CHAPTER!

INTRODUCTION

Arunachal Pradesh is situated in the north-eastern corner of India. The

state is the largest among the eight north-eastern states in terms of its physical

entity with sprawling area of over 83 thousand sq km. However, it "is a thinly

populated hilly tract lying roughly between the latitude 26° -28 and 29°-30 N

and the longitude 91 "-30 E and 91°-30 E on the north east extremity of India." It

has a long international border, namely, with Bhutan in the west (160 km),

Myanmar in the east (440 km), and to the extreme north with Tibet and China

(1030 km). It borders with two of the Indian states i.e. Assam in south (618.5

km) and Nagaland in south-east (58.6 km).

The state is mainly a mountainous territory which is conveniently

divided into three distinct physiographic units. The first unit comprise the

Kameng, Subansiri and Siang districts and partly of Lohit district which is an

eastward extension and continuation of Bhutan Himalaya. The Tirap district,

which is a part of Patkai range and a link between Lohit Himalaya and Naga

Hills of Nagaland, is designated as the second unit. The tliird physiographic unit

is the fringe portion of eastern Assam plains, which include Siang and Lohit

districts. The mountainous territory encompasses about 75000 square km . The

' B. Shastri (ed).: "Mineral Resources of NEFA, Arunachal Pradesh Bulletin", 1972, quoted in Sanjay Dubey's Dynamics of Tribal Local Polity and Panchayat Raj in Arunachal Pradesh, New Delhi: Premiere Publishing House, 1991.

inaccessible and difficult geographical terrain has always been a factor that

prevented the local tribes to mingle among themselves as well as with the

neighbouring people. This has resulted in the development of multiplicity of

languages and customs^. The present nomenclature of the state as "Arunachal

Pradesh" was suggested by B.Das Shastri, the then Director of Research,

Government of NEFA, Shillong and announced by late Indira Gandhi on

January 20, 1972 at Ziro, the tlien head quarter of Subansiri district (presently

Lower Subansiri District) and was designated as a Union Territory. Before the

state attained its present identity, it had gone through numerous jurisdictional,

administrative and territorial transformations and adjustment.

Before the advent of the British, the Ahom policy towards the tribes of

Arunachal Pradesh was according to the exigencies of the political situation and

strength and weakness of the tribes. Sometimes the Ahom rulers were

aggressive and sometimes they followed the policy of conciliation. The Ahom

had compelled several tribes of Changlang and Tirap districts to pay tribute to

them and accept the suzerainty of the Ahom kingdom. Some Ahom tiibes

maintained friendly relations with the hill tribes of Arunachal Pradesh which is

evident from the fact that the Nyishi were allowed right to levy po^a (payment

in kind to buy peace) from foothills areas bordering Darrang under which the

Assamese Paikes were bound to serve the Hillman. The right to posa also had

been ceded to other tribes such as Adi, Akas, and Sherdukpens. The policy of

Bose, M.L History of Arunachal Pradesh, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 1997.p.l6.

'Posa'was adopted in order to appease the tribal groups and keep them in good

humour. However, the policy did not have the desired results since the border

areas saw repeated aggression from the tribes. After defeating the Burmese

(1824-26) and the signing the Treaty of Yandaboo (February 1826), the British

took over the charge of administration in Assam. The British also followed the

same policy of appeasement towards the hill tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and

continued the payment of 'Posa', which provided the main basis of the

superstructure of the Ahom-tribal relations^ However, the policy was not

successful in course of time as the hill tribes carried on feudatory incursions into

the plains of Assam to punish the refractory subjects who escaped from the hill

masters and who refused to pay taxes defying the age old traditions. The tribes

of Arunachal Pradesh clashed with the British on several occasions and the final

fall came in the year 1911 when the Adis were defeated in the Anglo-Adi War

1911. After the defeat of the Adis, the authorities followed forward policies and

undertook extensive survey operations from West Kameng bordering Bhutan to

Tirap bordering Mynmar under the name of Abor Mission, Miri Mission, and

Mishimi Mission duiing 1911-12 and established the Headquaiters of the

Assistant Political Officer at Pasighat. The British Government also carried

forward tlie outer line covering all the areas inhabited by tlie tribes of Arunachal

Pradesh upto present Mac Mohan Line in 1914 and formally initiated the British

administration in Ai'unachal Pradesh"*. The reason for not bringing the region

' Dutta, S. "The Posa System: A Historical Analysis" in S. Dutta and B. Tripathy (ed.), the

Sources of the History of Arunachal Pradesh-New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 2008. P.164.

* Lego, N. Modern History of Arunachal Pradesh, It^nagar: Mrs. Ponung Lego, 2006.p.l07.

under their effective control was absence of any tangible economic benefits

accruing from the region. They would rather keep these areas outside their

administrative jurisdiction and follow the policy of isolation, thus, isolating the

hill people from the plains. "Inner line" - an administrative device of

demarcating boundaries of plains with hills was a British strategy to keep their

administration intact in the plains so as to safeguard their economic and

imperialistic interests. It was not meant for the protection and benefit of tribal

people^

In 1914, these hill areas were separated from the plains and North-East

Frontier Tract was formed. It had tliree administrative units created by three

separate notifications of the Govt, of India, namely, 1) Central and Eastern

section, 2) Lakliimpvu" frontier tract, 3) Western section. This tract can be

considered as the nucleus of the territorial and jurisdictional pattern of present

Arunachal Pradesh. In the year 1914 the first and third units were placed under

the charge of a political officer and the Deputy Commissioner Lakliimpur

district was given the additional charge of the second unit. The Political Officer

of the central and eastern sections had its headquarters at Sadiya. The office of

the Political Officer of the western section was located at Charduwar. A policy

of peaceful penetration was pursued during 1913-14. The sui-vey of Mishmi and

Abor countries were successfully completed. The Lohit Valley road was carried

^ Nayak, CM. History of North-East lndia-1228-1947, Pasighat: East Siang, Arunachal Pradesh,

Bani Mandir Publishing House, 2003.p.l20.

to Theronliang and communication with the hill tribes was kept up by

promenades to Walong in the Mishmi country and through the Aka and Dafla

countries. The British officers on these promenades visited Dirang Zong,

Tawang, and Rima. In 1919, the then Commissioner of Assam Sir Beatson Bell

recommended that the earlier division of Eastern and Western section be

renamed as the Sadiya Frontier Tract and the Balipara Frontier Tract

respectively. However, the Lakhimpur Frontier Tract continued with same

name. In 1937, the Balipara, Lakhimpur and Sadiya Frontier Tracts came to be

known collectively as the Excluded Areas of the Province of Assam under the

provision of Section 91(1) of the Government of India Act of 1935.These

excluded aj'eas came under the direct control of the Governor who administered

these in his discretion under section 92 of the said Act, through the Political

Officer and the Deputy Commissioner of Lakhimpur.

After independence, the plain portions of the Balipara Frontier Tract,

Tirap Frontier Tract, Abor Hill District and Mishmi Hills District were

transferred to the administrative jurisdiction of Government of Assam in 1950.

In 1954, the North East Frontier Tract was renamed as North East Frontier

Agency (NEFA) which did not include the transferred plains portions together

with the Naga Tribal Area. Under the North East Frontier Areas

(Administration) Regulation of 1954 the administrative units were also

reconstituted and renamed with definite boundaries. Accordingly, the Balipara

Frontier Tract was bifurcated into: Kameng Frontier Division and Subansiri

Frontier Division, Abor Hills District was renamed as Siang Frontier Division,

Mislimi Hills District as Lohit Frontier Division, Tirap Frontier Tract as Tirap

Frontier Division and Naga Tribal Areas as Tuensang Frontier Division.

