Womens Democracatisation and Democracy in India

Womens Democracatisation and Democracy in IndiaProblematising Democracatisation and Democracy in IndiaVisions of semi semi g eachwherenmental development demands/desires democracy and cancelicipation as innate to its discourse. Development in this whiz thus eng ripens democratic decisions devising, informed and active civic association and inclusive policy-making structure to reach its goal. In the Indian context the play of democratization with inclusive betrothal is desired d adept the 73rd- 74th amendment human action of Indian constitution, 1992. The Act fosters the strengthening of local anesthetic anaesthetic g everywherenment by creating opportunities for inclusive conflict. It provides adjusts to schedule orders and plan Tribes and women, the most marginalised in the hierarchical Indian society to move in local government. Aiming to redress the gender and clan inequities the Act provides 33% reservation to the aforementi oned categories to infix in local bo dies.Post implementation of the Act that has now passed sixteen years, womens lodge has been unusu eachy visible. This has recently resulted in Union cabinet approving a proposal of marriage of a constitutional amendment bill for increasing quota (50%) for women in punchayets at all tiers (DNA 29th August, 2009). Media reports estimate to a greater extent(prenominal) than 1.4 million women to occupy 2,52,000 punchayet put in future. It as well as states, at present out of the total select representatives of panchayat numbering around 2.8 million, 36.87% be women. The Panchayat raj ministry report indicates a significant fiber played by reservation in legal transfer women into mainstream (ibid). According to this report, astir(predicate) four-fifth of all women representatives in panchayat elections got elected from silent seats and virtually 83% of them scratched political science by quota. Positive disturb of go faring governing and working as a panchayat raj fu nctionary is visible as 79% of women representatives describe better ego-esteem, 81% reported confi dence building and 74% stated increase of decision-making abilities (ibid). Such a positive report gives a picture of better and inclusive political science that India is moving towards by presenting gender and development progress. This step foresees change magnitude active- lodge of women in frequent sphere and their say-so.However, we need to bet critically at the political participation that is envisioned and the genuine implementation. Would political participation also relieve womens participation at decision-making? What would participation entail e fussyly for Dalit women in legal injury of the dire consequences of their earnest self-assertion to realize their rights? What is the utilisation that the 73rd Amendment Act envisages for Scheduled Caste and what is the role they end up playing? At the stage setting of increased efforts from the state for inclusive g overnance these ar the lines of enquiry I intend to draw upon.Dr. Ambedkar in the constituent Assembly, 1948 expressed his views on Indian small towns What is a colonisation scarcely a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow mindedness and communalism? (Mathew,G. Nayak,R.1996 1). He psycheed the why should the village become the locus of the political structure?(Palanithurai 2003 27) Villages ruled by its governing elite groups and upper coterie harbor been actually conservative and are ground on traditional compevery structure. Local self government thus would reinforce the villages as unites of elite captures exploiting the downtrodden at grassroots.Problem Statement/Justification/Purpose of look for xvi years of the passing of the 73rd constitutional amendment Act has brought about a scarce change in local governance. The formal participation and involvement of Dalit and women has increased in local politics. At this juncture in that respect is a need to unde rtake a globe check. Does formal participation hatchs real(a) government agency of Dalit women? Is the process of political participation inclusive and empowering? Does assertion of Dalit women leads to personnel against them as they are non meant to participate actively?The paper looks at Dalit womens vexs of political participation in panchayat raj and its impact on their empowerment. My wager in the unloose of Dalit women comes from a number of antithetic sources.First, from a personalised experience as inter alia a Dalit adult female. I, see several facets to the Dalit womens experiences having been brought up with this identity and beingness from the same background.Secondly, experience of working with civil society organisations on sex activity Justice and rights of Dalit women during the graduation as a part of flying written report work, internship with CHR and volunteering in Dalit movement in India drew my attention to Dalit womens issues more prominently. During the process I met Dalit women activists from rural Maharashtra working at grass-roots and saw the incessant bothers they faced for they challenged the dodgeic subjugation. The intersectionality of association and gendered hierarchy that gets intensified as Dalit women enter the public sphere came forward as a new learning. The socio-cultural office and significantly the caste-class-gender