The goal of Lok Satta is to create new politics for a new generation of Indians. They are going by the motto of placing "people above party".
The party is trying to create awareness amongst people enabling them to think and look beyond the current trend of vote-gathering techniques that all the traditional parties have employed since many years. People need to start recognizing the fact that all these years they have been allured with short-term freebies and have been taken advantage of by the corrupt netas.
How is the Lok Satta party planning on changing this culture?
§ By adopting and practicing internal democracy.
§ Transparent resource mobilization and utilization.
§ National public policies and democratic methods of mobilizing public opinion.
§ Enhancing the liberty of all sections.
Guarantees:
1. Elected District Governments
- Lok Satta government will guarantee the establishment of a directly elected District Government for each district of the State.
- Each district will have a directly elected premier who will Head a Cabinet of District Ministers to administer the district.
- District Collector will act as the Chief Secretary to the District Government.
- District Ministers will be incharges of various portfolios such as school education, health care, agriculture, animal husbandry, basic amenities in villages and cities, employment generation, social security for poor, civil supplies, social welfare, and other local issues. Necessary funds will be devolved to local governments.
2. Empowered Local Governments
- Lok Satta Government will guarantee the empowerment of district governments, panchayats and municipalities with full decision making and implementation powers on subjects that fall within their purview.
- Laws will be suitably enacted/amended to empower district governments, panchayats and municipalities.
- Local governments will be responsible for providing safe drinking water, sanitation, drainage, roads, housing, implementation of various programmes, issuance of certificates and other basic amenities. Necessary funds will be devolved to local governments.
3. Substantial Funds for District Governments
- Lok Satta Government will guarantee that 50 % of the State’s annual planned budget will be transferred to district governments.
- All the funds pertaining to various sectors that are being governed by the district government will be transferred to district government.
- In addition to the existing funds, every panchayat, town and city in the District will get Rs 1000 percapita every year for developmental activities. For a population of 1000, a panchayat will receive Rs.10 lakhs of additional funding. A panchayat with 10,000 population will receive Rs. 1 crore of additional funding. Similarly, for a population of 1 lakh, the panchayat will receive Rs. 10 crore as additional funding.
4. Public Participation in Governance
- Lok Satta government will guarantee that people will be direct participants in the functioning of the local governments.
- Committees comprised of elected stakeholders, local government representatives, and experts will manage education, healthcare, civil supplies, irrigation, and market services at the local level.
- Ward committees in all municipalities and corporations comprised of members from each polling station will be instituted.
- Heads of all the panchayats, municipalities, corporations and district governments will be directly elected by the people.
- All government orders, instructions and files will also be maintained in Telugu.
- Lok Satta government will guarantee that people will be direct participants in the functioning of the local governments.
- Committees comprised of elected stakeholders, local government representatives, and experts will manage education, healthcare, civil supplies, irrigation, and market services at the local level.
- Ward committees in all municipalities and corporations comprised of members from each polling station will be instituted.
- Heads of all the panchayats, municipalities, corporations and district governments will be directly elected by the people.
- All government orders, instructions and files will also be maintained in Telugu.
The above guarantees of Lok Satta have been formulated with the intention of creating a decentralized Government structure in the state.
What criteria will the Lok Satta party follow towards achieving this?
What criteria will the Lok Satta party follow towards achieving this?
Will that be with Internal Democracy? Will elections be conducted within the party to elect the premier and the cabinet?
Will the premier be one from the MLA's elected from the respective district? If so, who will the cabinet comprise of then?
Are the representatives (Other MLAs and members of the party) willing to accept the elected premier and cabinet? How does the party intend to avoid formation of groups?
Who will the district government be answerable to? Will it be the CM or does it have to justify to the entire cabinet of ministers (of state)?
Will the district premier have the authority to approve funds without consulkting the CM? If so, will he be held accountable for the progress of the respective action?
How does the party intend on tracking the devolved funds (to local governments)?
How often will the CM track progress of the districts?
Is there intent to replace/discipline the local governments based upon on the progress cards?
And many more questions continue to arise in our minds; we supposedly believe that the party might certainly have analyzed all the possible scenarios.
