Lok Satta is a non-partisan movement for democratic reforms in the country of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, led by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, a former I. A. S. officer and renowned activist from

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. The movement was started in 1996 with the founding of Lok Satta, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

. In 2006, the movement transformed into

Lok Satta Party Lok Satta is a classical liberal political party in India, founded by Nagabhairava Jaya Prakash Narayana, a former I.A.S. officer and renowned activist from Andhra Pradesh. Since 1996, the Lok Satta Movement functioned as a non-governmental ...

Introduction

The group declared to form a political party and contest in the upcoming elections. Though the movement initially started in

, it later spread across the country. Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan says that

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

is for the people, of the people and by the people. Lok Satta is a registered society whose membership is open and available to all Indians. It has district branches and neighbourhood units spread all over

. It has over 250,000 members in the state and over 30,000 in the Greater

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

region. While Lok Satta's goals are governance reforms in

, its organizational spread is largely in

Activities

Apart from creating India’s largest base for a people’s movement in Andhra Pradesh, Lok Satta is now deeply engaged in building a viable national platform for democratic reforms through building alliances in major states and promoting local initiatives, and building an effective and highly credible coalition at the national level specifically for electoral reforms. It has also launched its political party arm in October 2007, which has met with reasonable success. * Andhra Pradesh Election Watch - Checking the criminal background of politicians in 2001, 2004 * Ensure backward communities are able to vote - 2001

Goals

* Democratization of political parties to make them open, member-controlled, transparent, and accountable in all aspects. *

Electoral An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

reforms to make elections truly democratic, fair and transparent; to facilitate and promote participation of the best men and women in India's political process; and to curb electoral mal-practices. *Balanced distribution of functions between the union and the states and local governments, together with allocation of adequate resources and devolution of powers commensurate with their functions. *Effective decentralization of governance through empowerment of local governments as participative tiers of

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

al, democratic governance, and direct empowerment of people as stakeholders wherever feasible. *Effective functioning of legislature, executive and judiciary at all levels, with appropriate checks and balances. *Measures for speedy, efficient, affordable, and accessible justice to people.{{cite news, url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/09/stories/2007040914360300.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001064146/http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/09/stories/2007040914360300.htm , url-status=dead , archive-date=2007-10-01 , location=Chennai, India , work=

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

, title=Lok Satta's public health agenda , date=2007-04-09 *Measures to make bureaucracy truly accountable, responsive, and efficient at all levels. *Institutional checks to prevent abuse of office, including

freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, Indigeno ...

for transparent governance; insulation of crime investigation and prosecution from partisan pulls and political vagaries; creation of an effective, independent anti-corruption mechanism; and creation of an independent mechanism for appointment of constitutional functionaries.

Principles

According to Lok Satta, the specific reforms derived from the above generic principles must be in conformity with the following basic principles of democracy: * Freedom * Self-governance *

Empowerment Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...

of citizens * Rule of law *Self-correcting institutional mechanisms

References

External links