interplay make Dalit womens experiences specific. I therefore wanted to document the experiences of Dalit women who enter the public sphere for the root time by formal mean such(prenominal) as political participation. last and most keyly my condense on Dalit womens political participation in Panchayat is because at polity direct although the introduction of reservation to marginalised groups (Women, SCs, STs) at local body envisions inclusive democracy and better governance, in practice the local level politics is a crudest unit of oppression.Thus the need to study Dalit womens e xperiences of political participation arose from my own understanding and experience of the issue as well asSpecificity of Being Dalit Women IntersectionalityDalit women in India today number 80.517 million or nigh 48% of the total Dalit population, 16% of the total female population and 8% of the total Indian Population (Irudayam et al., 20061). Dalit women face discrimination on a daily groundwork, as a Dalit, as women and as a worthless they are in extremely assailable position (National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights 20061). Dalit women make majority of unorganised squat in urban settings and landless labourers in rural. Systemic ferocity against Dalit women can be seen as a tool to keep Dalit in a subordinated position. It is built in to the structure of the dominant society, which does not acknowledge the rudimentary human rights of Dalit in general and Dalit women in exceptional. There is a clash betwixt the pass judgment role of Dalit women and the role they achie ve because of the differential ways in which they do their fond spatial relation and gender norms. The new public role that the 1992 Act assigns them generates a clash between traditional norms and the achieved political rights of Dalit women. Dalit women who put one over the breathing in to occupy a political position frequently encounter immunity from the society. General discouragement becomes military unit as soon as they depict too much(prenominal) initiative, speak up and gain support from the bigger confederacy. semipolitical participation for Dalit women is seen as a threat by the dominant caste groups. Dalit womens entry in politics is perceived as them securing entitlement to public resources. Strong Casteist and patriarchal biases against Dalit result in violent attacks, prevailing Dalit women from exercising their rights through unlike mechanisms. There fore at academic level, I count there is an urgent need to study the experiences of Dalit women participat ing in politics. It is at the village level that caste and gendered hierarchy plays out in crudest forms)With this inaugurate I form objectives of my study the broad objective being contemplate the experiences of Dalit womens right to political participation in rural Panchayat Raj system.I form following specific objective for the studyExplore the factors that restrain or facilitate participation of Dalit women in rural Panchayat Raj. watch the impact of political participation on Dalit women in Panchayat Raj. analyse the empowerment process of Dalit women through the political participation in Panchayat Raj.To suggest recommendations for powerful participation of Dalit women in Panchayat RajResearch scrupleBased on the objectives of study I hypothecate my research question for the enquiryWhat are the experiences of Dalit women participating in panchayat raj?Has the political participation impacted Dalit womens empowerment?What have been the attributing/restraining factors for the empowerment of Dalit women?What are the achievements of their political participation for themselves and for the Dalit community they represent and for the society in general? womens rightist approach inwardly womens rightist favorable science research, qualitative info, in particular in-depth interviews have held a prominent place in the storey of feminist inquiry (Rabinowitz and Martin, 200144 in Kitzenger2003126). Focus groups systems are also utilize along with such talk about experiences. These are self-report methods. My choice of affair and feminist orientation required to utilize this method.This goes back to second dither of feminism (1970s) that emphasized the reclaiming and validation of womens experiences through listening womens voices (Kitzenger, 2003125, Kirsch, 19994). The personal experiences of women have also been recognized in political context since then. Further Feminist social science researcher made it general to base their studies on womens voice s and experiences. In fact feminist researches aimed at listening to womens different voices (Gilligan, 1982 in Kitzenger, 2003126) and to address womens lives and experiences in their own name, to create theory grounded in the actual experiences and language of women (DuBois, 1983 108 in Kitzenger, 2003126). With this historical reference I decided to apply feminist approach a most suitable analytic fashion model in my study of Dalit women sharing their experiences of political participation.MethodologyThis section methodology brings out the processes through which data is collected, collated, analyzed and interpreted. This is aimed at increasing the dependableness of the study for the chivy validation as research is performed in site to be used. The study primarily