Abstract

In this paper, I try to examine the issues of Adivasi women and the social discrimination that they face in local governing bodies such as Panchayati Raj institutions in Telangana State. An important reason for the Dalit and Adivasi communities have been left out of the development agenda of the Indian state for the last 75 years is their lack of representation in the political institutions such as and the other public spaces such as panchayat raj.  This problem is all the more aggravated in the case of grassroots institutions such as village panchayats. It was only after the 73^rd Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution, seats were reserved for Dalits and Adivasis in Panchayati Raj Institutions, thus paving the way for these marginalized communities to take part in the political decision-making processes at the most immediate level of governance. But despite these Constitutional provisions, according to Mahi Pal, casteism and patriarchy still exercise a stranglehold on Panchayati raj institutions, making a mockery of decentralized governance and grassroots democracy. Moreover, it is the Dalit and Adivasi women who bear the brunt of these social inequalities, as they are disadvantaged both as women and as Dalits and Adivasis. The persistence of such forms of social inequality has adverse effects on their ability to participate actively and to contest in panchayat elections, and then to work effectively as panchayat members/sarpanches. Brahminical and patriarchal interests come together to create a number of hurdles in the way of women who want to come forward as grassroots political representatives. However, as Ambedkar said in his book, Annihilation of Caste, “Caste is a big giant…. unless we kill it, there will not be any change.”

 

Keywords: Caste, Democracy, Discrimination, Inequality, Gender and Patriarchy

 

Women’s participation in the affairs of government is constrained by the lack of education and economic independence, and low societal and familial status. Moreover, the social position of each individual lies at the intersection of caste, class, and gender. These are the points of intersection through which social power operates, and these additional factors must also be accounted for in understanding the constraints of women’s representation and participation in Panchayati Raj institutions.

Dalit and Adivasi Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions

 The Panchayati Raj institutions have strengthened grassroots level governance in the Indian democratic system. However, the question of political participation and representation of the Dalit and Adivasi women in Panchayati Raj Institutions raises a number of specific issues that are for the most part ignored in field research. At the outset, the Dalit and Adivasi women are doubly oppressed, by caste as well as patriarchy. This, however, is not simply a question of “multiplying” the forms of oppression faced by such citizens. Rather, it allows a new perspective on the complexity with which social power plays out in real, concrete situations.

Some studies have tried to capture this complexity of exercising power through various social relations. A recent study shows how a Dalit woman in Gujarat was made a consensus candidate, but the threats from the local dominant caste members that they would deny her husband employment in the village should she not act according to their directions shows the complexity of the situation. With a focus on Dalit women, the report also argues that “reforms must recognize that political participation cannot be viewed in isolation: efforts to realize other enabling rights especially the rights to education and information, to free employment, alongside the right to equality within the family and in society—must be integrated with efforts to ensure Dalit women’s enjoyment of their right to political participation.”

Moreover, there have also been many instances of direct violence against Dalit and Adivasi women. For instance, there have been reports from four districts of Madhya Pradesh, Raigarh, Chattarpur, Raisen and East Nimar of a lady Sarpanch being stripped naked, another lady sarpanch being gang raped, an upa-sarpanch (deputy president) being tortured and a Dalit panchayat member being beaten up. A Lambada woman Sarpanch in Nalgonda District of the Telangana State was not allowed to hoist the national flag on the eve of Independence Day. There were some examples of SC and ST women representatives being disallowed from chairing Panchayat meetings and participate in higher caste male dominated occasions and ceremonies. To sum up, caste remains a major obstacle in the way of Dalit women representatives’ substantive participation in panchayats. But this in no way diminishes the importance of representation of the Dalit and Adivasi women in Panchayats. As Mahi Pal notes, “the reservation system has been instrumental to a significant extent in igniting the process of releasing the depressed, oppressed and suppressed energy of the Dalit women who have got the opportunity to come forward as elected representatives.”

Through decades of struggle, “women” is today a recognized political category in political discourse in India. While this is part of a broader phenomenon playing out on a world-wide scale, the fractured nature of society and democracy in India raises particular problems. “Women” in India cannot be understood as a homogenous category. It is further determined by factors such as caste, class, ethnicity, religion and such other marks of social difference. The specificity of the structural inequalities faced by Dalit and Adivasi women demand a reworking of conventional social scientific methods such that they may be able to articulate the complex power relations within which Dalit and Adivasi women are participating in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) today. Explanations must take up the culture and the mechanisms of social stratification to account for outcomes.

