|
Citizens' role in local governance.
The Citizens Action Forum (CAF) and Rotary Bangalore West together hosted a meeting on Citizens' role in local governance. on the 7th of Nov 2009 at the Rotary west Hall in Malleswaram .The guest speakers were Dr Sandeep Shastri -Pro Vice Chancellor Jain University and Director Centre for Research in Social Sciences and Education, Jain University and Mr. Srikumar Retired DGP of Karnataka.
Dr Meenakshi Bharath gave a brief introduction - about the positive effects of the active participation of citizens' resulting in better governance at the ward level in a city.
Mr Mukunda N.S. spoke about the achievements of CAF purely due to the large participation of many resident welfare associations around the city of Bengaluru. The first achievement was on the stopping of the implementation of CVS taxation for property- the protests resulted in the continuation of SAS with a increment of only a small percentage. Then CAF took up the cause of the "sakrama" and put in a PIL. This then again resulted in the sakrama bill not being passed -it is still pending in the court waiting for a more reasonable and just rule.
Mr Ramakanth then spoke about the work that has been done by him in the Seshadripuram ward over the last 7 yrs and how it has taken him such a long time to achieve the changes. Perseverance and working with the civic agencies and maintaining the good relations with the officers have helped him to make the difference in the area with good parks -improved street lighting and reducing of the garbage in the area of Seshadripuram. But with political will things can happen much faster. This is one of the main reasons that he has decided to contest in the upcoming BBMP elections even though he is a young 70 yrs.
Dr Meenakshi Bharath who has been an active member of the Malleswaram Swabhimanaa Initiative and also its secretary for the last 2 yrs explained that it is possible to help correct the voter's list - booth wise and that people should volunteer to do this in their respective areas. The correction resulted in improvement in the turn out for both the MLA and the MP elections. She also said that working with the authorities results in better execution of jobs and also helps to solve many problems on the ground. Thus people's participation is highly necessary to improve civic governance in the ward level. She has been enjoying working in the public domain for the last 4 yrs and has found the work inspirational. This is what has led her to want to stand for the local -BBMP elections. She urged many citizens who have done work in the localities to stand for the local corporation elections- who better then them to know the problems of the local area.
Having heard the members of the resident welfare association speak - Dr Sandeep Shastri came and addressed the public and told them that the first thing that they must do is bury the attitude of "I cannot". If one makes up once mind then it is possible to achieve anything and especially in local governance -this is highly possible. He thus urged more citizens to participate in the local elections- not only as voters but also as candidates. The third tier of government is the best place to achieve results said he. He also said that the apathy and indifference of the middle classes needs to be changed and also that to win elections you had to go to the masses and not only to the Middle class people.
Sumir Hinduja spoke about the need to support candidates with a track record for service in the community for he felt that the often repeated complaint that there is not person worthy of the vote of the citizens will now be removed if people like this stand for elections. thus the onus lies on the citizens to vote them into the seat such that they can make the difference and then hold them to the mandate.
|
