Paper short abstract:

The law school course, "Rural Governance, Justice, and Citizen Participation", is an experiment with methods of Clinical Legal Education that suggests ways for university-community engagement to build capacities of rural citizens to participate for empowerment and good governance.

Paper long abstract:

Rural India is replete with situations of denial or violation of fundamental provisions like right to education, right to health, social security, nutrition and food security etc. Effecting good governance is the way to address these issues. Citizens need to participate effectively to secure good governance and their participation in doing so will strengthen democracy and rule of law. These determinations guide the experiential teaching and learning course, “Rural Governance, Justice and Citizen Participation at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University (the course).

The Seventy Third amendment to the Constitution of India aims to restore the dignity in panchayati raj institutions that they deserve. Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), striving to achieve social justice and economic development in villages, requires Gram Sabha’s participation in its evolution and realisation. Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats are not empowered enough to build their village development plans and do not have adequate resources to carry them out. A recent report highlights that Panchayats earn only one percent revenue through taxes. Most of their revenue comes from the centre and the states as grants. Because of this dependence on the centre and states, most panchayats suffer from interference from the top, the report says.

The course aims to engage students in preparing rural citizens as effective participants in democracy. Students learn values and skills of community engagement and community mobilisation, realising the importance of leadership roles that they can assume to build a momentum for citizen participation at the village level. The course, while experimenting with methods of Clinical Legal Education, manoeuvres the realm of university-community engagement and tries to create and congeal its various avenues and ethos. Students partner with panchayats, civil society groups, local authorities, and the media in strengthening capabilities of citizens to participate in effecting good governance. This is achieved through a continuous dialogue with a select group of volunteers from villages. Through the dialogue, these volunteers act to resolve issues of denial of entitlements that they and their fellow citizens have. This becomes learning by doing for the volunteers resulting in a sense of empowerment. When these volunteers act and see results of their action, they have an enhanced sense of their capabilities. These processes and involvement of local authorities, civil society groups and students in the efforts of volunteers build collaborative responses to problems and everyone's abilities to work together.