A liberal move: on Rajasthan govt scrapping educational criteria for local polls

Mains Paper 1: Polity
Prelims level: Minimum education criteria
Mains level: Salient features of the Representation of People's Act

Context

•  Rajasthan was to scrap minimum educational requirements for candidates contesting local body elections.
•  This is a progressive move and will restore the right to contest, at least in theory, to a large section of the population in the State, where the literacy rate, according to the 2011 Census, was 52% for women and 79% for men.

Key highlights of this amendment

•  The previous government headed by Vasundhara Raje had stipulated, first through an ordinance in December 2014 and then through the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act passed in 2015, educational prerequisites to stand for local polls.
•  It was made mandatory for candidates contesting for the post of sarpanch to have cleared Class 8, and for those in the fray in zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections to have passed Class 10. The move was ill-considered from the very beginning.
•  The amendment was seen as a bid by the then BJP government to lower the average age of those in the fray based on the assumption that its voters tended to be younger.
•  It was, however, an act of paternalism that militated against the basic assumptions of a liberal democracy.
•  It penalised the people for failure to meet certain social indicators, when in fact it is the state’s responsibility to provide the infrastructure and incentives for school and adult education.
•  It defeated the very purpose of the panchayati raj institutions, to include citizens in multi-tier local governance from all sections of society.

Way forward

•  The temptation to expand educational eligibility requirements remains. Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, for instance, has previously spoken of persuading other Chief Ministers to take the cue from Rajasthan and Haryana, as an incentive for women to study.
•  The decision of the new Congress government in Rajasthan should force a recasting of the debate on finding ways and means by which elected bodies are made more representative.
•  In a liberal democracy, governments must desist from putting bars on who may contest, except in exceptional circumstances, such as when a candidate is in breach of particular laws.
•  To mandate paternalistically what makes a person a ‘good’ candidate goes against the spirit of the attempt to deepen democracy by taking self-government to the grassroots.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) The Constitution of India provides for a three – fold distribution of Subjects for legislation between Center and States. This list of Subjects is given in which of the following Schedules?
a) 7 th Schedule
b) 8 th Schedule
c) 9 th Schedule
d) 10 th Schedule

Answer: A

Mains Questions:
Q.1) Is education criteria is required for local civic polls contesting candidates? Give your argument.