adopts a qualitative approach as it helps to understand the subject of study through the experiences of the Dalit women.The paper focuses on the political participation and its impact on Dalit women. It attempts to look critically at political participation of Dalit women and the trends of political participation at local level since the 73rd amendment Act, 1992. It does it so by documenting experiences of Dalit women and analyzing the complexities involved due to caste-class-gender interplay in the political participation process of Dalit women.These questions will however be answered by talking to Dalit women who have participated in the political processes. A systematic and comprehensive documentation of Dalit womens experiences at local governance is thus needed. For this purpose I decided to conduct a focused study based on qualitative primary data collected through field work.Methodology is one of the important sections of my research paper as the process of qualitative enquiry through field work has taught me more about my research topic along with the literature. afterward a considerable thinking process I decided that the method should be suitable to the research questions that I intend to address. As the research focuses on Dalit womens experiences the best method was to record their experiences through in-depth interviews. I by choice kept the interviews unstructured as its being qualitative in genius, provides greater breadth. In-depth unstructured interviews allow researcher to explore a theme without being restricted to a series of questions. I being from a Dalit community and having worked on the Dalit womens issues came to my advantages as the discussions with Dalit women were focused at the same time gave scope to them to talk out their experiences without whatsoever hindrances. The rapport building and trust was achieved very easily. I lived in the field place with respondents and in special cases (there are three main cases) I stayed with the respondents for more than two days in order to understand and document the various dimensions involved in political participation of Dalit women. I used a question guideline that was formulated through th e discussion with the expert in the field of research methodology and local governance1Sampling The purposive (non-probability) sampling was utilized based on focus of my study to document and assess the experiences of Dalit womens political participation in local politics. Intentional and directed selection of Dalit women at grassroots politics was employed. CHR, SPMM activists helped me identify data. Only one fair sex declined to give interview. The reason she declined itself interprets the problem faced by Dalit woman, I was informed by the activists that sheEighteen Dalit women in total were place from three blocks of Beed district out of ten blocks and one block of Latur district. I selected ten out of eighteen Dalit women on the basis of sampling objectivity and representation of differences deep down Dalit women. Also, their diverse experiences of political participation were considered. The sample was based on following interconnecting criteria.Panchayats at village leve l (Gram-Panchayats)newly elected Scheduled caste women President at village levelSC women who had been Ex-PresidentsDalit women serving more than one tenureDalit woman who tried but not succeeded in accessing panchayat postCases where no-confidence exploit was exercised on the Dalit women presidentsCases where abuse, beating up and atrocity inflictedSuccess-stories of active participationFinally 9 Dalit women from Beed regularize and one from Latur district of Marathwada voice were selected. Three cases emerged as a main focus during my field work due to the special experiences of respondents. Though the sample was purposive I balanced sub-castes within plan castes by having respondents from Mahar and Mang (major scheduled castes of Maharashtra). Efforts were taken to include respondents with wide range of age in this study.Data collectionIn the month of July, 2009 I visited the identified field place, Beed District, Marathwada expanse, Maharashtra. I already had established co ntacts with a human rights disposal Campaign for Human Rights in Beed and its sister organization, Savitribai Phule Mahila Mandal (SPMM) which works on the issue of gender justice and womens empowerment through self help group. With the mention of Manisha Tokle (The founding secretary of SPMM) and Ashok Tangade (National secretary of CHR) I identified potential respondents from the selected blocks of Beed Distict. They also put me in contact with the field workers of CHR who handled these blocks. Manisha, Ashok and field workers gave me enriched information based on their field work experiences. Being well-versed with the area made them experts in the psycho-social behavior of people and the cultural challenges. Their guidance and discussions after interviews has been very important as something new would always emerge out of these discussions which I top executive not had thought during the interview. Their interpretations of the cases gave me crystallized views.CHR field activi sts from respective blocks accompanied me for either interview. They worked as informants. Their good rapports with the respondents, understanding of the region and the