In the late 1990s, when I used to work with the income tax department, we surveyed several multinational companies for their tax compliance and some of them were caught red-handed evading taxes. They admitted their fault and paid up taxes without any appeals. If they had been in any other country, their bosses would have been put behind bars.

During one such survey, the chief of Indian operations of a company, who was a foreign national, threatened the income tax team: “You are a poor country and depend on us for investments. If you trouble us, we will leave your country. We can also get any law passed through your parliament.”

Interestingly, the head of that income tax team was transferred out a few days after that incident.

I did not take the comments of this MNC boss seriously, but the developments of the last few years make me wonder whether he was actually telling the truth.

In July 2008, when the UPA government had to prove its majority in parliament, TV reportage gave us a very good picture of how MPs could be bought and sold. It sent a chill down my spine. What value does my vote have? Whoever I vote for can be purchased!

Just as an MP belonging to a political party can be purchased by another, he/she can also be purchased by other countries. Who knows if it might already be happening! Now I think: Am I a citizen of free India? Are the interests of Indian citizens really uppermost in the minds of our lawmakers?

When I read the highlights of the Nuclear Civil Liability Bill recently introduced in parliament, my fears seemed to be coming true. The Bill deals with a foreign company setting up a nuclear plant in India. In the eventuality of a nuclear accident, the total liability of the company responsible would not exceed Rs 500 crore. No criminal action would lie against the company. On the face of it, the Bill sounds completely absurd. It amounts to playing with the lives of the people of this country. Then why is our government proposing such a law? Obviously, it is under external pressure.

After the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict was delivered recently, the media has been flooded with stories of how the man behind the tragedy was treated almost like a state guest and was provided a safe passage out of the country.

All the above incidents make me wonder: Is India in safe hands? Can we entrust our destinies in the hands of a few politicians and bureaucrats?

We have tried every political party and leader since independence. Almost everyone failed us. The way things are deteriorating, we actually may not have much time left. Today, everything is up for sale. Forests are being sold along with mines and minerals; rivers are being sold; land is being snatched away from farmers and sold to corporates. A sense of injustice affects not just the poor but also the middle classes, who find themselves helpless before completely insensitive governance. All this has provided a fertile ground for Naxalites.

The problem actually lies in the politics of this country. We have a representative democracy whereby we elect a few people and completely entrust our destinies to them for the next five years. They become powerful to the extent that the power corrupts them or makes them arrogant and unresponsive.

It is time to demand some shift towards direct democracy. The citizens should have some kind of direct control over the political system. It should not be limited to changing a government every five years, but the people should be able to participate in and even change the decisions of an elected government on a day-to-day basis.

Is that possible? Can the people directly govern themselves?

Yes. In the US, Brazil and Switzerland, to take three examples, people enjoy varying degrees of direct control over their governments. We can learn a lot from them.

Fortunately, we do have local citizens’ assemblies – called gram sabhas, which came into being through the 73rd constitutional amendment – that can directly participate in deciding their local issues, but can also be encouraged to have their say first on state-level matters and then on some issues of national importance.

Similar citizens’ assemblies should also be formed in urban areas.

These citizens’ assemblies should hold regular meetings and decide in a democratic manner all local-level matters – schools, health centres, roads, sanitation, etc. That will be the first step in directly engaging the citizens in their own governance; it will be like a nursery of citizenship and democracy, where people will learn to make compromises and take collective decisions.

Gradually, these assemblies should also deliberate upon and decide larger issues, such as whether they want an industrial project in their area. They should also be allowed to express their views on state-level policy and legislation.

If more than five percent of the citizens’ assemblies in a state propose a law, the state government should be required to send a copy of the draft law to all such assemblies to seek their approval. If 50 percent or more of citizens’ assemblies propose a piece of legislation, the state government should be required to pass that legislation.

The citizens’ assemblies should also be given the power to recall their elected representative – panchayat representative/municipal councilor, MLA and MP – if he or she has not lived up to their expectations.

Based on federal principles, we can evolve a system in which all jurisdictions – village/urban locality, block/municipal ward, district, state, country – can smoothly function without interfering with each other but by being ultimately subservient to the will of the citizens’ assemblies.

It is time to say that we the citizens of India refuse to be fobbed off by promises of “development”. We want direct political power for ourselves. Once we have that, we can decide for ourselves what kind of development we want.