The assertion of Dalit interests has posed new challenges for the women’s movement in India which has been criticized for its blindness to the question of caste. Dalit women are using their caste identity, alongside their identity as village-level activists, to further their interests beyond the realm of upper caste women’s activism.

The question of inadequate political representation and participation of Adivasi women raises a number of important theoretical questions. This social group does not signify simply a “double” disadvantage due to their identity as “woman” and “Adivasi.” Rather, as I had already mentioned, these two forms of social exclusion and systemic disadvantage overlap in different ways to exclude Adivasi women from effective participation in the political processes.

Neema Kudva has noted that field studies are collecting a growing amount of evidence to show that village women found it easier to approach women representatives about issues that directly impacted their lives. In his book Savaging the Civilised, Ramachandra Guha says, “adivasis are largely voiceless. Excluded from effective democratic participation, they are also subject to systematic exploitation.” Thus, the role of the Adivasi women in the local governing bodies should be taken much more seriously because such an initiative is bound to have positive long-term effects, as it will help them to articulate themselves more freely and to substantively participate in the procedures of formal democracy.

In this paper, I also look at some instances where the women Sarpanches have taken the initiative to lead campaigns for social transformation and against social problems such as alcoholism and lack of educational facilities. Additionally, I also describe some of the important developmental work carried out by the Sarpanches in their villages. Finally, I will look at some of the problems the Sarpanches face in carrying out their developmental works in the Gram Panchayats. I will also focus on the complaints of administrative apathy and non-payment of pending bills that adversely affect the ability of the Adivasi women sarpanches in initiating and implementing their independent local agenda.

This paper argues that the political empowerment of Adivasi women has a wider impact on the social status and access to life opportunities. The entrusting of women with the responsibilities of political representation in grassroots democracy leads to a transformation in the social relations at the level of the family, the community, and in relations between the community and the state/bureaucracy.

At the same time, my research also shows that much remains to be done with regard to political awareness of Adivasi women. There are many social barriers of patriarchy, gender and caste, which remain obstacles to their full participation in grassroots democracy. Manifesting themselves in the form of various social pressures experienced by the women Sarpanches in their work, these forms of social hierarchy remain powerful forces that stifle social transformation. Thus, even as the provision of political reservations to Adivasi women at the panchayat level has shown some beneficial effects, the optimism should not make us lose sight of the many ways in which the inequalities of gender continue to constrict real social development of marginalized sections of society particularly the Adivasi women.

Most of the areas that I have visited during my fieldwork had poor educational facilities, where students have to travel long distances even for primary education. For many Adivasi women sarpanches, it was their first time contesting in elections. In one case, the Sarpanch in question was the first ST woman to occupy the post in the Gram Panchayat. The Adivasi women also informed me that sometimes the educated men mislead them. They were of the opinion that misleading takes place in the office where they get some letters from the government such as contract work notices and they were just asked to sign on the official documents without any knowledge of the content.

Political Empowerment of Women

Among the opponents of reservation for women in panchayat, one of the most common arguments is that even though on paper, women may have achieved a milestone on their journey towards substantive democratic participation and empowerment, but in reality, they remain trapped in patriarchal forces such that the male elites in the family and village would not only impinge upon the responsibilities and freedoms but also try to exploit their Sarpanch for their own private gain. This paper contests this widely accepted claim about women political representatives by discussing some cases from the fieldwork, through which one may get a better understanding about how women have resisted, subverted or transformed these pressures arising from their additional work of being political representatives. In many cases, the women Sarpanches we spoke to were the first from their community to do so. One of the sarpanch was the first-ever woman ST Sarpanch from that Gram Panchayat in Warangal District of the Telangana State.

It is important to note that some sarpanches were able to contest in ST Gram Panchayat seats that were not reserved for women. In the election she was able to win against the male candidates. It is an important indicator of the effects of Panchayati Raj Act which was developed for the political empowerment of women and that helped an Adivasi woman that she was able to win by a margin of 150 votes out of a total of 2,400 against six other candidates which include both men and women.