cultural meanings made my travail easier. My own background being a Dalit woman was helpful in getting support from the respondents, establishing rapport and gaining their trust.In-depth unstructured interviewswere recorded on the digital voice recording equipment. I maintained notes during and after every interview which helped me over come the problems in data analysis. The documentation of experiences of women was backed by my notes and suggestions from the field workers who discussed their interpretations after every interview.Informed consentBefore using the recorder I fully informed the respondents about the purpose of my study and the essential to use the recorderPictures of the respondents and the evidentiary documents wherever needed were taken for documentation.Interviews with expertise/ Key-InformantsI also consulted my ideas and paper with expertise as well as I interviewed key informants to gather their experiences in the field, on the issueFGD world of studyThe area of study was identified based on the characteristics of the region. The Marathwada region of the Maharashtra state was selected for the very peculiar reasons. First, Marathwada region being one of the most backward, feudal and atrocity prone regions of the Maharashtra state, second, a very special history of Dalit movement and violence against Dalits in the region and very significantly the right based work of Human rights organisations such as CHR, SPMM for the Dalit and womens upliftment. According to the first hand investigation and identification of cases I selected the following Blocks in Beed District and I took one exceptional case from Latur district that comes in Marathwada region itself.1.1 IntroductionThe paper looks at how Dalit women, compared to women in general, are a different entity when they parti cipate in Indias local self-governing institutions, known as Panchayat Raj Institutions. The 73rd Amendment of the Constitutional Act 1992, came into force in April 1993, providing an opportunity for Dalits and women the most marginalised in the hierarchical Indian society to participate in local-body elections at the village level. The Act, seeking to redress gender and caste inequities in rural India, provides 33% reservation to women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes in local bodies. Within this 33%, Dalit women are provided reserved seats on a rotating basis (meaning, every five or ten years the constituencies reserved for dalits and women are changed). aft(prenominal) more than 15 years of the Act, Dalit and Dalit womens participation has been remarkably visible. However, we need to look critically at the term participation and what it entailsespecially in terms of the consequences dalit women face when they earnestly assert their rights. What is the role that the 73rd Amendment Act envisages for women and what is the real role they end up playing? There is a clash between the expected role of women and Dalit women because of the differential ways in which they negotiate their social status and gender norms. The new public role that the 1992 Act assigns them generates a clash between traditional norms and the achieved political rights of Dalit women. violence exercised against women, and specifically against Dalit women, when they participate in political work, in indicative of the stratifications that obtain in the Indian social order. Vulnerably positioned at the bottom of Indias caste, class and gender hierarchies, Dalit women experience endemic gender and caste discrimination and violence as the final result of severely imbalanced social, scotch and political power equations (Irudayam et al 2006, pp.3). Within the oppressive social structure Dalit women become victim of violence if they soften their rights and try to challenge their lower status. As gender violence, like any violence there are contexts, in relation to violence against Dalit women, the nature and dynamics of these contexts, relating to power and force, make them vulnerable and functions as a cumber to their theatrical and voice. This geomorphologic violence is an outcome of gender based inequalities perpetuated by patriarchal power relation also shaped, compounded and intensified by caste discrimination. Violence acts as a significant social mechanism to maintain Dalit womens caste-gender subordination to men and that of the dominant caste men thereby subjugating both Dalit women and through them their community.Violence against women is gender-based and gender biased (Irudayam et al., 2006 17) in the sense it the devaluates womens status in social order perpetuated by patriarchy and reassert on the basis of perceived differences between male and female sexuality. In Indian context the caste ladder descending from purity to pollution, purest Cast e men being on the top of the ladder whereas the polluted caste placed on the lower rung women are pushed level(p) further down to the lowest rung. It works against their integrity as an individual this is a violation of womens rights, such as their identity as a woman and self-worth as an individual. Therefore violence in this sense mode defense of rights as an individual and hindering womans development at various levels of integrity, as an Individual, as a woman in a family, a woman belonging to certain community and culture. Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung defines Violence as avoidable insult to basic human needs he identifies the basic human needs as survival, well-being, identity, and exemption (Galtung 1990 pp 292).1.2 Being a Dalit and a womanhood Caste-Gender NexusDalit women face collective and public threat or act of violence which discourage them from demanding their rights, it is effects of structures on individual agency that results in the gap between potenti al and actual fulfilment of rights. punitive violence is exercised in response to dalit womens assertions for their rights by defying caste, untouchability norms or asserting their rights to cultural, economic and political resources. Dominant caste women tend to be subjected to violence more within the family due to strict control over their sexuality and freedom of movement again due to the caste factors, in order to hold on the purity and status of their caste.There have been movements through out the area making Dalits aware of their rights and also there have been feminist movements in India which took up issues of women subordination however looking at Dalit women as an imagined phratry (Rao, 2003 1) and analysing the premises which prevent them from exercising their agency is yet the area of exploration. Imagining Dalit women as a different category as Bhagvat mentions is needed, because these feminist movements and Dalit movements lack a critical dimension from Dalit wom ans standpoint. Guru emphasises on this Point while he dialog about politics of difference to bring out the specificity of Dalit womens subjugation. This subjugation is characterised by their experience of two distinct patriarchal structures a Brahmanical form of patriarchy that deeply stigmatizes Dalit women because of their caste status, as well as the control by Dalit men over the sexual and economic labour of their women (Guru in Rao 2003 1).Political Participation for women means securing their entitlement to public resources, the economic resources they will avail as a result of participation for them and their community, the social and political benefits such as Development of the Dalit community in village, implementation of government schemes for Dalit more democratically due their representation. With the strong patriarchal biases against women and marginalised Dalit, the dominant caste male members would not want these sections to equally enjoy the resources over which t hey had monopoly since long.There has a mete out been written and debated around political participation of women and Dalits, conclusions are made that there has been fairly good representation in terms of number but the mere participation doesnt help these sections to exercise their rights. Nature of participation and effectualness of the act has been assessed too, although with limited vision of looking only at the valued aspect of political participation. Very little has been studied on the gender-Caste contact which denies the right of economic, political, social liberties to Dalit community as a whole and Dalit women within it. Political participation through Panchayat Raj Institution has given spot for women to come out and talk about their grievances. The reservation has limited itself to piazza creation even though it implied the empowerment of women and there by making them equal partners in enjoyment of political, social, economical resource.It is seen that the oppr essive social structures have reaffirmed their superiority by attacking women through new ways of oppression such as criminalisation of politics, starting right from the election process to making women mere proxies of their male counterparts. Violence in the process of Political participation to ensure womens non- participate and exercise their agency is a crucial aspect to study and to enhance policies which will cut across the structural inequalities of caste-class-gender and give dalit women an equal status. I want to study Violence experience by women at different levels of participation and look at the specificity of violence experienced by Dalit women being trice oppressed due to their marginalised status as a Dalit, as a woman and as a lower class.Doing so my focus is at specificities of violence, Violence faced by women in general which is within their families and is built around the family prestige, there by controlling womens sexuality for the purity of their lineage an d superior status. whereas dalit women not only face violence from their own family and community also from the dominant caste forces who ensure their superiority and control over resources by keeping the net strata at its place who according to them are worth no social, economical and political rights.1.3 Problem StatementAccording to the 2001 census there are 167 million Dalits (referred to the census as scheduled castes) in India, who remain vulnerable to discrimination, exploitation, and violence because of their socially marginal position assigned by Hindu social order. Indias confidential apartheid relegates Dalits to a life time of segregation and abuse. Caste-based divisions tarry to dominate in housing, marriage, employment, and general social interactiondivisions that are reinforced through economic boycotts and physical violence (Hidden Apartheid 2007).The dalit woman