1 / 20

Targeting Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Democracy

Targeting Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Democracy “Perspectives for Non-Governmental Organisations “. September 12-15, Leipzig, Germany. NGOs and Political Parties – Competitors or Counterparts. A Presentation by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan LOK SATTA, India. Email: loksatta@satyam.net.in.

lucien
Download Presentation

Targeting Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Democracy

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Targeting Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Democracy “Perspectives for Non-Governmental Organisations“ September 12-15, Leipzig, Germany NGOs and Political Parties – Competitors or Counterparts A Presentation by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan LOK SATTA, India Email: loksatta@satyam.net.in url: www.loksatta.org

  2. LOK SATTA People Power

  3. LOK SATTA • “Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world. • Indeed it is the only thing that ever did” Margaret Mead

  4. LOK SATTA Governance and Human Rights Three Key Goals

  5. LOK SATTA Political Process vs Civil Society

  6. LOK SATTA Flawed Political Process Institutional rigidities System of alibis Change of players vs rules of the game Honesty & survival not compatible • Overcentralization • Vote Public good • Taxes Services • Authority Accountability Incapacity to institutionalize innovations

  7. LOK SATTA Flawed Democracies - Elections

  8. LOK SATTA What is Wrong with Electoral Process? India Illegitimate and unaccounted money power (10-50 times legal ceiling) Criminalization of politics (700/4072) Voting irregularities Caste and divisive impulses

  9. LOK SATTA Voter Registration Irregularities India

  10. LOK SATTA Post-polling Survey India

  11. LOK SATTA Political Parties vs Societies

  12. LOK SATTA Political Party – What Reforms?

  13. LOK SATTA Choice of Candidates By members at constituency level through secret ballot By elected delegates through secret ballot Central leadership cannot nominate candidates Political Funding Full disclosures Public auditing and accountability Incentives for contributions Partial public funding

  14. LOK SATTA Campaign Expenses – Vicious Cycle India Illegitimate expenses are often 5-10 times the ceiling or more (Assembly ceiling: Rs 0.6 mn Lok Sabha ceiling: Rs 1.5 mn) Every crore spent illegitimately  Rs 100 mn returns (to cover ROR, Interest, personal upkeep, supporters, family’s future, next election costs)  Rs 1 bn collected through bureaucracy (for every legislator, there are 2000 employees who need to collect ‘rent’)  people suffer ten times more. Payment extorted, on pain of delay, harassment, humiliation, anxiety and greater loss.

  15. LOK SATTA Key Reforms

  16. LOK SATTA Civil Society’s Role • Mobilize people for reforms • Local • National Strengthen democratic processes Adversarial and collaborative

  17. LOK SATTA Illustrations of Engagement Election Watch - Non partisan activism impact on criminalization (facilitatory + exposure) Candidate disclosures - Adversarial activism Right to information - Advocacy and mass mobilization Funding reform - Collaborative activism

  18. LOK SATTA Approaches to Citizens’ Activism Collective informed assertion Wide dissemination of information Effective mass communication Strategic intervention

  19. LOK SATTA “The punishment suffered by the wise who refuse to take part in the government, is to suffer under the government of bad men.” Plato

  20. LOK SATTA Thank You

More Related