However, in 1957, the Tuensang Frontier Division was included in the newly

constituted Naga Hills- Tuensang Area which now forms the state of Nagaland.

NEFA was administered under the Ministry of External Affairs and in

1965 NEFA was transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government

of India. From September 1, 1965 the five, frontier divisions came to be known

as the five districts and there was no change of their headquarters. On October

2, 1969, a four tier territory, at the district, block, and village level was

introduced on the recommendation of Dying Ering Committee which initiated

the systemafic process of democratic decentralisation.

NEFA was part of Assam until January 21, 1972 and was administered

by the President of India through the Governor of Assam acting as his agent

under the provision of Part B of the 6"' schedule of the constitution. NEFA

acquired an independent political status of Union Territory in 1972.

The 37"' constitutional amendment passed by Parliament provided for a

Legislative Assembly consisting of 33 (30 elected+ 3 nominated) - members

with Chief Minister and a cabinet to assist the Lieutenant Governor. This Act

also made provision for two elected MP's fiom Arunachal Pradesh to Lok

Sabha. On August 15, 1975, the Pradesh Council was converted into provisional

legislative assembly and the office of the Chief Commissioner of the Union

Territory was re-designated as lieutenant governor. In the same year, Itanagar in

Papumpaie district (erstwhile Subansiri District) was made the capital of the

state followed by shifting of the secretariat of Arunachal Pradesh situated in

Shillong till 1974 to the new capital.

Till May 1980, Arunachal Pradesh consisted of five districts, namely,

Kameng, Subansiri, Siang, Lohit, and Tirap. At present, the state has sixteen

districts cai-ved out at different points of time from the above mentioned five

principal districts for administrative convenience. They are Tawang, West

kameng. East kameng, Papumpare, Lower Subansiri, Kurung Kumey, Upper

Subansiri, West Siang, East Siang, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley, Lower Dibang

Valley, Lohit, Anjaw, Changlang, and Tirap. On Febmary 20, 1987, finally,

Arunachal Pradesh was granted statehood with a 40 member Legislative

Assembly. The number of members in the State Legislative Assembly was also

raised to 60 in September 1988.

Thus, Arunachal Pradesh has experienced constitutional and political

developments both during the colonial and post colonial period. It will not be

out of place to put that the people of Arunachal Pradesh have traversed many

centuries within the span of just a few decades. Modern participatory

democratic political process made a late beginning in Arunachal Pradesh. Local

Self Govermnent under the North East Frontier Agency Panchayati Raj

Regulation (Regulation 3 of 1967) was the first administrative mechanism that

provided the legal base to the already existing notion of age-old institutions of

different tribes through which the people of Aiiinachal were governed .It,

practically, helped to prepare the ground for strengthening and fiirthering the

democratic process in this nascent fiontier state of north east India.

The emergence of Arunachal Pradesh as a full-fledged state has resulted

in the formation and functioning of different political parties. Both national and

regional political parties provide adequate choices to electors to vote the party

to power. The political parties also have successfully mobilised people towards

political participation and creating an interest among local populace on the

operational dynamics of parliamentary system.

Statement of the problem:

Arunachal Pradesh was inducted into modem participatory democratic

political processes with a lot of enthusiasm and eagerness by its people and

leaders. Local self-government under the North-East Frontier Agency

Panchayati Raj Regulation of 1967 was such first administrative mechanism

that provided the legal base to the already existing notion of age-old traditional

institutional practices through which the people of Arunachal were governed. It

paved the way for political evolution of Arunachal Pradesh that enabled the

people to take part in modern participatory political activities. The people of

Arunachal Pradesh, though far behind in terms of political development, were

not fully unfamiliar with self governing institution at village level. Each

community had its own village council that had been functioning as an effective

tool of village governance. The traditional village councils differed from tribe to

tribe in its workings. A typical tribal village council consisted of village chiefs,

local priest, and elderly, matured and influential persons of the village. All the

villagers would join and participate in the deliberations. The statutory

Panchayati Raj Institution introduced in 1969 recognized the already existing

notion of participation and propelled it towards a modern mode of political

functioning. The advent of political parties, emergence of numerous groups, and

the people's participation in the democratic process such as periodic election

exposed the state and the people to the democratic principles and ethos. With

the inti-oduction of democratic processes the people have been participating in

electing their representative since 1977. So far the state has had nine

parliamentary elections and seven Assembly elections. They have been

participating in local bodies' election as well.

It is assumed that the people's participation in politics does not remain

limited to the participation in the election process alone. A modern participatory

democratic set up will be one in which citizens have the maximimi opportunity

for political participation. Such a polity would portray a populace interested in

politics, turning out in numbers to vote in local, state, and national politics,

attending electoral meetings, forming groups to campaign for shared objectives,

contacting public representatives, and officials, signing a petition, attending

public inquiries, taking out procession, and going for demonstration and

agitation. There are a good number of factors that can be observed facilitating

the increasing level of political participation of people in the state. The

heightened activities of political parties for broadening its base to capture

power, expansion of education, rise of a new class of intellectual and elite

groups, impact of modernity, role of mass -media, perceptible change in

people's outlook to identify themselves with the pace of political changes- all

have a catalytic effect in promoting the people of the state to engage in different

political activities. Hence, the present study is an attempt to understand the

extent of people's engagement in different political activities, their level of

interest and involvement in political parties, election campaigning, party

memberships, group activity and memberships, and participation in protest

activities.

Review of literature:

The term 'Participation' came to tlie fore in the politics of many western

democracies such as in Britain and the United States of America in the

1960's.Material contentment and subsequent political development and political

modernisation has led to an increased contact between the citizen and the

government. A good number of studies and researches have been undertaken on

the theme of political participation, mostly, in the European and American

Continent.

PaiTy Geraint and George Moyser in their study, "Political Participation

and Democracy in Britain"^ have conducted an extensive research of British

political participation. The work is based on one of the most extensive surveys

of political activities and interest of British citizens ever undertaken, hi the year

of 1984 and 85, they conducted a sample sui-vey of nearly 3200 people across

England, Scotland and Wales and nearly 300 leaders in six specially selected

and contrasting local communities. The respondents were asked about the extent

to which they had taken action such as writing to their representatives raising

^ Parry, Geraint et al. Political Participation and Democracy in Britain, Great Britain: Cambridge

University Press, 1992.

10

local issues and problems, going on a protest march or canvassing for a political

party. It focuses on more regular day to day patterns of citizen political activity,

the author found wider levels of participation than previous research has

revealed. The study also shows the relationship between education and

pailicipation, relationship between participation and wealth. The study found

that 46.4% of the population without any formal education are located in midst

of the low participant below the mean and the degree holders are not only an

educationally elite but are also found participatory elite. The formally

uneducated have taken at least one action, on average beyond voting and

signing petition. Conversely, tlie degree holders were found to have engaged in

nearly 3.5 actions on average which, in the context of overall British profile, put

them in a much politicized position. The material resource base of individuals

and its relationship with participation is similar to that for educational skills. 5%

of the richest having the adjusted score of 18+ have shown the stronger impulse

to participate and is positioned at the top. But interestingly, the next highest are

the poorest 5% having 7+ the adjusted score. These phenomena ai e a product of

collective solidarity amongst the poor and ideologically rooted mobilisation.

They have studied in detail the group resources and political participation in the

context of British political scene, which are fundamental to liberal democratic

politics and touch regularly or intermittently on politics, both national and local.

There may be some nationally well known groups such as major trade unions,

or may be less known obscure local groups. They found that two third of the

adult British population belong to at least one group apart from trade union,

while over half are either or have been members of a union or staff association.

