Exploring the Dynamics of Deliberative Democracy in Rural India: Lessons from the Working of Gram Sabhas in India and Gram Sansads in West Bengal

Datta, Prabhat Kumar

doi:10.1177/0019556118814937

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Moreover, foregrounding plurality also invites exploring how possible courses of action presented in the literature reviewed in this paper may intersect: to open up the political and contestable nature of the issues at hand, to create space for dissensus thereon, and to explore alternative solution pathways [110]. As a consequence, traditional governance interventions may need to give way to more pluriform, reflexive and adaptive forms of governance [111][112][113][114]. Overall, foregrounding plurality would allow for challenging and transgressing the very ways of thinking and doing that may have played a role in the emergence of the problem(s) at hand in the first place.…”

Section: From Universality To Plurality: Opening Up To a Wider Diversity Of Voicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring, Diversifying and Debating Sustainable Health (Care) Approaches

2022

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Today’s sustainability challenges have major implications for human health and health care. At the same time, the way health care is organized and conducted has major sustainability implications. Sustainable health and sustainable health care approaches in research, which engage with health and sustainability as intertwined phenomena, feature increasingly prominently in various literatures, i.e. (i) literature based on the premise of ‘(un)healthy environments result in (un)healthy people’ (e.g., planetary health); (ii) literature on the implications of ecological change for the sustainability of healthcare systems; and (iii) literature on healthcare systems’ sustainability in view of a range of socio-economic factors. However, an integrative elaboration of the manifold relationships between health and sustainability challenges in these literatures is currently lacking. This review paper therefore maps how these three literatures represent intertwinements between health and sustainability challenges, as well as their suggestions to address these challenges. In addition, we explore which themes and questions are pertinent, meaning they have remained largely unaddressed. By performing a qualitative mapping review, we find that calls for structural attention to inequality, to in-and exclusion, and to stakeholder needs and perspectives cut across these three literatures. Furthermore, we identify three cross-cutting key questions that require future research attention. First, how do divergent ideas on what is and divergent ideas on how can that be known give rise to different health- and sustainability visions and pathways? Second, what do abstract problem statements and solutions presented in agenda-setting work look like in practice in specific and diverse empirical contexts across the globe? And third, how are diverse health and sustainability dynamics historically and spatially interconnected? Moreover, we observe that some voices have so far remained largely silent in scientific debates on health and sustainability intertwinements, namely non-expert voices such as patients and citizens, voices from a variety of social scientific and humanities disciplines, voices from relevant domains beyond (environmental) health, and voices from the global South (from non-experts, social scientific and humanities researchers and domains beyond health). We conclude that a focus on inclusive and equitable engagement with intertwined health- and sustainability challenges is imperative. This requires moving away from developing universal knowledge to address generic problems, to foregrounding plurality in terms of problem statements, knowledge, solutions, and the values embedded therein.

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Section: From Universality To Plurality: Opening Up To a Wider Diversity Of Voicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring, Diversifying and Debating Sustainable Health (Care) Approaches

2022

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“…Many a time the villagers are not duly informed about the venue and timings of the meetings. Attendance of women is far from satisfactory (Datta, 2019a). One study has indicated that most of the GPDPs focus on infrastructure like roads canals ignoring human development aspects like education and health.…”

Section: Decentralised Planning: the District Planning Committeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Right to Information has strengthened their hands. But one has reasons to be doubtful about the bright future of Panchayati Raj as a new unit of India’s federation because globalisation and liberalisation are throwing challenges to the liberal concept of local autonomy (Datta, 2019b).…”

Section: Concluding Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as the Third Tier in Indian Federalism: Where the Shoe Pinches

Datta

Sodhi²

2021

Indian Journal of Public Administration

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The idea of forming a two-tier federal structure in India gathered considerable momentum after the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League came together through a Pact in 1916. But the concept of the third tier which was mooted in the Constituent Assembly through the incorporation of panchayats in the Directive Principles of State Policy after detailed deliberation began receiving attention after the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution in 1992 which coincided with the paradigmatic shift in the policy of the Indian State. This Act signified in clear terms the intention of the State to strengthen the process of third tier federalism in India. This article seeks to critically examine the process of evolution of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as a new tier in the Indian federal system, excluding the Fifth and Sixth Scheduled Areas. An attempt has also been made to analyse despite constitutionalisation of PRIs where the shoe still pinches and wherein lies the ray of hope.

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“…Third, the public can bring in new perspectives on science and policy discourse by raising concerns or suggesting new ideas that may otherwise be overlooked. This could increase the feasibility and quality of decisions [13,14]. PE in decision-making can be executed in various modes, which are context-specific.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferences for public engagement in decision-making regarding four COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions in the Netherlands: A survey study

Kemper,

Bongers,

Kupper

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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Background Worldwide, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were implemented during the COVID-19 crisis, which heavily impacted the daily lives of citizens. This study considers public perspectives on whether and how public engagement (PE) can contribute to future decision-making about NPIs. Methods An online survey was conducted among a representative sample of the public in the Netherlands from 27 October to 9 November 2021. Perceptions and preferences about PE in decision-making on NPIs to control COVID-19 were collected. Preferences regarding four NPIs were studied: Nightly curfew (NC); Digital Covid Certificate (DCC); Closure of elementary schools and daycares (CED); and physical distancing (1.5M). Engagement was surveyed based on the five participation modes of the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, namely inform, consult, advice, collaborate and empower. Results Of the 4981 respondents, 25% expressed a desire to engage in decision-making, as they thought engagement could improve their understanding and the quality of NPIs, as well as increase their trust in the government. Especially for the NPIs DCC and NC, respondents found it valuable to engage and provide their perspective on trade-offs in values (e.g. opening up society versus division in society by vaccination status). Respondents agreed that the main responsibility in decision-making should stay with experts and policy-makers. 50% of respondents did not want to engage, as they felt no need to engage or considered themselves insufficiently knowledgeable. Inform was deemed the most preferred mode of engagement, and empower the least preferred mode of engagement. Conclusion We reveal large variations in public preferences regarding engagement in NPI decision-making. With 25% of respondents expressing an explicit desire to engage, and considering the benefit of PE in other areas of (public) health, opportunities for PE in NPI decision-making might have been overlooked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results provide guidance into when and how to execute PE in future outbreaks.

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Exploring the Dynamics of Deliberative Democracy in Rural India: Lessons from the Working of Gram Sabhas in India and Gram Sansads in West Bengal

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Exploring, Diversifying and Debating Sustainable Health (Care) Approaches

Exploring, Diversifying and Debating Sustainable Health (Care) Approaches

The Rise of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as the Third Tier in Indian Federalism: Where the Shoe Pinches

Preferences for public engagement in decision-making regarding four COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions in the Netherlands: A survey study

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