Frequency of Interaction with Local Leaders
5.5. The Spatial State- Measuring the 'Geography' of State
We refer to as 'geography' it includes many government institutions, ranging from the well- established district administration in a district headquarter to a humble panchayat office in a remote location. The figure below outlines the basic setup of administration and local government in a state in India. Administration set up in India includes both elected representatives and government officials- from the elected member of the State Assembly and District Magistrate/Deputy Commissioner down to a Pradhan/Sarpanch of a Gaon Panchayat power. For most poor people in rural India, the state that runs from the commanding heights of the state capital is not visible in their daily affairs. For them, the local political agents and representatives’ matter when it comes to interaction with the state. It is the visibility of the local leaders with an 'office' attached to them that gives an impression of the state
Table 5.5: The Administrative setup of local government Administrative Setup Administrative Staff Political
Representative
Panchayat Bodies
District Level District Commissioner/
Magistrate
DDOs/ADCs/ ADMs, ACs District Level Staff
MPs, MLAs
Zilla Parishad Chairperson
Ordinary ZP Members
Zilla Parishad
Block Level Block Development
Officer
Assisting Staff
MPs, MLAs and Members of Panchayat Samitis
Panchayat Samiti
Anchal Level Panchayat Secretary Pradhan Gram Panchayat
Ward Level Ward Member(s)
Case 6
Ruma and Bobita are two Adivasi tea garden workers. The only 'sarkar' or 'state' they are aware of is the local ward member of their panchayat and the pradhan. They have never visited, nor are they aware of any block or district level officer. Both the women knew the names of ward members and Pradhan (Gaon Bura). The ward member was a lady who lived within the garden and was easily accessible to them. They would approach her if they required any government benefit or even to solve their quarrels and disputes. For them, she was the 'authority. The Pradhan too was known to them and would regularly visit the garden with Panchayat Secretary to attend meetings in the neighbourhood. The former Panchayat member, too, is a person familiar to them. He is pretty active and would often raise workers' problems with the government officials and even management. Both the women have visited the local panchayat office a couple of times and know a bit about making applications even though they are illiterate. The ward members and the Pradhan are not the only government agents who would visit the garden, but there were occasionally other visitors. However, the women knew little about who they were or the purpose of their visit. They blamed themselves for being illiterate and ignorant about the world around them. Both of them said they are aware of being a BPL family and as tea garden workers entitled to certain benefits but have a blurred understanding of what they are supposed to get and how to get them.
These are socially and economically active women within and beyond their neighbourhood and village. However, the Block or the district offices do not form a part of their life-worlds. Their experience of the state is straightforward and local, and not occasional too. Engagement with the state system at the higher level is limited. In contrast,
these women's ideas of government or authority are often hazy, from individual holders of an office to the office itself.
However, we need to understand that these insights are not just seen as a lack of consciousness or as leftovers of a 'pre-modern consciousness. Instead, these insights are actively produced through current patterns of social and political exclusion. Although Ruma and Bobita may blame their lack of education, their state views reflect broader aspects of their (dis)empowerment.
The above case indicates that most poor people encounter the state are very localised and limited to neighbourhood institutions. However, not everyone in the field suffers from isolation. A good number of people were making careers as a political party as well as social workers. Many others act as informal brokers who link the workers with the government officials and services. Whatever may be the case, the few government services and centres visible beyond the panchayat office is the school and Anganwadi centres.
Sometimes, the police station too made itself visible in case there were disputes in the neighbourhood. For those who could reach beyond the limits of the neighbourhood, the Block is also an important site of encounter for the poor, and the Block Development Officer (BDO) is the highest public official known to them. The BDO acts as the planner, executor, legal magistrate and supervisor to other officials. The district office was at a distance, and very few workers ever made the trip to visit government representatives or to participate in a court case. For the garden workers of our field, it was a sporadic visit. They would sometimes take part in rallies where they would visit the offices but from a distance. The district offices are striking and possibly impermeable for them. Access to officials at this level cannot occur without a mediator. However, it is wrong to assume that the proximity of the villagers and workers to the local level state officials led to greater participation giving
way to a sense of citizenship. The structures of decentralisation do not automatically ensure participation on the ground.
In the figure below (fig. 5.10), we see the various levels of governmental offices visited by the respondents of the plantation. It would help us understand how often do people at the margin 'approach' the state.
Fig. 5.11: % Visitors to local government offices across gender (N=150).
Source: fieldwork
From the figure, it is clear that most respondents, both men and women, have not visited government offices. The local panchayat office is the most visited one as it is the site for multiple functions, ranging from birth registration to distribution of schemes.
It is the most frequented government office in rural India and forms the lowest rung of administrative authority. Mr Manoj Nag (name changed) sits in the local Khumtai Panchayat Office and helps people who come to the office by drafting applications and filling forms for them as most of them are illiterate. "As you can see, most of our people know nothing about rules of government offices. Before I began this work, they were not even heard by the staff here. Of course, now things are changing. Many of the workers have received
68
42
21
7 56
26
12
2 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Panchayat Office Block Office Circle Office Deputy Commissioner Office
% of Visitors to Government Offices
Male Female
benefits from the office. I even write applications for those who have any work in the BDO and DC office. I have to accompany them to these offices because they have no idea how to deal with the staff there. Also, at times they have to bribe the officials to get their work done," comments Mr Nag. From his comments and observation of the site, it is apparent that the garden workers are yet to come out of the colonial understanding of bureaucracy.