11

The groups sei-ve its members in its two ways. Firstly, the memberships of

groups can provide the individuals about policies and action which may affect

his or her life through interacting with others who have identical interests;

persons become aware more of their social and political environment. Secondly,

the group invite them to act in the way so as to help protecting their interest and

resolving their issues.

In 'Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism'', Pippa Norris

examines evidence if there has been a steady erosion of the traditional avenues

of political engagement, including electoral turnout, party work, and civic

activism, secondly the impact of long term process of societal modernisation

and human development (tlie rising level of literacy, education and wealth) on

political acts and whether political activism has been reinvented in recent times

by a process of diversification of agencies , the repertoires and the targets. His

study confirms the modernisation thesis that during the last fifty years, countries

accompanied by rapid human development in Asia and Latin America have

experienced substantial growth in the arena of political turnout. There is

perceptible economic shift in the production process underlie changes in the

state, in particular, the rising level of education, literacy, and wealth in the

transition from rural subsistence economics to emerging industrialised nation

generate conditions favourable to expand voting participation. However, the

' Norris, Pippa. Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism, UK: The Press Syndicate of

the University o f Cambridge, 2002.

12

author sees a ceiling effect in tlie overall impact of human development. When

primai'y and secondaiy education become ubiquitous throughout the population,

producing basic cognitive skills that facilitate civic awareness and access to

mass communication, then further gains do not produce further improvements in

voting participation. The author downplays the concern that during the last fifty

yeais, the post industrial societies experienced an erosion of voting

participation. He prefers to conclude that overall the majority of these nations

saw a long tenn pattern of trendless fluctuation or stability in the voting

participation. The short-term decline seen in some of the post industrial

societies can be speculated of the impact of globalisation, eroding the power and

autonomy of the nation- state during the 1990's. However, the author considers

this explanation requires further systematic analysis. Controlling for levels of

human and political development, political institution and legal rules proves to

be significantly related with voter turnout in national elections around the

world. All other things being equal, political institution matter; voting

participation is maximised where proportional representation is used, with small

electoral districts, regular but relatively infrequent national contests,

competitive party system, and presidential contests. Turnout has been lower

where woman have been recently enfranchised and used literacy requirement.

Again, the age of voting eligibility and use of compulsory voting made no

significant difference to turnout worldwide.

Party-membership pattern as given in chapter 6 suggest a complex

picture. There is a considerable variation in the comparative analysis of party-

memberships across the different nations, the estimate of which is based on

13

official party records. The author concludes that many established democracies

have witnessed an erosion of paily memberships from 1980s to the early 1990's

but during the period; it saw an increase in the newer democracies. The World

Value Survey Evidence confirms the cross-national variation, with the lowest

membership in post-soviet societies and healthier paity-memberships in newer

democracies in Asia and Africa. The people's interest to join a party has been

connected with soft version of rational choice theory. The party membership has

been highest where access to television is limited. The usefulness of grass root

workers declines where there are multiple other channels of electronic

communication available to maximise the electoral support. However, the

mobilising agencies and political interest, according to him are crucial for

explaining the party membership rather than the standard background variables

of gender, age, class and education. Associational forms of political

participation aie a matter of concern if these are on the decline. The vaiied type

of organisation has been an important facilitating factor promoting people's

engagement in politics. These, organisations such as religious bodies, trade

unions and socio-political groups have been long regarded as specifically

important for the poorer communities and minority groups that could be

otherwise more marginalised politically. However, the net union density in the

post war period saw a divergence in Western Europe. Some nations have seen

slow erosion while others have expanded the union memberships base during

the same period and many other were found peaks and troughs. So far as the

unconventional type politics is concerned, these have become pervasive and

popular mode of participation. The protest form of activities such as petitions.

14

demonstfation, boycott, and strike have been found more frequently used as a

means of political expression and mobilisation. The autlior suggests that protest

politics is particulaily strong among the well-educated managerial and

professional classes in the post industrials societies and these activities are no

longer confined to the younger generation. Many show concern over the

Western publics that they have become detached from political affairs and bored

with politics. For the author to put, if this is not producing a crisis of

democracy, it could give rise to a growing problem of legitimacy for

representative government, widening the gap between rulers and ruled and

undermining particularly the legitimacy of fragile democracy. But data of

secular decline often remains limited and as" such tliere is no consistent and

reliable longitudinal trend. Most of the previous research has been restricted to

case studies of particular countries and paiticularly the United States of America

and therefore, according to author, it is difficult by definition to be regarded as

setting the global standard and setting.

Madan Lai Goel in his work entitled, "Political Participation in a

developing nation: Ihdia"^ tries to trace the political behaviour in Indian

context. His study is based on analysis of data originally collected by the Indian

Institute of Public Opinion (IIPO), New Delhi. Altogether sixteen variables such

as (1) place of residence, (2) Education, (3) Occupation,(4) Income, (5) Age, (6)

Mai-ital status (7) Sex, (8) Religion,(9) Caste,(10)Mass media Exposure, (11)

o

Goel, Madan Lai. Political Participation in a Developing Nation, India: University of West

Florida, 1974.

15

Geographical Mobility, (12) Political information, (13) Attitudes towards

political recruitment, (14) Party preference, (15) Party evaluation, and (16)

feeling of civic competence have been dealt with to see how these variables

have effects on people's political participation. These sixteen characteristics

have been divided into two groups 1) Socio -economic or demographic

variables incorporating the first eleven characteristics, 2) Psychological or

attitudinal variables incorporating the last five characteristics. The rural- urban

differences on political participation is based on three national surveys of 1961,

1964, and the 1967 and fourth one a north Indian Community entitled " the law

and order study". The author found that residents of urban communities are

slightly more interested in political issues than residents of rural communities.

In 1964, 44 percent of the urban and 34 percent of the rural dwellers indicated

that they 'take interest in political matters'. This represents a 10 percentage

point difference between the two communities.

In terms of electoral participation, the rural dwellers are slightly more

active than their counterparts in urban areas. Again rural residents are found

more active in attending public meetings than urban dwellers. 25 percent of the

former than the latter indicated that they joined public meetings and rallies. It

could be noted in the context of author's study that public meetings which used

to attract large gatherings ai-e no longer can pull crowds. Public meetings have

disappeared from the American scene, though this is still an important part of

Indian political campaigns. Almost all political parties organise public meetings

and paity leaders address the masses. During the Nehru and Shastri

administration such mass rallies were very popular but evidence indicates such

16

mass gatherings were on the decline in 1967. It is argued that urban-rural

differences on political participation reflect variance due to such factors as

education, mass media exposure and income levels.

Amongst all the variables studied in social science research (age, sex,

income, occupation, place of residence etc.)- Education has been found to have

the greatest effects on political behaviour. Educated person is a different kind of

political actor than person with little education or no education at all. The author

provides several characteristics associated with the attainment of education.

Persons witli higher education are more likely to be males, to have higher

income, to live in better localities, to occupy higher status and so on. They

possess greater information about government and politics; they are likely to

have greater political efficacy. All these characteristics have a significant

positive relationship with political participation. The author discovers that

education is veiy strongly related to interest in politics. The data as is collected

by the writer suggested that 1 out of 8 among the illiterates as opposed to 2 out

of 3 among the college educated persons reported having an interest in politics.

In both urban and rural areas, interest in politics increased with education. As

regai'd attempts to influence local and national decisions, it is found that formal

schooling is positively related to political influence. There are some forms of

political engagement in which the educated person's involvement is less than

those who are poorly educated. Their participation in political campaign for a

political paily and monetary contribution for party activities has been found to

be in lesser degree. The writer suggests that since voting participation demand a

large involvement of time in India and this may explain the lower turnout

17

among the educated. This writer hypothesized that the elite educated is

somewhat alienated from the present poHtical system and this may affect their

participation in the political process.

