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Indian Cities Eye New Delhi's Quiet 'Citizen Revolution'
Satya Paul Gupta, 78, at the park being renovated by his neighborhood residents' association in New Delhi. Such groups have proliferated in the capital under a citizen-government partnership program called Bhagidari.
(By Rama Lakshmi -- The Washington Post)
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Dixit opened her doors to the numerous RWAs, ordered local officials to meet with them every month and created a separate fund for their needs. Two years ago, she strengthened them by ordering that contractors be paid only after the residents' groups had expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done. Last month, the Delhi government decided that no developmental work would be undertaken in the city without RWA input.
In the campaign for state elections in November, Bhagidari is being showcased as Dixit's biggest achievement.
Despite the best of intentions, however, Bhagidari's power-to-the-people mantra has not been easy to implement in a system rife with corruption. The notion of being accountable to residents met with bitter resistance in the first few years, and members of Dixit's own party opposed the program on the grounds that she was circumventing them to listen to the people directly.
As the elections draw closer, residents' associations worry about their future. The Bhagidari program lacks statutory authority and could be eliminated by the next government.
"The officers do not like the daily nagging and ordering by the residents," said Mool Chand Chawla, 66, a local politician from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. "Bhagidari is not good for democracy because it bypasses elected representatives like me. I am here to serve the people. We do not need a parallel power structure."
Gupta, the head of his neighborhood RWA, said Bhagidari has done a lot of good. His group, for instance, recently procured money to renovate a community park that had been full of trash and stray animals. A new gate, a wall and a walking track have been built, and the park is being cleaned up and replanted.
Still, Gupta said, he understands why some politicians don't like the program.
"Their under-the-table earnings have gone down," he said. "Their power has eroded because they are now answerable to ordinary citizens like me."