Anti-Alcoholism Movement

Women representatives, together with local women’s collectives, have historically been proactive in organizing mass campaigns against alcoholism. The anti-alcoholism movement grew rapidly in south India throughout the 1990s. Such grassroots movements, however, are often overpowered by a combination of political interests, corrupt bureaucracy and vested business interests.  While it is true that state institutions often reflect and reinforce a patriarchal power structure, it must also be noted that a democratic political system can also allow women and women’s organizations a space for autonomous action. These organizations can both challenge and work with the state. For example, one of the lambada sarpanch from Warangal district said that she was the first woman to stop the production and consumption of gudumba that was the local country liquor, which was damaging the health of all in the Dornakal division. Taking serious action as Sarpanch against the social problem of alcoholism, she declared that anyone found producing gudumba would be denied their pension and ration rice, and their Aadhar card would be cancelled.

In another case, one of the respondents from Adilabad District actively took part in local agitations to improve educational facilities in the area. She stated that on one occasion she also sat for a dharna in front of the ITDA office demanding a tribal university for Utnoor. Some women Sarpanches have also been able to garner greater social respect within their community. Some Sarpanches stated that “maku manchi peru vachindi” (we got a good name) after becoming Sarpanch and carrying out her responsibilities, she had created goodwill among her community, and she and her husband are now always invited to every important social or public function in the community. For example, one of the interviewees earned the respect of the community by giving a donation for the erection of the Ganapathi statue in her village during the Vinayaka Chaviti (Ganesh) festival.

In the course of fieldwork, it was found that the supporting role of the family is an important factor in determining the extent to which women Sarpanches were able to participate in their panchayat responsibilities. It has often been noted that opposition from the family and society at large has been one of the reasons for the disproportionately poor representation of women in positions of representation, be it in the Lok Sabha, in State Assemblies, or in bodies of local self-government. It has also been noted that the provision for the reservation of one-third seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) has been instrumental in increasing women’s participation in the process of political representation and decision making at the local level. The most significant evidence of the empowering effects of women’s reservation in Panchayati Raj institutions is the wide disparity in women’s representation in local bodies as compared to state and national legislatures, where women form no more than 10 per cent of the total representatives.

One of the major obstacles faced by women representatives in Panchayati Raj institutions is that the official responsibilities usually come as an additional burden. Having to take care of all the household responsibilities, as well as take part in agricultural activities, women are left with very little time to devote to their panchayat responsibilities. This is a problem that the formal provision of reservation cannot solve by itself. This requires a deeper change in gender relations at the family and social level. It is only then there is a redistribution of work and responsibilities that women will be able to fully execute their panchayat functions. At times the role of the husbands in the women Sarpanch’s work is questionable and may be seen to hinder the possibility of women’s empowerment.

For example, one of the sarpanch from Warangal district noted, she only goes to the Gram Panchayat or Mandal Parishad when there is a meeting. Even on these occasions, she only goes to sign her name and her husband does all the talking. In fact, her husband has taken on such an important role that he has even given up his well-paying medical practice, where he earns about Rs. 22,000- 25,000 per month. He now devotes himself fully to the affairs of the Gram Panchayat. Women still face a degree of discomfort in appearing in public and the authority of their decisions are often challenged. During the fieldwork, it was found that the women Sarpanches had many problems in engaging with officials in the police and bureaucracy. They were not given often the due respect and were made to feel uncomfortable about appearing and speaking directly to the usually male officials. As a result, some of the Sarpanches stated that while they accomplished their official responsibilities within the village and among the community, it was their husbands who would go to meet officials in the police station and the civil administration.

During the interviews, the Sarpanches also gave an indication of the social pressures that women representatives must constantly struggle with. They mentioned many cases in which women Sarpanches have committed suicide. One of the elected women-representative’s husbands, mentioned a case in Khammam district, where a Lambada woman Sarpanch committed suicide, as she was unable to pay back a loan. She had taken Rs 6 lakhs from local moneylenders in order to cover her expenditure during elections. However, due to a delay in repayment, the moneylenders came to a Gram Panchayat meeting and asked her in public to pay back the money she owed them. Humiliated by this public insult, she immediately left the meeting and committed suicide in her home immediately afterwards. This example shows clearly how a combination of financial problems and the targeted use of social humiliation against Adivasi women led to the Sarpanch’s suicide.

Chenchu tribal women became Sarpanches twice. She says that “officials come and see the Chenchu tribal issues because of her pressure and they address the problems otherwise, they would not have come here”. She also said, “the political party from which she got elected does not allow her to speak in the meetings.” She has been asked to attend all the party meetings as well as official meetings with collectors and other administrative officers. However, she does not get a chance to share her views on developmental issues of the village and becomes a mute spectator. She also said, “sometimes I feel very sad”. It shows the male and patriarchal nature of the society.

