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

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

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

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

. 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 IAS officer and renowned activist from Andhra Pradesh. Since 1996, the Lok Satta Movement functioned as a non-governmental or ...

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 , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

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 Andhra Pradesh. 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. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

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

, its organizational spread is largely in Andhra Pradesh.

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 A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

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 Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...

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 whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated s ...

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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

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 was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

, 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 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 Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

Self-governance Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority (sociology), authority. It may refer to pers ...

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 The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

*Self-correcting institutional mechanisms

References

External links