faces Caste, Class and Gender discrimination because she is an untouchable, of a poor class and is a w oman. (National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights 2006) Dalit women in India today number 80.517 million or just about 48% of the total Dalit population, 16% of the total female population and 8% of the total Indian Population (Irudayam et al., 2006). They make majority of unorganised labourer in urban settings and landless labourers in rural. They face discrimination on a daily basis, as a Dalit, as women and as a poor they are in extremely vulnerable position. Systemic violence against Dalit women can be seen as a mechanism to keep Dalit in a subordinated position. It is built in to the total structure of the dominant society, which does not acknowledge the basic human rights of Dalit in general and Dalit women in particular.The 73rd -74th Amendments, condition being for rural local bodies and later for urban local councils brought about radical changes in womens representation in local bodies. The method of co-option where women are elected for the reserved seats on the consensus of the members of local panchayat body or nomination, Balwant Rai Mehta committee report proposed two women representatives each from Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe to be co-opted, these two procedures through which womens representation was ensured hitherto in the local bodies, has changed. Under the previous system, womens representation in local bodies was low and most women nominated to these bodies could hardly perform any functions. All the states except for Bihar (Santha, 1999) had conducted the elections to the local bodies in accordance with the 73rd-74th Amendments act, 1992 and almost one million women have been elected to the Panchayat Raj institutions and urban local bodies (I am focusing only at 73rd constitutional amendment act 1992 and PRIs and not on urban councils covered by the 74th Amendment, where he dynamics are different). This brought about a social change in terms of the traditional role of women which used to be to take care of house hold chores and r aise children and be inside the four walls all her life. Womens political empowerment at last seemed to be receiving some attention from both government and non-government organisations. Serious efforts are being made towards documenting womens political participation although it is limited to the Local self government. Questions of feasibility remain unanswered such as womens active participation, hidden domination (gender blindness) for instance in the budgeting process but also even in considering women as political entities, many treated women elected through reservation as a temporary members in Local body. The consequences of assertion resulting in discouragement, fragmentation and discrimination inflicting violence are yet to explore.Violence against Dalit women is utilised to deny them opportunities, choices and freedoms at multiple levels, undermining not only dalit womens dignity and self respect, but also their right to develop.An intersectional caste violence and atroci ties against Dalit women clear at two levels as an inherent part of the caste system whereby violence is utilised to reinforce caste norms and Dalit women are seen as accredited target for all forms of violence, especially sexual violence, and when they transgress caste norms, such as caste endogamy or untouchability norms, or assert their rights over resources, public spaces or cultural spaces. In other words, the process of Dalit womens empowerment itself is perceived as a challenge to caste and patriarchal structures, and provides robust ground for punitive violence committed by dominant castes. (Irudayam et al., 2006)Factors such as socio-cultural notion of womens role act as impediments in effective political participation hindering political empowerment of Women When it comes to Dalit women these factors play much intense role and are specific for Dalit women due to their social status, denial and even no recognition to Dalit womens political rights result into violence.Cas es such as denial from villagers for flag hoisting by Dalit women councillors on Independence Day, not being allowed to sit on the chair along with other members let unaccompanied talking in the meeting, Ignoring while they talk, use of abusing and discriminatory language, and humiliation on daily basis are experienced by most of the Dalit women who participate as elected members in local political arena.After encountering this reality one would question that would the thousands years old socially, culturally, economically and most importantly politically entrenched patriarchal caste system ensured the representation of disadvantage groups in politics?1.4 Rationale Being a Dalit and a WomanMy interest in the issue of Dalit Women comes from several different sources first and first off me being a Dalit woman. Being brought up with this identity and background, I got pictorial matter to the problem faced by elders of the family and community. I feel my study would kick in in crit ically assess structural inequality causing Dalit quelling and specifically of the Dalit women in local politics.In the name of social discipline, social balance and to maintain this social balance, Dalits in general and Dalit wom