The researcher went to Chenchu respondent’s GP office several times to interact with her, but she was not ready to interact with the researcher due to some fear in her mind that the “the researcher may inform the higher authorities.” Therefore, she did not meet the researcher. It has been a surprise that though the same family members have been elected as Surpanches four times, the plight of the family has not changed. If you look at the picture of their house, you will realize that their socio-economic condition has not changed.

Conducting development work amid a chronic shortage of funds and powers to allocate them, the women Sarpanches, who are seriously committed to their duties and responsibilities, have thus often been regarded with more respect and goodwill than their male counterparts. Some of the interviewees also brought up cases of rampant corruption in the panchayat offices. For example, one of the sarpanch’s husband from Warangal district, said that one always needed to take about Rs.500 whenever they went to the panchayat office to pay off the various low-level functionaries there. Without paying them some money on the excuse of “having tea” or “having lunch,” it was impossible to get work done, or even to command their respect and attention. Field studies elsewhere have shown this to be a recurrent phenomenon in panchayat offices. Badri Narayan argues that one of the major areas of financial corruption in panchayats was in the giving of contracts and in allocation of land ownership.

Moreover, standing for panchayat elections was a risky affair as well, since there was now large spending on elections, and one might lose even after spending a lot of money. For this reason, it was easier for established candidates with family wealth or the backing of an established political party to stand for elections rather than independent candidates who may be genuinely interested in developing their village.

Finally, the study showed that a part of the problem faced by the women Sarpanches arose from the structural limitations faced by the Panchayati Raj model on the local initiative of people. While on the one hand, the empowering effects of Panchayati Raj Institutions and reservation of seats within them are clear in many instances; on the other hand, the powers of the Institutions themselves have been so restricted that the Sarpanches cannot do much more than carry out basic infrastructural development works like building roads or facilities for drinking water supply.

There have been a number of incidents of Dalit and Adivasi women being subjected to public humiliation, torture and even physical violence simply for trying to stand in elections or carry out their official duties. Moreover, as Dalits and Adivasis have become more assertive about their rights, such instances of violence have increased. In the decade after Independence, Panchayati Raj institutions became the site where the rural, land-owning elites were accommodated within the power structure. Continuing to function more or less in the traditional manner, the panchayat was an instrument in the hands of the entrenched caste elites in the countryside to maintain their social authority, as well as garner the major share of the state’s growing public spending in the name of development. The social antagonisms, however, came to the fore through the 1960s in the form of various political movements, most significantly by landless Dalit peasants and Adivasis against feudal authority across the countryside.

By the time the 73^rd Amendment was passed to provide constitutional validity to Panchayati Raj Institutions, it became an instrument to co-opt the rising Dalit and Adivasi assertion in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Most of them owned marginal land holdings for cultivation, and the size of land holdings owned by various Sarpanch families varied between 0.5 and 10 acres. Moreover, the Sarpanches’ families did not seem to have much wealth as the small pucca houses, or houses with an asbestos sheet above them indicate. The aim of the Panchayati Raj Act is to empower women but in practice it is not much helpful to avoid the caste and gender- based discrimination in rural India because they lack money and muscle power. For instance, in an extensive study conducted among Dalit women panchayat members in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, it was found that around 85% of Dalit women were pushed into panchayat politics primarily by dominant castes or their husbands, the former often working through the women’s husbands. Here, her family has become heavily dependent on the local caste elites for their financial sustainability. The Sarpanch’s husband and the entire family, becomes dependent on the landlord when they are provided land for lease at a discounted rate. Through such a complex web of favors on the one hand, and restrictions on the other, the hierarchies of caste operate to make Adivasi women Sarpanches either directly or indirectly dependent on the local dominant castes.

A study reported that an Adivasi woman candidate was asked after winning the election to submit her house title deeds to the dominant caste elites. In addition to this, the powers of the candidate were given away to the highest bidder. Apart from such measures, candidates are often obstructed from discharging their responsibilities as panchayat members. They are kept away from attending meetings or taking part in discussions.

