LOK SATTA

Government ‘by’ the people

Our ideology describes our stand on the important issues facing India. These policy level statements are fleshed out in our programmes and activities.

THE PEOPLE

• Rights and civil liberties

The citizens of India have rights, and these must be protected under law. They must be free to hold and express their opinions, they must be free to practice religions of their choice (or none), and they must be free to engage in commerce and trade among themselves. These rights may not be curtailed by the state except in rare cases, and then too only applicable to specific individuals and groups, whose actions directly threaten the rights of other citizens.

• Welfare and Human Development

Citizens also must have a right to minimum standards of welfare guaranteed by the larger society and by the state. Fulfilling human potential in the fullest measure, and eliminating avoidable suffering should be at the heart of governance.

They must have access to an acceptable level of education and health, in particular, at the state's expense. To this end, Government is obliged to fund all entitlements, before earmarking money for discretionary choices. Every budget must clearly indicate separately how entitlements will be funded.

Full and productive employment, supported by continuous skill development should be the basis of economic policies of state.

• Stewardship

Citizens have a duty to conduct themselves as responsible guardians of the natural environment, as well as the socio-economic wellbeing of future generations. Economic, social and ecological choices made today must not jeopardize the rights or wellbeing of future citizens.

THE STATE

• Protection of rights

The State's first responsibility is to guarantee the rights of citizens, and to take care not to limit these rights by its acts of omission or commission. The State also has a responsibility to maintain the equality of all persons before law, through necessary institutions to achieve this. In its own actions, the state may not discriminate between citizens on the basis of religion, caste, or gender.

• Limited government

Government should be limited to set of clear 'public good' objectives. This means that government should not get into sundry other activities that can be equally performed by the private sector. All public sector companies in industries where private sector already accounts for more than half the market share of the industry should be closed or disinvested.

• Rule of Law

To protect the rights of citizens and to carry out its responsibilities, the State must maintain an independent, effective, accountable system of rule of law, including strong, autonomous, effective crime investigative agencies, independent prosecution, and courts which can ensure speedy and efficient justice.

• Public assets

The State must act as a neutral guardian of public assets, and any transfer of these assets to private ownership or management should be carried out only on competitive basis, and transparently. No licenses, rights, or other economic benefits may be conferred on private parties through the use of discretionary power by the government. The State must also protect the public exchequer from being used to protect private interests.

GOVERNMENT

• Elections and Representation

At the state and national levels, representatives should be chosen proportionate to the vote-share of their parties in elections. The Rajya Sabha and the upper houses of states should be reformed to be more representative of state and district interests respectively. Citizens have the right to participate in institutions of government, not merely be represented there.

• Federalism

The structure of Government should be revised based on the principles of convergence (all or most services available at one point), and subsidiarity (citizen is the centre of government; the powers should be transferred to larger tiers of government only when they cannot be exercised locally for reason of economies of scale or complexity.

District and City government should be a full-fledged third tier of federalism, with significant autonomy and authority. Each district should also have an elected district government. In local government, there should be at least one elected representative for every 1500 voters.

The Union cannot impose unfunded mandates on the States, and likewise the States cannot impose unfunded mandates on district governments, municipalities and panchayats.

At the village and municipal ward level, funds should be directly transferred to the community, and all local decisions should be made by the community of stakeholders.

• Foreign Affairs

The State's actions in international fora must be such that they promote the universal values of peaceful co-existence among nations, and work to uphold the similar fundamental rights of human beings in other countries. Within this framework, national interest should be the abiding principle in international relations.