UNPACKING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY - McGill

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UNPACKING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACYFrom practice to theory and

from theory to practice

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ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP

The last three decades have seen the almost universal endorsement of ‘democracy’ as the only acceptable form of governance. It no longer needs to be argued that

transparency, accountability and participation should then be important defining and guiding principles for democratic governance. While political leaders seemingly swear by these democratic principles, citizens across the world have been struggling and campaigning to move beyond the rhetoric of these potentially powerful concepts, to apply them in practical and meaningful ways in their interaction with State, and even non-State powers.

Of the three, ‘participation’ is central to real democracy, while it remains its biggest challenge. Democracies are being taken over by structures of representation. People on the other hand, feel a growing sense of alienation from decisions taken by elected representatives acting on their behalf. The nature of peoples campaigns and struggles for democratic rights have changed. Today, those fighting for transparency and accountability demand participation in all spheres of governance and decision making. However, this has to be realized through practical and actionable entitlements which empower both citizens and the concept of citizenship; which are the real touchstone of sovereignty and legitimacy. As ordinary people assert their citizenship, it has become clear that ‘democratic participation’ has to be unpacked and detailed step by step, so that it is connected to theory, law, policy and practice.

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OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN OF THE WORKSHOP

The workshop being planned and organized by Aruna Roy, the 2016 ‘Professor of Practice’ for Global Governance at McGill University, Canada, comes at a time when

there is serious need for reviewing democratic practice. This is a forum to discuss, debate, understand and learn from contemporary theories and practice, to place people at the centre of democratic governance.

Drawing on the position of the ‘Professor of Practice’, this workshop is titled Democratic Participation: From Practice to Theory and from Theory to Practice.

The workshop has been in two complimentary parts, in McGill in Canada and now, in Kerala in India.

The workshop at McGill, Montreal in November 2016 brought together theorists and practitioners of ‘participatory democracy’ to reflect on the contemporary crisis in democratic practice. It looked at the powerful concepts of transparency and accountability in defining the participation of people in democracy.

The second workshop being held in the State of Kerala, India is in the context of Asia. It will bring together practitioners and theorists of ‘participatory democracy’ to reflect on the contemporary crisis in democratic practice. It will look at the powerful concepts of transparency and accountability in defining the participation of people in democracy.

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PROGRAM IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE Funded by the Erin Jellel Collins Arsenault Trust

This conference is part of the Program in Global Governance at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University. The Program was created

in 2013 to address challenges in contemporary world politics by exploring new, practical ways of improving global governance. Based at ISID in the Faculty of Arts, the Program is a collaborative effort with the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism in the Faculty of Law. It represents a bold attempt to marry the research and intellectual power of McGill University with the most innovative efforts by leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to design new forms of governance that are more appropriate for our new global circumstances.

Given the complexities that global governance necessarily entails, this Program defines global governance as the formal and informal rules and practices designed to promote sustainable, inclusive development and democratic governance. While such rules and practices would typically be applicable at the supranational and transnational levels, they may also include local or national experiments which demonstrate the potential for wider application.

Generously supported by the Erin Jellel Collins Arsenault Trust, the Program in Global Governance has three main components: Professors of Practice in Global Governance, Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Global Governance, and ISID’s Speaker Series.

This year, the Program in Global Governance is pleased to welcome and support, as the Professor of Practice in Global Governance, Aruna Roy, the main organizer of this conference.

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(Tentative)

This Agenda is based on the list of participants who have accepted so far.

The workshop is divided through 3 days, and consists of plenary sessions as well as several simultaneous breakaway sessions each day. A 30-minute period

at the end of each session allows for questions and responses.

AGENDA

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DAY 1: MONDAY 30th JANUARY 2017

Registration (please be seated immediately after registration so that the program may commence on time.)