Tlie occupational characteristics also have its independent effects. Some

occupations may encourage political engagement whereas some may

discourage. Occupation of a person is however, closely related to education.

Some occupational positions require higher order of literary skills such as law,

medicine, journalism and teaching; many other such as farming, manual works,

and retail trading do not require high educational competence. The author found

that people in the professional groups (IIPO data) to be the most active of all

groups in several political activities. 60% of them showed interest in politics

and their participation in political discussion with relatives, neighbours, and

fellow workers is also highest (46 percent), 34 to 35 of professionals were found

to have done something in an attempt to influence political decision. They were

ahead by about 12 percentage points of their nearest followers. Different Polls

shows different data regarding voting turnout, but it is not high. 65% of them

were found to have exercised their franchise. It may be concluded that people

belonging to upper strata are highly interested in politics and trying to influence

decisions, but they do not turn out at the polls in the same proportion as is done

by the members of other strata. The farmer groups were also found to be active

in politics. So far as voting is concerned, farmers report the highest turnout

which is confirmed by the 1967 poll, the 1964 poll and Delhi Area Study. Their

voting percentages were 82, 78, and 85 respectively. However, on other

measuie of political engagements such as attending public meetings, discussing

18

politics, interest in political matters and participation in political influence

activities were low. Contribution of finance is also very low (3 percent). The

businessman group that includes big businessmen, petty traders and

shopkeepers, they indicate a better status in terms of economic well being

despite low level of formal education. Most of them are concentrated in urban

areas. Their contribution to finance to political parties is of the highest order

(19%). On measures other than monetary donation to parties, they occupy a

roughly midway between the most and the least activity. White-collar workers

constitute a major chunk of Indian population. They are the employees of the

Central and State government. The very nature of government job makes the

public servant aware of political consideration. In some cases, he may be

subjected to pressures from special interest, wliile in other he may be influenced

by politicians who want to affect his behaviour on behalf of their constituencies.

On the other hand, public service also carries restrictions on political and

electoral involvement by state. For example, public servants are not supposed to

be pailisan advocates; nor they can stand for public offices while continuing in

government service which is prohibited by law. They show interest in politics

close to top, but their engagement in political activities is not in the same

proportion. Voting participation is one of the lowest by this group. Donation of

money is also reported to be very low.

Un-skilled workers, semi-skilled workers and agricultural labourers

foiTn another big group of people. They represent the lower strata in the Indian

social hierarchy. Most of them are illiterate and tlieir income aie also low .The

do not have the social position to carry much political weight. In comparison to

19

other occupation groups, they are minimally engaged in poHtics, 21 to 26 I

percent shows interest in politics. What is contrasting is their voting turn out

which is quite high. The 1967 poll shows that in terms of voting turn out this

group occupy second place i.e. just below the farmers. The last category of

people is made up of students, the retired personnel, and the unemployed. They

do not occupy the central position in the Indian society, or as in the case of

students, they have not yet entered into the mainstream of socio-political life.

All Gallup polls give same picture of their low participation in all forms of

political activities.

Income of individuals also has its effect on political engagement. Most

of the research works conducted in the west confirmed that people of higher

income participate more than those who have less income. However, data from

Indian Political system only partly support research findings in the west. It was

found in the Indian context that people's interest in politics, political influence,

and talking politics are positively correlated with income. The relationship

between income and attempt to influence political decision is particularly

striking. Very few people at the lower income level have tried to influence

political decision; in contrast about -one third of those with high income report

participation in this activity. There is no consistent pattern that emerges from all

the polls. The 1967 and the 1964 National Polls and Delhi Area Study indicate

that persons who are in the highest economic status classification vote

somewhat less than those who have a slightly lower economic status. But the

author found that 1966 metro and the 1966 urban polls reveals no major

difference in the voting frequency and rise in income. The author draws a safe

20

conclusion that beyond a threshold impact, rise in income is not significantly

related to voter participation. Attending meetings and rallies by different income

category also shows an irregular pattern. The Delhi Area Study shows that

people of higher income category were found to be minimally involved in

attending meetings than those who were in the medium economic category.

However, the Dehra Dun Study indicates that there is no difference in the

pailicipation rate of these two groups. Relating to donation of money to political

parties, the writer finds an unexpected pattern that those in the highest economic

bracket are less likely to give money than those in the medium brackets. The

study also found only a small proportion of persons who have contributed

financially to political activities. Out of 492, only 37 persons are reported to

have donated money to parties.

Age is another important variable that affect the level of political

participation. Many studies have discovered a positive correlation of age and

political participation. People world over have been found to vote in greater

number as they grow older. The IIPO Polls gives data of political participation

of age breaking it into three groups, 21-35, 36-50, 52 and above. It was found

that those who were in their twenties vote less frequently than those who were

older. Other forms of political participation such as attending public meetings,

giving money to political parties and contacting officials to influence decisions

were found to be not very significantly related to variation in age. With respect

to interest in politics and engaging in political discussion, people's engagement

found to be decreasing with age. Variation in age is related to voter turnout even

- 1 ' ;„c«cc- ^iM»^^

when a control for education is introduced. At all level of education, the older

people are more likely to vote than younger.

Marital status of an individual has its effects in political participation.

Marital status is connected with maturity in age and acquiring a family tends to

enhance his group and factional attachments and his interest in political

decisions. The IIPO Polls data suggests that marital status is related to

frequency of voting. Those who are married turned out at the polls in larger

number than those who are unmarried. The average difference was 24 points as

found by the author. However, the author stresses upon the facts that the marital

status may not work independently since most unmarried belong to young age

group. As such if control for age is introduced, the strong relationship between

maiital status and voting might disappear. Data indicate that marital status is

independently related to frequency of voting. An individual may belong to any

age group, being married leads to greater turnout at the polls as is supported by

two polls; the 1964 national poll and the 1966 urban study. The author brings

out another interesting pattern relating to voting. Bigger families are likely to

vote more than smaller families. Those who have more children than those who

have fewer or no children were found to have voted more. Reseaichers also

show greater interest in understanding the level of political participation in the

perspective of male-female dichotomy. In some countries, women are still

deprived of the right to franchise. New Zealand was the first country that

provided the voting right to women in 1893 whereas Switzerland enfranchised

women as late as in 1971. Studies have found that women vote considerably in

22

less proportion than their male counterpart. Sex difference in voting is greater in

India than in the western countries.

The IIPO polls indicate that women turnout at the polls in smaller

number than male do. The difference ranges from 4 to 26 percentage points with

the average difference is 12 points. However, over the years the gap between

male-female voting participation is narrowing. There are some attributes that are

associated with women's voting participation. The level of modernisation has its

effect in their participatory role. It is found that state with literacy rate, higher

income and education and urban residents shows a higher voting rate among

women. Data of 1967 Polls shows large difference between male and female

turnout and are among less modem states in India, e.g. Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,

Bihar, and Assam and Rajasthan. The best index of voting turnout by sex is

literacy. Kerala and Madras (Chennai) rank at the top in literacy and also

indicates higher voting turnout among women. In terms of other forms of

political participation, women lag much more than their male counterpart. The

Study shows three to four times as many men as women are likely to take

interest in politics, attend meetings, discuss politics, or try to influence

decisions. It is found that' women living in cities and possessing college

education are likely to have tried to affect unfair laws than their counterparts.

However, there exist a big gap between men and women at all levels of political

engagement.

Ganapathi Palanithuiai and Swati Sucharita Nanda in their edited work

entitled, "Voter expectation and Reasoning of participation in electoral

23

participation"^ have made an attempt to understand the expectations of the

people while participating in electoral process and the reasoning of taking part

in voting activity in the state of Tamil Nadu. The study is divided into two parts.

