Take on the bane of bureaucrat-ocracy

In the US, Donald Trump has just hired the next FBI director, Kash Patel, someone whom the incoming prez thinks will be capable in cutting back what he considers Washington’s bureaucratic overreach. Here, in India, decentralisation has been a buzzword since the passage of Panchayati Raj Act (73rd Amendment) in 1992. By empowering local self-governments and reserving one-third of seats in panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) for women, the Act aimed to transform rural governance. Yet, ground reality shows women struggling to navigate the system. Bureaucratic interference remains a significant barrier. The Supreme Court highlighted this last week when reinstating Sonam Lakra as sarpanch of Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district. The court lambasted the habit of bureaucrats to dominate elected representatives, especially women. Admin authorities often collude with others to undermine female sarpanches, perpetuating mai-baap governance that’s the opposite of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’.

This bureaucrat-ocracy must end. Civil servants should act as facilitators, not play power games. India boasts one of the highest rates of women’s participation in local governance globally – 44.4% of all elected representatives in local governments are women, ahead of Germany (30.3%) and Britain (35.3%). Over 1.45 mn women shape local decision-making, linking governance to sustainable development and gender equality.

Yet, their contributions are undervalued. A recent ORF paper observes a ‘conspiracy of silence’ around the successes of elected women representatives (EWRs). Despite often outperforming their male counterparts, EWRs receive less recognition and support. Let there be a crackdown on this patriocracy in the garb of bureaucrat-ocracy.