Recollection of Unpacking Democracy, Montreal (Screening)

Inaugural Session Welcome: Satyajeet Rajan, Director General, Institute of Management and Governance, Kerala

Sonia Laszlo, Director, Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), McGill University, Canada, will introduce ISID and the Workshop

Naurti Devi, Vice-President, School for Democracy and ex-Sarpanch, Harmara, Ajmer District, Rajasthan

Inauguration: Shri Thomas Isaac, Minister of Finance, Government of Kerala

S.M.Vijayanand, Chief Secretary, Kerala will preside and comment on the workshop

Plenary 1 Scope of the workshop: Aruna Roy

Keynote address: Gopal Gandhi, intellectual, writer and diplomat; Former Governor, West Bengal

Comments and Vote of Thanks: Satish Deshpande, Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics. He will also moderate the session

8:30 – 9:15 am

9:15 – 9:30 am

9:30 – 10:10 am

10:10 – 11:00 am

15 min.

30 min.

5 min.

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Tea Session 1: Beyond The Vote; Participation In Democracy Breakaway Session 1A: People’s Plan and Budget (Planning And Budget) Introductory speaker: V.S. Senthil, Indian Administrative Service Kerala cadre, Additional Chief Secretary, Planning & Economic Affairs Department; Member Secretary, Kerala State Planning Board

Yamini Aiyer, Senior Research Fellow and Director General of Accountability Initiative

Subrat Das, Executive Director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, India

Mridula Eapen, Member, State Planning Board, Kerala

Praveen Jha, Professor at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Moderator: Satish Deshpande, Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics

The moderator will comment on and extract relevant/critical principles that emerge in the session

Questions and responses

11:00 – 11:15 am

11:30 – 1:30 pm

30 minutes

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Breakaway Session 1B: Empowering the Unheard; Public Hearings

Kathyayani Chamraj, NCPRI

Shankar Singh and Janani Sridharan, MKSS

Kanak Mani Dixit, Nepali publisher, editor and writer. He is the founder of the magazine Himal Southasian and cofounder of Himal media

Suchi Pande, Scholar in Residence, Accountability Research Center, American University, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Moderator: Mamta Jaitley, Founding Member of Vividha Features; Editor Ujala Chadi


Questions and responses 30 minutes

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•••• DAY 1: MONDAY 30th JANUARY 2017

Breakaway Session 1C:Including the Excluded: Understanding the Other – Platforms for constructive dialogue, disagreement and dissent

Anand Teltumbde, management professional, writer, civil rights activist, and political analyst

Teesta Setalvad, Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace

Osama Manzar, Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation

Vijayan M.J., Programme for Social Action

Tripurari Sharma, National School of Drama

Jyothi Krishnan, TISS Kerala

Moderator: S. Anandalakshmy, eminent educationist



Lunch

30 minutes

1:30 – 2:30 pm

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Session 2:The Journey of People’s Sovereignity through Representation; Parties, People and Parliament

Breakaway Session 2A:Electoral Processes: Election and Electoral Reforms

Trilochan Sastry, Professor of Quantitative Methods and Information Systems at IIMB

Tarak Bahadur K.C., Deputy Executive Director, Nepal Staff Administrative College

A. Shahjahan, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Kerala cadre

Naurti Devi, Vice-President, School for Democracy; ex-Sarpanch, Harmara, Ajmer District, Rajasthan

Vipul Mudgal, Director of Common Cause

Moderator: Shiv Visvanathan, Professor at O.P. Jindal University, Sonepat



2:45 – 4:45 pm

30 minutes

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Breakaway Session 2B:Citizen Engagement with Parliamentary Processes and Procedures

Venkatesh Nayak, Program Co-ordinator, Commonweath, Human Rights Initiative

Annie Raja, General Secretary of the NationalFederation of Indian Women

Anjali Bhardwaj, Founder, Satark Nagarik Sangathan, Delhi

V. K. Baby, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Kerala cadre

Moderator: John Harris, Professor, School forInternational Studies, Simon Fraser University,Vancouver, Canada


Questions and responses30 minutes

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30 minutes

4:45 – 5:00 pm

Breakaway Session 2C:Independent Commissions

Wajahat Habibullah, former Minorities and Information Commissioner

Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People’s Watch

Vinson Paul, Chief Information Commissioner, Kerala

Sayed Akram Afzali, Integrity Watch Afghanistan

Shekhar Singh, Environmental Activist, Founder-member and former Convener of the NCPRI