In the first section, five open-ended schedules was prepared to understand the

varied nature of expectation of the people such as ideal government, qualities of

chief minister, relationship between the ruling party and opposition, the kind of

bureaucracy people want to see and the services, they like to seek from the state.

The findings shows that botli in rural and urban areas, a vast majority of the

respondents want government to be people-friendly, development centric and

providing employment and basic necessities. Regarding the personality of Chief

Minister, 88 percent urban respondents and 46.6 percent of the rural respondents

wanted a chief minister who relates to the people as a fellow citizen of Tamil

Nadu. Sizeable percentage of respondents were seen giving equal weight to

their expectation from chief minister such as developing good relation with the

centre, respecting promises made at the time of election, nurturing an attitude of

non-partisan to caste and communities and also honest leadership qualities in

him. Again, relating to relationship between the ruling party and opposition

party, a little over 30 percent and 50 percent in rural and urban areas

respectively stiessed the need of stopping crude and theatrical fighting between

the two. As to the question of kind of bureaucracy people wanted, more or less

the urban residents are not happy with the working of bureaucratic system. The

^ Patanithurai, G and S.S. Nanda (Ed.) Voters Expectation and Reasoning of Participation in

Electoral Process, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 2007.

24

study finds that 25.6 percent of the rural respondents and 70.7 percent urban

respondents wanted the bureaucrats to be people-fi-iendly. A sizeable percentage

of respondents wanted them to be honest and committed to the cause of social

justice. As expectedly, to the last question, i.e. regarding the services they want

from the state, most of them give primacy to infrastructure development,

employment, water, health and food. A good number of the respondents

emphasised upon the fact that the Public Distribution System needs to be

reinvigorated. The study drove home the points that people in general, in the

state of Tamil Nadu are well aware of the political issues, have a good

understanding of political system and their potential expectation from the state.

In the second section, political participation of the people in the rural belts of

Tamil Nadu was measured. Three constituencies were sui-veyed, namely,

Nilakkotta, Athur, and Dindigul. The autliors in their study find that in the rural

areas, an overwhelming percentage of voters, nearly, 60 to 70 percent of the

respondents have deep faith in the democratic process of the political system

and the institutions and organisations ingrained in it. A whopping 84 percent of

the respondents said to have participated in the previous election and 92 percent

of them said that they would participate in the present election, hi order to

understand the rationale behind their participation in political acts, some

cognitive aspects of the voters were also studied. It was noted that even in the

mral areas; a vast majority of the voters know the names of the candidates. Only

11 percent of the respondents were unfamiliar with the name of the candidates.

The authors are inclined to draw a conclusive line on the general perception that

rural voters votes not by seeing the symbol but have good knowledge about the

25

candidates and their background. While in respect of voter's choice is

concerned towards the party and candidate, 25 percent of the voters decide to

cast their vote on the merit of the candidates rather than the party. 64.3 percent

of the voters give preference to the party while voting. Around 5 percentages of

voters judge the both factors in their decision to vote. The study shows that the

voters have a more attachment towards political parties than other aspects.

About little less than 40 percent of the voters said that their voting decision is

conditioned by the parties, whereas another 24.7 percent of the voters said that

their decision is based on the ideology of the party. 14.7 percent of the voters

said that their decision is influenced by the leaders. The authors' sums up tliat

the electoral victory is not judged by any single factors but a combination of

factors. Amongst the factors, however, political party has been found to have a

major role.

Terry Clay Eakin made an interesting study of political behaviour and

participation pattern of Bombay College Students in his study, "Student and

politics- A Comparative Study""'. The study is divided into six chapters;

amongst them the last chapter entitled 'Political Participation' will be more

relevant than any other chapters in the context of the present study. The study is

limited in its scope in the sense that it is confined to student in the college and

their participation within the spectrum of college activities. The author found

that a vast majority of student felt that they should participate in college

' Eakin, Terry Clay, Student and politics- A Comparative Study, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1972.

26

activities (83%). Furthennore, three-fourth of the respondents are actual

members of at least one organisation, 16 percent serve as office-bearers in one

of these organisation such as students societies, academic or cultural clubs,

literary and debating society, the gymkhana, the Indian history society and

Gujrati Sahitya Mandal and the Chemical Society. The Bombay Sample

Students had mixed feelings about political parties.76 percent of tlie students

respondents felt that parties are necessary for India and so adults should be

active in political parties. 47 percent of them support a particular political party

and 17 percent are members of politically -oriented organisations. The study

found that 28 percent have worked for a political party or individual candidate

during an election campaign. Comparatively a lower percentage of 17 percent

are found to be members of political related groups. Some of the organisation,

they joined include The National Council of University Students in India, Akhil

Bharatiya Vidhartlii Parisad, International Union of Students and the All India

Students Youth Federation. So far as protest activities are concerned, 22 percent

of the students approved of these activities. In a question as to how they would

change an unjust college rule, a low percentage of just 4 replied for staging a

demonstration. In actual participation in demonstration or mai'ches, 7 percent

reported to have participated to challenge a college policy and 10 percent

reported to have engaged in community demonstration held away from the

college and organised by apolitical parly.

Hans Blomkvist in "Social Capital, Political Participation and the

quality of democracy in India" (Paper for amiual meeting of the American

27

Political Science Association, 28-31 Aug.2003 in Philadelphia)" attempts to

find out if government's response to citizen's demands is affected by different

kinds of political participation. The authors selected five states of Gujrat, Uttar

Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and West Bengal covering 31 different rural and urban

localities. The author argues that it is not only the level of government and

regime type that is important for government responsiveness but also the

political participation and social interaction among citizens. Incidence of

poverty is taken as an indicator of government responsiveness. Variation in the

level of poverty is 8 to 9 percent in parts of Haryana, Punjab, and Kamataka to

such high levels as 50 to 60 percent in parts of Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West

Bengal. The worst situation they found was in southern Orissa where 77 percent

lived below the poverty line. There are a number of factors that helps in the

reduction of loiral poverty such as rural economic growth, low inflation,

endowments of physical infrastructure and human resources". To consider some

other factors that may influence poverty alleviation is ternied by Atul Kohli as

'regime type' which is of considerable importance for the effectiveness of state-

initiated redistribution. He compared the government and policy outcome of the

congress government in Karnataka, the Janata government in Uttar Pradesh and

the Communist government in West Bengal. He concluded that ideology,

leadership, organisation and class basis of the party (regime) matter much in

making the redistribution policies 'tick'. The contrasting picture of regime is

provided by two states of Kerala and West Bengal wherein despite there exists

similarities of regime type i.e. ruled by CPI and CPM for a long .period of time,

"www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/po42.pdf

28

both shows variation in the resuhs in doing away with poverty. The author

found that out of the five states, poHtical activities undertaken shows a marked

variation. In Kerala, a whopping percentage of 68 say that they are a political

activist, lowest being in West Bengal 21%. The highest percentage (34) of

respondents found politically active is in the state of West Bengal whereas the

lowest percentage of (17) respondents are politically active in the state of

Gujrat. Marked differences were found in political knowledge, legitimacy of

democracy, and personal knowledge of a local politician between Kerala and

West Bengal. The state of Kerala shows greater degree of political awareness

than most of other states. A stunning 97 percent of the interviewed could give

the. correct name of the sitting Chief Minister in the state whereas 79 percent

knew liis name in West Bengal. 80% of the people in Kerala say that they know

personally a politician while the percentage for West Bengal is 54%.