They had difficulty in participating in meetings because they were unfamiliar with the regulations and various schemes. Moreover, they also received little co-operation from fellow panchayat members in becoming familiar with the relevant rules and regulations. According to the respondents, they faced an atmosphere of hostility in the panchayat and had no support from other members. Even when they were knowledgeable about the regulations, they were not allowed the authority to make independent decisions about the allocation of funds, contracts, and panchayat development policies.

They could not engage in projects that would challenge the existing gender-caste inequalities such as land distribution. While on the other hand, one of the elected women sarpanch from Khammam district, made donations for the construction of the local Ganesh temple, and was a patron of the Vinayaka Chaturthi festivities. However, the donation has become a compulsion and actually has affected her everyday financial maintenance. Some sarpanches enjoy limited powers as they function as proxy candidates due to the deep sense of fear towards the dominant caste hegemony, lack of political experience, lack of adequate education and so on. These factors act as real detriments that hinder Adivasi women’s opportunities to build the necessary capacities to effectively take on the roles of political representation.

A tacit agreement between the bureaucracy and police, and the dominant caste elites ensures that complaints of caste discrimination and intimidation are not acted upon. Additionally, Dalit and Adivasi women Sarpanches are put under external pressure by the bureaucracy, which does not sanction permissions and funds in a timely manner.

Most approaches to social development in the Indian context seem to treat reservations as the sole component in enabling emancipation and equality to marginalised social groups. However, we have seen that the structure of caste is pervasive in all aspects of Indian society, be it productive, social, sexual or spiritual relations between individuals. Mahi Pal argues that the main impediments to Dalit women Sarpanches acting effectively are: illiteracy and lack of awareness about powers and functions and developmental schemes; encroachment of common land; poverty and economic dependency; social inequality and casteism. Here, we would add that caste discrimination cannot be isolated into “one” of the various problems. Rather, Dalit and Adivasi women’s access to social resources as well as equal opportunity structurally determine each of these above factors. As a result of which the dominant caste communities are able to capture the lion’s share of the resources. In addition, they face casteist and patriarchal traditional strictures on education and employment.

In addition, it is clear that in the very ‘Preamble’ of Indian Constitution it is stated “to secure Justice, social, economic and political, Equality of status and opportunity” is needed However, despite its stated aim of ensuring equality for all citizens and putting an end to untouchability and caste-based discrimination, caste continues to be practiced in various forms. It is essential for policy makers to realize that political empowerment through reservation cannot be seen in isolation. Along with political empowerment, it is essential to address other obstructions and inequalities in the fields of education, employment and equal wages, rights within the family and society, and right over property and so on.

Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid in Recasting Women had warned us against a tokenistic inclusion of women, against framing women against this or that context, against seeing patriarchy as singular, against reading class, caste and region-specific moments and movements as universal. It is clear that just including women in the processes of governance and development is merely a tokenism and does not change structural conditions. Indeed, this is the over-arching insight of this paper: that inclusion or even positions of power are no guarantee of social change because if structural conditions remain the same, the objectives enshrined in the Constitution are defeated. While the idea of reservation in the Panchayats has opened up avenues for women that hitherto did not exist, it is not as though they have magically transformed the lives of Adivasi women overnight.

The seven major insights that have been envisaged are:

1. Just including women is tokenistic and does not change much.
2. Women Sarpanches with husbands running the show are indicative of the fact that political power cannot be determined only by positions at the governance table.
3. Upper castes still dominate the scene and structurally inhibit the ability of Dalit and Adivasi women and men to change structural hegemonies and consequently the conditions of their lives.
4. The lack of access to land (most of the Adivasis are landless in terms of land ownership) and to different kinds of economies makes it difficult for Adivasis, especially women, to change the conditions of their lives.
5. Low levels of education among Adivasi women make it very difficult for women to take decisions on their own lives and livelihoods.
6. The upper-caste political funding of elections makes the whole process money-run rather than run by processes of democratization and change which women show they are very capable.
7. Political awareness is a crucial factor that is missing among women. By political awareness, I mean the consciousness-raising that is a vital part of helping women recognise and work to dismantle structures, institutions and ideas that dominate their lives. Programmes like Mahila Samakhya, now dismantled by the government, achieved this to a remarkable extent and that methodology has to be replicated in Only when traditional and constricting ways of thinking change in the psyches of women can any structural and transformational change become possible.