Moderator: Sonia Laszlo, Director ISID



Tea

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Plenary 2:Culture and Democracy Tripurari Sharma, Professor at the National School of Drama and Founding member of Alarippu, will introduce the topic and coordinate the session

T.M. Krishna, eminent Carnatic music vocalist and writer

Sangeetha Sivakumar, eminent Carnatic music vocalist

Shankar Singh, MKSS

Charul Bharwada and Vinay Mahajan, Founding members of Loknaad, well known creators of popular movement music

MBS Choir, Kerala



5:45 – 7.30 pm

30 minutes

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DAY 2: TUESDAY 31st JANUARY 2017

Plenary 3:Planning and Local Self Government T.M. Thomas Isaac, Minister of Finance, Kerala

John Harriss, Professor, School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada

Rakesh Jain, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General, India

K.T. Jaleel, Minister for Local Self Government of Kerala

CK Mathew, Former Chief Secretary, Rajasthan; currently Senior Fellow and Head, Public Policy and Research Group, Public Affairs Centre, Bengaluru

Moderator: S. Parasuraman, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India; Professor, School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada


Tea

9:30 – 11.15 am

11.15 – 11.30 am

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Session 3:The Importance of Oversight in Democracy

11:30 – 1:30 am

30 minutes

1:30 – 2:30 pm

Breakaway Session 3A: Transparency in the Pre-legislative Process and in Political Parties

Rakshita Swamy, Fellow, Transparency and Accountability

Himanshu Damle, Public Finance Public Accountability Collective (PFPAC)

Mouleshri Vyas, Professor, Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai

Jagdeep Chhokar, Former Professor, IIM Ahmedabad and Founding Member, Association for Democratic Reforms

K.N. Harilal, Professor,Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Moderator: Vipul Mudgal, Director of Common Cause



Lunch

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Breakaway Session 3B:The Power of Public Audit and Supreme Audit Institutions (C&AG and Social Audit)

Sowmya Kidambi, Director of Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency (SSAAT), Telangana

Shohini Sengupta, Assistant Professor. Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai

Rakshita Swamy, Fellow, Transparency and Accountability

Neten Zangmo, ex Chairperson, Anti Corruption Commission, Bhutan

Rakesh Jain, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General, India

Moderator: Amitabh Mukhopadhyay, Former Director General, C&AG of India



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•••• DAY 2: TUESDAY 31st JANUARY 2017

Breakaway Session 3C: Judicial Accountability

Usha Ramanathan, Independent law researcher

Cheryl D’Souza, CJAR

Ragini Ahuja, Lawyer and Legal Activist

Shailesh Gandhi, Former Information Commissioner, CIC

Moderator: Babu Mathew, Pioneer of National Law Institute University (NLIU), Former Country Director of Action Aid, India


Questions and responses Lunch Field visit to see participatory democracy in action: Peoples Plan, Kudumbashree

30 minutes

1:30 – 2:30 pm

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DAY 3: WEDNESDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2017

Plenary 4:Examining the Role of People’s Movements and Campaigns and the Threat to Constitutional Principles Annie Raja, General Secretary, NFIW

Kamayani, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, Bihar

S.P. Udayakumar, Convenor, Peoples’ Movement against Nuclear Energy

Fredrik Galtung, President, Integrity Action, London, UK

Bezwada Wilson, Founder and National Convenor, Safai Karamchari Andolan

Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, JNU, Delhi

Shiv Visvanathan, Professor at O.P. Jindal University, Sonepat

Anand Teltumbde, Management professional, writer, civil rights activist, and political analyst

Jagdeep Chhokar, Association for Democratic Reforms

Moderator: Harsh Mander, Director, Centre for Equity Studies



9:00 – 11.00 am

30 minutes

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Session 4: Accountability to the People/ Making Power Truthful

Breakaway Session 4ABureaucratic Accountability Yashomati Ghosh, Senior Assistant Professor, National Law School

Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, JNU, Delhi

Anjali Bhardwaj, Satark Nagarik Sangathan, Delhi

Shaheen Anam, Manusher Jonno Foundation. MJF is a big network of organisations working on human rights, entitlements and governance issues. They led the campaign for RTI law, Bangladesh Harsh Mander, Director, Centre for Equity Studies

T.K. Jose, IAS, Kerala

C.K Mathew, Former Chief Secretary, Rajasthan. Currently Senior Fellow and Head, Public Policy and Research Group, Public Affairs Centre

Moderator: Satyajeet Rajan, IAS, Kerala



11 am – 1:00 pm

30 minutes

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Breakaway Session 4B:Digital Technology/Demystifying Technology Rakesh Dubbudu, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information

Rosamma Thomas, Journalist, Rajasthan

Usha Ramanathan, Internationally recognized expert on Law and Poverty, Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

Gautam Bhan, Indian Institute of Human Settlements

Anita Gurumurthy, Founding Member and Executive Director of IT for Change

Moderator: Nikhil Dey, Member of MKSS, NCPRI, and CJAR



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••• DAY 3: WEDNESDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2017

Breakaway Session 4C:Weapons of the Weak: Facilitation, Techniques and Methods for Accountability

Fredrick Galtung, Integrity Action, UK

Mashqura Fareedi, Amnesty International

Inayat Sabhikhi, NCPRI

Mouleshri Vyas, Professor, Center for Community Organization and Development Practice, School of Social Work, TISS, Mumbai

Abey George, TISS Kerala

Poornima Chikarmane, SNDT Women’s University at Pune; Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat

Moderator: Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, JNU, Delhi The moderator will comment on and extract relevant/critical principles that emerge in the session


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Breakaway Session 4D: Looking Back on 10 Years of RTI in India

Pradeep Kumar Pradhan, NCPRI

Kamal Tank, RTI Manch

Joykumar, NCPRI

Shaikh Ghulam Rasool, NCPRI

Balvinder Singh, NCPRI

Pankti Jog, Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel

Anjali Bhardwaj, NCPRI

Anil Galgali, RTI Activist, Maharashtra

Moderator: Shailesh Gandhi, Former Information Commissioner, CIC


Lunch Nikhil Dey will present the Accountability Bill prepared by the Suchna Evam Rozgar Abhiyan Rajasthan

1:00 – 2.15 pm

2:15 – 2:30 pm

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••• DAY 3: WEDNESDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2017••• •••Plenary 5 Discussion points from each group will be put together and circulated to all participants, prior to the session. Short and focused interventions on these points will help evolve the non negotiable(s) on participatory democracy

Moderator: Shekhar Singh, Environmental Activist, Founder-member and former Convener of the NCPRI

Valedictory Address

Sridhar Acharyalu, Information Commissioner, CIC

Shailesh Gandhi, former Information Commissioner, CIC

Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Wajahat Habibullah, First Chief Information Commissioner of India and Former Chairman, National Commission of Minorities

Thomas Isaac, Minister of Finance, Govt. of Kerala

Vote of thanks: Sonia Lazlo, ISID, McGill University Way Forward: Aruna Roy, Member MKSS, NCPRI

S. Anandalakshmy, eminent educationist from Chennai, has kindly agreed to provide her insights and comments on the workshop as part of a chronicle

2:30– 3:30 pm

4:00 – 5:30 pm

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Essential principles and tools of participatory democracy to be culled from the workshop

• in shaping forums for planning and budgets

• in organizing public hearings

• for equality of access: including the excluded

• in electoral processes

• in enabling peoples’ voices in Parliamentary Processes

• in democratization, representation and accountability within political parties

• in freedom to express and cultural plurality

• in processes of planning

• in governance in its various structural manifestations

• to protect independent oversight through – Commissions – through CAG and Social Audit – Judicial Accountability

• The right to organize and protest: people’s movements and campaigns

• The people’s definition of state accountability

• The de-mystification of digital technology: access and controls

• Tools and techniques to access the right to life and other basic rights

• The power of information and transparency in shaping participation

TAKING THE DISCOURSE FORWARDSuggestions to discussants, moderators and rapporteurs

Documents

UNPACKING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY - McGill