So fai- as political and social life in Kerala is concerned, these show

rather astonishing figure. Eveiyday 87 percent Keralite reads newspaper and 79

percent listen to the news in radio while the corresponding figure for West

Bengal is just 36 and 24 percent. Every second person in Kerala discusses

"public issues" outside the household while it is 20 percent in West Bengal.

The conventional explanation given in the paper is due to the kind of party in

power. However, the author correlates the differences with tliree other factors

such as social capital, education, and initial conditions. According to the author,

the most important theoretical point with social capital is that it can help people

overcoming the 'dilemmas of collective action'. Infonnal form of social capital

rises when neighbours are chatting and friends are playing cards while the

29

formal social capital takes the shape when an association is formed by a group

of individuals to protect their interest. Social capital is unevenly distributed in

the societies, even absent in some societies as that very few people in the

Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca even spoke with people outside of their own

household. At this backdrop, a battery of questions on social and political

networks, interpersonal trust and associational memberships were included. The

data collected by the author shows a low level of participation in formal

associations; only 13 to 15 percent of the people were found to be member of

any formal association. To the questions who talk with people outside of the

household about public issues everyday or every week, Kerala with 72

percentages is the highest, followed by Orissa and Uttar Pradesh with 54

percentage points. The lowest on this count is West Bengal with 40 percent.

Thus it is found by the author that in Kerala, there are much more extensive

'everyday' networks than people of the other states. As per the author's

perception, the theoretical idea in reflecting such ordinary activities is that these

networks can facilitate or can cause political participation. The core idea behind

the social capital theory, according to the author is that connection between

persons lowers the threshold or transactions costs or other kinds of

communication. They enable people to cooperate. If someone knows a

neighbour from chatting or getting advice, it then becomes easier to convince

him/her to join in a demonstration against a grievance. Some other works done

by BloomJcvist and Vernby confirm the theory that the size and intensity of

networks affect people's propensity to take part in politics and in protest

mobilisation.

30

Anthony Arblaster in his celebrated work, "Democracy"'^ ai-gues that

despite admirable achievement in the sphere of realizing the core concept of

democracy in the shape of universal suffrage in a political system, a true

democracy is still far from being fully realized. This can be considered as only

the first step on the long road to evolve a truly democratic society. Democracy

is a government by the people and for the people, and it is here that the

government has to 'do some good' to them in the process of manning the

political system, not discriminating between the general population and the

capitalist class. The author seems to be somewhat sceptical about democracy

where power resides in the powerful group of people in the society and unequal

distribution of power, many a time, makes many forms of political participation

ineffective and a farce, thus it curtail the essence of democratic credentials by

way of not opening up the channels of power sharing to the masses in a real

sense. The principle of equality of political power which is embodied in the

possession of every citizen stands in contrast to the inequalities in the

distribution of power in almost all other aspects of political life. Political

decisions are often taken by the government in order to please some capitalist at

the risk of ignoring the interest of local comniunity and general people as a

whole. Unlike the local community which have to organize, collect signature

campaigns, staging a demonstration and lobbing so that it can make its view

heard and get them noticed. On the other hand, some private capitalist unit do

very little for tilting governmental decisions in its favour. The author is of the

^ Arblaster, Anthony. Democracy, Delhi: Bookland Publishing Company, 1997.

31

opinion that in order to make democracy meaningful and a fair operational

system in the society, the visible and active exercise of power need to equalized,

if possible it has to be redistributed or at least must be made accountable within

the framework of democracy. He reemphasised upon the fact that the economic

power is political power and it does make a little sense of promoting the

principle of democracy by way of voting power given to each citizens while

leaving many other form of political power are distributed according to the

gross inequities of the capitalist market. Thus, according to the author, there is a

clear case of reforms and changes according to the detection of different

diagnoses in the area of political institutions and practices, conventions and

customs where the principles of democracy is allowed and claimed to be

operative.

Charles F. Andrain and David E. Apter in their book, "Political Protest

and Social Change"'^ have studied extensively on protest form of political

participation with its theoretical perspective. This work throws light on how the

cultural beliefs, socio-political structure, personal attitudes, motives and

perceptions shape the decision to participate in protest activities. Protesters ai-e

found using different types of tactics: violent vs. non violent, public and covert,

organized and spontaneous confrontation and accommodation with other

groups, political parties and government agencies. Most of the activists view a

particular tactics as a useful means to fulfil their demands.

" Adrain, F. Charles and Apter E. David. Political Protest and Social Change, London: Macmillan

Press Ltd, University Press, 1995.

32

Protest movements reflect the relationship between the rulers and the

ruled. The rulers are responsible for making and carrying out binding policies

for a society. Problems such as economic poverty, state disintegration,

communal violence, etlinic separatism, religious intolerance and ecological

devastation mount pressure on government to resolve these problems. Political

leaders lack the resources to meet the expectation of conflicting groups. They

have given three analytical dimensions to show the relationship between tlie

rulers and the ruled: cultural beliefs, structure, and behaviour. It is an

assumption that cultural values, socio-political structure and individual

behaviour shape the origins, activities and outcome of protests.

From the cultural perspective, political life offers a discourse of

communication about power relationship. Languages and rituals cairy the

shared values that give meaning to political experience such as protest against

government policies. Political obedience and disobedience is counted on the

assumption of cultural interpretation of generalized values. Governing officials

communicate various texts to maintain their power and political stability-

tlirough ideologies, religious doctrine, nationalist myths, and legal decisions to

member of society. Government often claims that the established system

upholds moral values better than any alternative regime. The acceptance of this

justification with regard to the political system will refrain from joining an

opposition movement that aim to bring about a change of the system.

Structwal analysts focus on the power of government, political parties,

domestic social groups and trans-national institutions. According to resource

33

mobilisation theorist, wlien the structural opportunities outweigh the structural

constrains, people will participate in an opposition movement intended to

change the political status quo. Political modernisation requires access to

resources-information, money, weapons, and organisation/communication

skills. The general assumption of resource mobilisation theoiy suggests the

following structural reasons for anti-state protest activities. Firstly, the state

institution wields low coercive power. Secondly, protesters achieve higher sense

of solidarity, and belong to a homogeneous peer groups. Thirdly, the protest

movement retains high autonomy from tight state control, fourthly, fmancials

and military support from foreign nation and international organisation. On the

other hand, in the following structural constraints, participation is expected to be

low or hampered.

1. The state law-enforcement agencies apply high repression.

2. The group remains disunited. Most people belong to heterogeneous

groups.

3. The government receives support from foreign institutions.

The behavioural theorists focus on the way that the individual shapes the

operation of political institution and uncover the impact of cultural values and

socio-political structure, personal action, such as participation in a protest

movement. Structural and cultural conditions influence the subjective

orientations that lead individual to participate in political protest. Cultural

values shape motives, which affect the willingness to participate or remain

politically passive. Rational choice theory generates assumption about the

34

motive for participation and the perception of the situation that guide protester's

decision making. Motives, perception and attitude influence the decision to

participate in protest movement.

Bangendu Ganguly and Mira Ganguly in a paper on "Election

Campaign: Some Basic Dimensions" (Mukhopadhya: 1986) has dealt with

some of the dimensions of election campaign- one of the most visible modes of

political participation. A campaign by its very nature involves the flow of a

huge quantity of information. It helps the people to understand, the character of

the various paities and the class tendencies or class significance of their

policies. Campaign, whether carried out by bourgeois or a Marxist party, the

immediate aim of all election is to influence the voter's decision making

process. Their survey of post election of West Bengal voters in 1980's shows

that 17.54 percent of the respondents said that they had made up their minds just

before the voting, 15.78 percent said that they had done so about seven days

prior to the election and 7.01 percent admitted having done so about 15 days

before the election. These data indicate that the election campaign does have

some impact on decision making. Further, the study of the 1972 election in

West Bengal found that campaign exposure was positively related to voting

turnout. Voting was highest in the group which had a high degree of campaign

exposure and turnout fell with the decrease in the degree of such exposure.

