
Lele U (1975) The Design of Rural Development Lessons from Africa Baltimore Johns
Hopkins University Press
Mahadevia D Joshi R amp Datey A (2013) Ahmedabadrsquos BRT System - A Sustainable Urban
Transport Panacea Economic amp Political Weekly 56-64
Mandros J (2005) Political Social and Legislative Action In M Weil The Handbook of
Community Practice (pp 276-286)
Morse R Rahman A amp Johnson K L (1995) Grassroot Horizons Connecting Participatory
Development Initiatives East and West Oxford amp IBH Publishing Co Pvt Ltd
Nanda V P (2006) The Good Governance Concept Revisited The ANNALS of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science 269-283 Retrieved from
httpannsagepubcomcontent6031269
Oakley P amp Marsden D (1984) Approaches to Participation in rural development Geneva
International Labour Office
Pranab Bardhan (2002) Decentralization of Governance and Development Journal of
Economic Perspectives 185-205
Rodrıguez-Pose A amp Ezcurra R (2010) Does decentralization matter for regional
disparities A cross-country analysis Journal of Economic Geography 619-644
Rose C M (1986 January 1) The Comedy of the Commons CommerceCustom and
Inherently Public Property Faculty Scholarship Series 53(3) 711-781 Retrieved
from httpdigitalcommonslawyaleedufss_papers1828
The Gettysburg Address (1863 November 19) abrahamlincolnonline Retrieved January 06
2014 from httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorg
httpwwwabrahamlincolnonlineorglincolnspeechesgettysburghtm
The Guardian (2012 April 6) The Guardian Retrieved January 8 2014 from
wwwtheguardiancom httpwwwtheguardiancomglobal-
developmentgallery2012apr06india-technology-not-helping-poor-in-
picturesindex=1
The Hindu (2009) Environmentalists oppose metro Bangalore The Hindu
50
The New York Times (2006 March 20) Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore
Retrieved January 08 2014 from wwwnytimescom
httpwwwnytimescom20060320businessworldbusiness20bangalorehtml_
r=0
United Nations (2008 February 26) UN News Cente Retrieved from
httpwwwunorgappsnewsstoryaspNewsID=25762
Uphoff N T amp Cohen J (1979) Feasibility and application of rural development
participation A state of the art paper Cornell University
49
Kamath L amp Vijayabaskar M (2009 June 27) Limits and Possibilities of Middle Class
Associations as Urban Collective Actors Economic amp Political Weekly 368-376
Lama-Rewal S T (2007) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi
Municipal Elections 2007 Economic amp Political Weekly 52-60
Lama-Rewal S T (2007 November 24) Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy
Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Economic and Political Weekly 51-60
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