'Direct democracy is antithesis of globalisation'

, Jan 12: Globalisation leads to centralisation of power in few hands and direct

is its antithesis, said former MP chief secretary S C Behar who is drafting the

's ambitious Swaraj Bill which intends to devolve power directly to the people to curb corruption at the local level.

"Globalisation is the main cause behind the prevailing corruption as the control goes into the hands of some people and that leads to profit-making and from here crops out corruption.

The Swaraj Bill aims to directly empower people and curb corruption

"With Swaraj, people will have control over their own lives. It will empower people to solve their problems," he told PTI. Behar said the Bill is being drafted keeping in mind three principles. First, he explained, is making citizens empowered to solve their problems on their own, which he said is "direct democracy."

"Here people directly will have the power to take decisions and solve problems on their own at Mohallasabha's which is a model of that," he said. Secondly, he said, "where this direct democracy cannot be implemented, participatory democracy comes to the scene where there is large public participation to solve issues and problems. The idea here is to bridge the gap between government, authorities and people."

"And where both these are not possible, there will be accountable representative democracy. Under this system, the person in-charge will be accountable on a regular basis and not after five, ten years," he explained. Behar has held several meetings with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Education, PWD and Urban Development Minister Manish Sisodia to discuss the issue. He said a team of five experts, including him, is working on the Bill and he is collecting various suggestions offered by people and various officials.

PTI