Though an election campaign usually seeks to motivate the people

towards voting for a particular pajty or against a particular candidate, however

the author sees there are occasionally some activities during the campaign

35

which seek to motivate the people not to vote at all. In 1971 election in West

Bengal, members of CPI (ML) had exhorted people through numerous posters

not to cast their votes and attacks on candidates and election workers raised the

fear that anybody who went to cast his vote would be doing so at the risk of his

life, hi 1977 Lok Sobha election in West Bengal , the Vinode Mishra group of

the CPI(ML) called upon the people to boycott the election. In the year 1983,

election in Assam witnessed anti-election campaign on an unprecedented scale.

The All Assam Student Union and the Assam Gana Parishad opposed the

election in Assam in conjunction with extremist groups indulged in widespread

violence to deter the voters. According to author, all these activities may not be

considered to be election campaign in the accepted sense of the term, yet they

form part of the campaign since they seek to shape the people's attitudes

towards the election.

A.C.Talukdar in his work entitled, "Political Transition in the grass­

roots in tribal India"''* focuses on the impact of the working of the Panchayati

Raj on the traditional political institution, the attitude of the people and the

leaders towards the Panchayat and the extent to which the Panchayat are

instrumental to political change and development. It makes an analysis of the

process of political transition and modernisation at the grass root level through

the functioning of the Panchayat bodies. It was based on tlie study of 10 gram

" Talukdar, A.C. Political Transition in the Grassroots in Tribal India, Guwahati: Omsons

Publications, 1987.

36

Panchayat and one Anclial Samiti in the East Siang Distiict of Arunachal

Pradesh. His study shows the success brought by the introduction of Panchayati

Raj in bringing a number of changes in the socio-political spheres and setting in

motion a process of poHtical transition and modernisation at the grass root level.

The study finds a growing tendency in every village to replace the corporate

nature of life with an individualistic one. The money pouring in for

developmental purposes, facilities extended to the tribal people resulting in

creation of jobs and contracts, have given rise to small middle class with its zest

for modernisation. This phenomenon has also brought the entry of political

parties into the village politics.

The study of ten Gram Panchayat of East Siang district of Arunachal

Pradesh found a visible trend of change in the political outlook and participation

of the people in the villages. During the initials periods of adaption and

operation of Panchayati Raj by the tribal people, it was found that 48.45% of the

total population and 33.33% to 65.25 % in different gram Panchayat take part in

the election/selection of their members. A higher percentage of tribal population

(54.55% to 71.43%) in all the Gram Panchayat say that the village Kebang

discusses problems to be taken up by the Panchayat and equal percentage of

populace found attending the kebang called by the village Panchayat members.

The dilution of influence of Kebang is visible when (4.75 to 50 %) in all almost

all the Gram Panchayat indicate that they no longer abide by the decision of the

Kebang in all cases. A majority of the respondents (51.05%) are affiliated to

political parties.

37

Scope of the study:

The study has two dimensions: theoretical and empirical. In the

beginning focus will be on the study of the concept of participation. Without

understanding the concept and different models of participation, it is difficult to

examine empirically the nature of people's political participation. These models

will constitute the theoretical framework of the study.

The study area is Arunachal Pradesh. The study is based on sample

survey. The study examines the impact of modern political institutions such as

Panchayati Raj and legislative assembly on the scope of people's participation,

the extent of people's engagement in different modes and means of

participation, people's interest in governmental functioning. The attainment of

, full-fledged statehood widened the scope of people's participation in the state.

Hence the present study focuses people's political participation after this period.

Objectives of the study:

The proposed study has the following objectives:-

a) To understand the extent of people's political participation in

Arunachal Pradesh.

b) To find out whether a person's political participation is confined

to voting or they get involved in other modes of participation

also.

38

c) To understand the impact of individual's/communities action

upon the poHcies and decisions of government.

d) To identify the different modes of political participation and its

effectiveness to influence government.

e) To understand the obstacles in the way of people's political

participation.

Conceptual Framework:

Definition of Political Participation:

According to International Encyclopaedia of Social Science, 'Political

Participation' refers to those voluntary activities by which member of a society

share in the selection of rulers and directly or indirectly in the formation of

public policies.

In this study, Political Participation is understood as referring to a wide

array of voluntary activities taken by people with the aim of influencing

government and its policies. These activities include voting, campaigning,

party-membership, organizing meeting, memberships of a pressure groups,

meeting officials and elected representatives, contributing financially and

competing for elected public and party offices etc.

The nature of participation will be developed from the perspective of

instrumental and communitarian model of political participation.

39

Instrumental Model of Political Participation:

The Instrumental model of political participation is wider in its scope

and is all-embracing. It is based on the assumption that people's entry into

political arena and resultant participation is promoted to defend certain

• objectives. These objectives may be altruistic or more narrowly self-interested.

For instance, campaigning for famine, flood, and major accidental disaster relief

are altruistic whereas preventing commercial development in a residential area

is the instance self- interest participation. This view of politics is shared by

thinkers and scholars as Jeremy Bentham, James Mill and Robert A Dhal. Verba

and Nie, put "participation to us most importantly an instrumental activity

through which citizens attempt to influence the government to act in ways the

citizens prefer". It is, therefore assumed that the fundamental reason why some

people participate, and while others do not is that participants consider that

action is likely to bring them benefits excess of any costs involved.

There are important differences between scholars who share this broad

instrumentalist perspective on participation. One such school of thought i.e.- a

socio-psychological theory explains that the decision to participate results from

a number of social forces such as their upbringing, environment, interest,

knowledge of politics and a feeling of obligation to participate. However, it is

generally alleged, that it is more likely to be evident amongst the upper-status

individuals. Their financial security and better education pennits them to invest

time, energy, and money on organisation which can gain political advantages. A

major drawback of this theory is that it pays less attention to the context and

issues which may prompt political action such as unemployment, housing,

education, defence, play a subordinate role in the explanation. The 'economic'

40

model of participation suggests that people act in a very strict instrumental

terms and they make an assessment of the likelihood of achieving their

objectives, compaied with the time, energy, money which could be anticipated

for getting involved in public participation. The civic orientation is considered

less important in explaining the decisions to paiticipate considering the

comparison with direct interest that people have in solutions to their particular

needs and problems. Thus, it focuses on participation with issues, needs and

interest. Thus, if one is unemployed, or has children in primary education; this

will tend to push one's participatory activity in certain direction rather than

others. The higher participation among the higher status reflects the investment

such persons have in society and the economy and which they wish to conserve,

coupled with the availability of resources of finance, organisation, and contacts

which give them relatively good prospects of a favourable outcome to their

activity. Conversely, the less well -off lack the resources and power, relative to

others to achieve their objectives and despite their needs greater, the poor, the

homeless and unemployed may conclude that political participation is not

worthwhile (Goodin and Dryzek 1980. Rational Participation: The politics of

relative power, British journal of political science).

Communitarian Model of Political Participation:

The Communitarian participation suggests that justification for taking

part in politics is not instrumental calculation of cost and benefits to oneself but

a concern for the community of which a person is a part. It is of the view where

people are highly integrated into the local community and where they identify

with it, participation would be greater. In these circumstances, people have a

41

detailed understanding of local needs, problems, and recognised that these are

often shared with their neighbour. When people perceive their interdependence

with other, they will seek to act to sustain their communal relationships. It is

often thought that this sense of community identity is greater in smaller, more

tightly-knit societies. For these reasons, advocates of participatory community

politics are also advocating for decentralisation. Accordingly, one explanation

for low level of participation in modem societies is that these societies are

excessively centralised and remote from citizens. There have been a few

attempts to see if there is any relationship between community and

participation. Verba and Nie in their study, however, provide some evidences of

the relationship in America. Any such investigation faces some difficult and

intriguing problems that largely, arise from the concept of community itself

The tenn is used descriptively and prescriptively at one and same time. To

describe community may be said a group of people possessing and sharing

certain qualities and values.

