Participation Levels of Scheduled Castes in Gram Panchayat and Gram Sabha: A Sociological Study in Rural Telangana

Abstract

The constitutional protections in India have a moderately good effect on the lives of Scheduled Castes (SCs). Additionally, the social movements helped marginalized communities’ voices to some extent by empowering them to assert their rights and participate in the decision-making process. The Constitution has opened up political entry to underprivileged groups as a part of the decentralization movement at the grassroots level. Given an opportunity on par with other social groups, the SCs are showing more interest and are ahead in contesting in the elections with the support of their respective political parties. An effort has been made in this context to emphasize the problems and difficulties experienced by the elected SC members in local bodies in rural Telangana. The main objectives of the study are to examine the participation rates of SC representatives in Gram Sabha, analyse experiences in the political system in terms of gender and examine the discriminatory practices that elected officials have to deal with. The findings show that the SC representatives’ participation in Gram Sabha is weak and lacking in the decision-making process because of a lack of official backing and covert discrimination by the officials. Additionally, the SC representatives experience covert prejudice on the part of other castes. Since the bulk of the representatives are new to the election process, they are unaware of the duties that they are expected to carry out. According to the findings, the Gram Sabha should plan and finalize the village development plans in front of the people without the involvement of the local MLAs.