Mohalla Sabhas

The one agenda of AAP which frightens me the most is Mohalla Sabhas. Basically, what they mean is that the bureaucratic decision making of the government will be brought to the general public through participatory democracy at the neighborhood level — similar to Bhagidari Scheme except that, in Bhagidari Scheme, the final decision lay with the bureaucrats. The problems are as under:
First, it will not reduce or curb corruption, rather it will increase it many fold because politicians, especially the local level politicians, are the most corrupt.
Secondly, larger the group, stupider the decisions, and this is a scientific truth — team work is different from group decision making.
Thirdly, there would be no accountability for the decisions. Each decision would be Aam Aadmi’s decision and thus acceptable without debate.
Fourthly, it will create local level “Big Bosses”, who will take arbitrary decisions without any judicial recourse, which would be a serious threat to Right to Equality.
Fifthly, it will infringe the privacy rights of the people in the name of larger good of the neighborhood.
Sixthly, it will bring in Police Raj as the local leaders will be recognized even further by the local police, and the local police always rule through local politicians: the two act in tendem.
Seventh, the mohalla sabhas, esp. in unauthorised colonies where the public and private spaces are not well delineated, may lead to infringing the private properties and spaces of the people.
Eight, the nuisance created by community spaces will be regularized by the Mohalla Sabhas, without any judicial recourse.
Ninth, people will lose faith in the Judiciary even further as the judges will find it convenient to leave judicial decisions to mohalla sabhas through formal or informal procedures — they act so even now.
Tenth, it will be a serious attack on the individuality of creative people, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, etc., who, by their very nature, avoid politics and love to be left alone and don’t care much about what’s happening in the society.
Eleventh, it will infringe the minority rights for sure.
Twelfth, it may increase violence because of continuous and repeated conflict, not competition, between contenders for power — competition is when the adversaries are not known; most people understand it wrongly.
Thirtieth, uneducated and less intelligent local leaders will make below-par decisions.
I am sure there would be many more problems with these Mohalla Sabhas because, at the end of the day, it promotes politics, which is always distressing.

About the Author

Ankur Mutreja
Ankur Mutreja is an advocate-cum-writer, and his blogs are amongst his modes of expression. He has also authored number of books, which can be downloaded from the links on the top menu.

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