During the pandemic, citizens of India experienced unidirectional communication from the government without much opportunity for participation in dialogue and deliberation, a fundamental requirement in a functional democracy. The absent legal framework for organising online consultations with citizens and ‘affected persons’ in making public laws and policies belies the government’s rhetoric of ‘putting citizen at the centre of policy making’.
The practice of citizen consultation in making public laws and policies has been sporadic, whimsical and inadequate. In a number of cases where suggestions, comments and feedback have been sought from citizens on draft Bills or draft Rules, there was clearly no obligation on part of the government to ‘close the feedback loop’ by disclosing which of these feedback from the citizens were considered, have or have not been included, and why.
Non-transparent ways of making laws and policies are particularly concerning during the ongoing CoVID-19 pandemic. Since 24 March 2020 when the first country wide lockdown was announced, the Indian government has introduced, passed into law and/or amended nearly 50 Bills, Rules, and Acts. In the absence of an established protocol and legal framework for online consultation, a majority of these were passed without adequate discourse and consultations, neither in the two houses of the parliament nor with the citizens in general and with the communities affected by these laws (e.g., the three Labour Codes passed in 2020). Civil society representatives raise visibility of their concerns through dialogues amongst themselves and with the affected communities.
Citizen participation in policy making is the cornerstone for a mature and consolidated democracy that not only relies on representative and procedural democratic mechanisms but also participatory and substantive democratic mechanisms and practices for making policies which affect millions of citizens. India, despite being the largest democracy, more often than not has relied on procedural democracy and created very little space for direct citizen participation at a substantive scale. In recent years, the central government as well as many state governments have created online platforms (most notably MyGov.in) to seek suggestions and feedback on various public policies and programmes. With 50% internet penetration in 2020 as compared to only 4% in 2007[1] and 1.06 billion mobile connections in January 2020[2], it is justified and prudent to promote online participation in policy making. Nevertheless, the digital divide in the country with only 34% of all mobile phone users having access to smart phone devices[3] must be factored into designing mechanism for online participation. A large number of rural populaces, particularly women, urban informal migrants, mainly wage labourers, and low-income communities still do not have access to any digital technology.
The proposed action will help develop a mechanism and protocol for making online consultation inclusive, accessible, and accountable, which not only allows collecting suggestions and feedback on important policy measures but also communicates back to citizens to effectively close the feedback loop.
The main objectives of this initiative are to:
Activities