Nevertheless, it is important not to over-estimate the change that political representation brings. This brings us to the first point in the list that we began this Conclusion with. The mere inclusion of women into political processes does not automatically mean equality or social transformation. For example, we saw that many women’s husbands merely used their wives’ election as a way to become Sarpanches themselves in a form of proxy politics. This phenomenon is indicative of the fact that patriarchal structures are deep-rooted and the inequality of the family as an institution cannot be eradicated by merely offering women positions outside of it.

This is symptomatic of the larger structural constrictions of the caste/class system which positions Adivasis outside it and at the very bottom, in positions worse than Dalits. Adivasis face harassment even from Dalits and definitely from the middle and upper castes who own the land and dominate the markets. Caste plays an important role in Adivasi life though Adivasis, strictly speaking, have nothing to do with caste. Upper caste domination and harassment of Adivasis is common and keeps them out of economic and political power as the strings are still pulled by the upper castes and tribal groups are still obligated to them. The domination is compounded by the fact that most Adivasis are landless or have marginal land holdings and the fact that they have no hold on the economic systems of the market of which they do not control means that the domination of them is near-total. Within these three formations – caste, land and market – the structural exploitation of women is worse than that of men, and women face these structural constraints doubly. In Postcolonial terminology Adivasi women face a ‘double colonisation.’

From basic literacy (to enable them to sign forms) to more advanced forms of education to help them understand the systems of which they are part, the lack of education is a serious structural impediment to women. The main objective of this paper has been to study if political empowerment of Adivasi women enables an improvement of other social indicators, including education, psychological empowerment and access to social justice institutions. Further, it seeks to show the practices and institutions through which these changes are affected. The study looked at how structural inequalities in society have a detrimental effect on the empowerment of women and the ways in which political empowerment can help in pushing back the negative effects of these forms of social inequality. Specifically, the research focused on how hierarchies of caste and gender are factors in determining Adivasi women’s participation in the institutions of local self-governance. Instead of becoming an agent that can act against the prevailing social inequalities of caste, class, and gender, they have become deeply entrenched in perpetuating these inequalities.

Set against this background, this study has sought to look at the continuing effects of caste, class and patriarchy in Adivasi women’s participation in grassroots political institutions. Historically, Adivasis have been a marginalized community, excluded from the mainstream and misrepresented in the dominant cultural imagination. The process of massive displacement and widespread exploitation of Adivasis, through the introduction of modern land tenancy laws and reserve forest areas, is a trend that has come to be intensified in post-independence India. In this context, we have pointed to how Adivasi women are doubly disadvantaged. Not only do they suffer from class discrimination and Brahminical domination, but they are also subjected to the violence of patriarchal forces. Adivasi women are subjected to exploitation by non-tribals, from the mainstream Savarna society, from Dalits and from their own men.

The present study, however, remains limited in scope, primarily because it mapped the political and economic developments more than the psychic and cultural impediments from within women’s minds. At the same time, it provides some important findings that can be further studied and proved through a framework that takes into account the cultural, psychic as much as the economic in re-framing the very parameters of inclusion and exclusion. Only then can Ambedkar’s vision of real democracy be realized within the system of Panchayati Raj. Previous studies have suggested the vulnerability of women to proxy candidature and also for Dalit women in particular. During fieldwork, it was found that proxy candidature is a problem for Adivasi women as well. The priorities of caste and patriarchal hierarchies often determine the scope of work that an Adivasi woman Sarpanch is able to undertake. The vast and complex networks of social relations of caste limit her financial abilities, as well as decision-making authority in sanctioning development projects aimed specifically at marginalized groups. They faced pressures from contractors of dominant caste groups, and also apathy from government officials in sanctioning projects that would benefit marginalized groups in the community.

In fact, this may even be regarded as a structural feature of grassroots democracy in India. The continued influence of these forms of hierarchy in politics today arises from the historical failure and weakness of the modern Indian state in confronting these forms of social hierarchy. Rather than destroying such forms of social hierarchy as part of its project of creating a society of freedom and equality, the Indian state has accommodated and integrated them within the various levels of the state apparatus itself. In such a situation, the real affectivity of Constitutional measures for equal representation is continually undermined and subverted by these entrenched interests. A substantive grassroots democracy is possible only when these pernicious forms of social hierarchy are contested and eradicated.

 

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Dr. Sunitha Bhukya is Post-Doctoral Fellow (ICSSR), Dept of Public Administration Osmania University Hyderabad Telangana State, India.

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