There are, however, those who are sceptical about the value of this

model of participation. It is alleged that modem, socially mobile societies have

led to the decline of tlie isolated, stable and well-bounded locality which

fostered 'community' identity. It is also argued that now a day's people are as

likely to feel a sense of community identity with those who share tlieir interest

and life style than with people who are simply their neighbour (Plant 1978.

Communit}': concept, conception and ideology, politics and society). Thus,

there is an 'academic community' of university teacher and researchers who

would feel a sense of identity with colleagues across continents. People feel

42

sympathy with other workers in the same industries in different part of a country

and sometimes strike in their support.

It would be mistake to dismiss the effects, even in modern

circumstances, of local comniunit)'. For all the greater mobility of population, it

remains the case that most people's lives ai-e conducted within the confines of

the locality in which they reside. They send their children to local schools, shop

locally, attend their local church, and follow a local football team. Most of the

public services they consume are delivered by local government, however much

they may be funded centrally, hievitably, there remains a considerable local

dimension to any participation they undertake in order to influence delivery of

sei-vices, planning proposal, or the availability of shopping facilities (Agnew, J.

1987.Place and politics: The Geographical mediation of state and society,

Boston: Allen and Unwin).

It is, therefore, likely that some appreciation of local issues and

problems will shape the pattern of participation. There has been a growing

recognition of the impact of 'place' upon politics, particularly in studies of

voting (Agnew) and economic policy making (Cooke P 1989, Localities: the

changing face of urban Britain, London Unwin Hyman).

43

Research Questions:

The proposed study shall be an attempt to explore the following research

questions :-

a) What is the extent of people's political participation in the state?

b) What are different modes of participation available in the state and

how people avail of them?

c) What is the role of community or ethnic based organisation in

mobilising people towai'ds political participation?

d) What is the extent of influence of political participation on

government and its policies?

e) What is the significance of political participation in the democratic

functioning of the state?

Significance of study:

The state has undergone social, economic, political, administrative and

territorial changes over the last four decades. These changes introduced in a

phased manner by various acts of the parliament, have brought the state into the

fold of participatory democracy. The introduction of Panchayati Raj Institution ,

enfranchisement of the people, spread of education, development of mass media

and surface communication, formation of political parties both national and

regional, emergence of numerous groups in socio-political life have exposed the

people of otherwise tradition-bound society to the outside world and to the

modern technique of political processes as never before. Though the people

44

have been participating in the political activities, no serious attempt has been

made to understand the nature and extent of people's political engagement.

There are a few studies focusing on political development, but none of them

underlines the need to study the impact of social organisation or the unique

social characteristics on the political participation. It will also try to understand

the extent of political participation, different means of engagements and its

effectiveness. Active and effective participation could be considered important

for the stability and health of a political system; for ensuring a responsible and

responsive government and for the identification and integration of the people

with the larger political system. Since populai* participation is essential for the

success of democracy; the present study could contribute to the understanding

of political processes in Arunachal Pradesh.

Methodology:

The broad objectives of the study are to understand the nature and extent

of political participation in the context of democratic processes in Arunachal

Pradesh. For this purpose, data have been collected both from the primary and

secondary sources. Secondary data have been collected by consulting books and

articles for which different libraries have been visited.

Field study was conducted to collect the first hand information.

Arunachal Pradesh consists of various tribes and the study was conducted

through a sample survey. Specific study areas have been selected by using

stratified random sampling because of heterogeneous chai-acters of the tribes

and their disparate distribution. In the first stage, the areas have been stratified

45

on the basis of social composition/ structure. Thus, Itanagar represents a mixed

culture; Tawang represents the Buddhist fabric of the state and dominated by

Monpa tribe. In Pasighat, one finds the dominance of Adi tribe who have

democratic tradition rooted in their socio-political life; the Nyishi tribe is

represented by Sagalee constituency. The Nyishi do not have a well developed

socio-political institution and relies primarily on arbitrary system of village

governance. Klionsa represents tribes such as Nocte and Wancho having

chieftaincy type of social organisation. Field study has been conducted in the

above area.

In the first phase, the number of respondents fi-om each constituency was

drawn on the basis of proportionate stratified sampling. Following this sampling

method, the number of respondents proportionate to the total population from

each five selected constituencies was selected. This is presented in the following

table

Table No.-l

Number of respondents on the basis of population size of the study areas

Sample constituencies Total electors Proportion to each Stratum

Itanagar 42596 0.4745596

Khonsa East

Pasighat East

Sagalee

Tawang

8993

18823

10812

8535

0.1001905

0.2097059

0.1204558

0.0950879

Total electors 89,759

46

Table No.-2

The distribution of strata sample to cover an overall sample size of 500 was as

follows:

Itanagar 500 x 0.4745596= 237

KlionsaEast 500 x 0.1001905= 50

PasighatEast 500 x 0.2097059= 105

Sagalee 500x0.1204558 = 60

Tawang 500 x 0.0950879= 48

Total respondents 500

The second phase of sampling, i.e. selection of respondents from

constituencies posed some difficulty. In each constituency the respondents

(electors) are arranged under several Polling Stations. For instance, Itanagar

constituency has 50 polling stations. It is not possible to cover the entire Polling

Stations of these constituencies. It was, therefore, decided that one or two

Polling Stations located in rural area and one in town area would be selected on

the basis of simple random sampling using Lottery method.

It is ensured , at the time of selection of Polling Station, that large-sized

polling areas are included as there are Polling Stations having as low as 49

47

electors while higher ones accommodates as high as 1441 electors

(respondents).

In the third phase of sampling, respondents from already selected rural

and urban areas were drawn on the basis of systematic sampling. Systematic

sampling was given preference since it would spread over the entire population

and more evenly, that would be helpful to obtain diverse information.

Initially, a total of 500 respondents were proposed to be selected for the

purpose of administration of schedule through multi-phase sampling. However,

many of the respondents could not been contacted because of variety of reasons

such as, some were out of station, few were not alive, and others were reluctant

to give the interview. Therefore, the total respondents who were actually

administered schedules stood at 425.

Plan of the thesis:

The thesis will have the following six chapters:

Chapter: I - Introduction: It will give an introduction of geographical,

political and historical brief of Arunachal Pradesh, the

statement of the problem, the review of literature, the

objectives of the study, the research questions and

methodology adopted for the study.

Chapter ; II - Study Areas and Socio-Economic Profile of the respondents:

This chapter presents selected rural and urban areas and their

48

specificities substantiated with available statistical information.

It gives the social and economic profile of the respondents.

Chapter : III- Participation in political acts: The third chapter provides the

extent of people's participation in electoral processes, their

political interest, efficacy and variables associated with

political engagement.

Chapter: IV- People's Participation beyond the electoral activities: This

chapter shall explore the extent of people's engagements in

different forms of political acts other than voting participation.

Chapter : V - Political Participation and Democracy: This chapter will be an

attempt to examine political participation in a democratic set

up of the state. It will tiy to relate the theoretical proposition of

democracy with empirical findings.

Chapter : VI- Conclusions: In the concluding part, the major findings of the

study will be presented.

:J; )[: :*; 4 ; ^: ^ J}:

49