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This study makes an attempt to understand the political empowerment of Dalits in Himachal Pradesh by studying the extent of participation and representation of Dalits in local grass root level institutions (i.e. panchayat level) by using secondary sources and with the help of field work in Kuthari village. The present study examines extent of political participation by studying participation of Dalits in Panchayat level election, campaigning and participation in gram sabha meetings and level of representation by studying dalit leadership at the grass-root level. at the kuthari panchyat of district shimla in himachal pradesh and this paper also analyze the how dalit people take decision in panchyat and are the aware of govt. policies.

Kumar (2001) BSP- “Some issues of Democracy and Governance” In this article he tried to analyze how the Indian democracy (mainly for Uttar Pradesh) has directly or indirectly helped in the assertion of the Dalits Sharma (1987) analyze some aspect of the Continuity and Change among Dumnas as an untouchable caste in Punjab and found spatial educational, occupational, economic and political mobility among the Dumnas in the state of punjab and how they moblize theirself. Judge and Bal (2009) in their field study, have made an attempt to understand the paradox involved in the changes that are taking place among Dalits in Punjab Gupta (2004) in his valuable work, “Interrogating Caste”, has made an attempt to analysis the caste structure in Indian society. His work has also tried to explore the close relation between hierarchy and difference Pai (2004) New “Social and Political Movements” in her study she rightly argued that Dalits have not been able to gain control over village land or introduce change in the structure of land ownership but they have been able to strike at the power of the landed castes by collective identity assertion, educational and economic advancement and establishing their control over panchyati politics.

Political Empowerment

While understanding political empowerment it is an important to throw some light on political empowerment and different aspects of political empowerment taken in this study. political  Empowerment, as a concept is related with the notion of power in politics, in which according to Weber (1970:80) is ‘the chance of a man or a number of to realize their own will in a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action’. Empowering the Dalits through the state intervention could be only understood, in the light of Weber’s definition, if the Dalits are able to carry one’s will one has to have necessary resources. Therefore the role of the state intervention is aimed at providing that resource. The reservation of seats in the formal political democratic process is enabling some dalit to get elected and occupy position of authority. In this regard, the state intervention has provided the resources and it requires to be examined whether this resource has been translated into empowerment. (Judge 2009) 

Political participation

Political participation generally defined in the words of Verba, Schlozman and Brady (1985) as an “activity that is intended to or has the consequence of affecting, either directly or indirectly, government action.” A democratic political system by its very definition is characterized by the fact that power is shared and authoritative decisions concerning the society are taken by the citizens or by their chosen decision makers(Thakur, 1984)

Political participation may be defined as the involvement of citizens in such political acts which directly or indirectly influence the behaviors and action of decision makers. It also denotes participation in such activities by which the citizens elect their representatives, empower them to form a government. The concept of political participation thus includes activities like voting, decision making in the statutory bodies up to the grassroots level to bring about changes in the political system. Himachal is the   state which has the second largest population of Dalits in the country after the neighboring state of Punjab. (Rai. 2006)

Dalits have been socio-economically oppressed, culturally subjected and politically marginalized for long. (Chaudhary, 2004) Now they have begun to articulate their identity, asserting not only equality for themselves but also participate in decision making in the statutory bodies up to the grassroots level to bring about changes in the political system. The present study attempts to examine the demographic position of Dalits leadership at the grass-root level in a village of Himachal Pradesh. The importance of Himachal Pradesh lies not only in its being a hilly and a border state endowed with scenic beauty, but also in its rich culture, glorious history, bountiful natural resources and above all the fast changing socio economic lot of the people including the Dalit. (Kumar.2006)

Himachal a Brief History

Himachal Pradesh is a small state, a hilly region having an area of about 55,673 square kilometers. The entire state is divided into three ranges, namely lower, middle, and upper Himalayas. According to the 2001 census, it has a population of 60, 77,248. Scheduled castes constitute 25.34 percent of the total population of the people of Himachal Pradesh like those of the sub, Himalayan hills from western Kashmir to eastern Nepal, are referred to by the generic term PAHARI’(of the mountains). Two major ancestral stocks, the DOMS’ and the KHASA’ are generally believed to have contributed to the present PAHARI population. The DOMS constitute the low caste group like the blacksmith, carpenter, shoemaker, weaver, tailor, basket maker etc., while the KHASA include the high caste group like Brahmins’ and Rajputs. The DOMS are believed to be the indigenous people of the hills and the predecessors of the KHASA. (Gerald 1963)

 The people of Himachal Pradesh are predominantly Hindus with 95 percent of its population in this category. Family, caste and community are the most significant social unit of society. The people, by and large, are caste-ridden. The PAHARI caste system is characterized by a twofold division into high caste (Brahmin and Rajputs) group and low caste groups, who are accorded the status of Achhut (untouchables). Within each of these classifications, there are status distinctions. (Gupta.1985)

The Economy of state

Himachal Pradesh is predominantly agricultural with 90 percent of its people depending on agriculture for their livelihood. The state is endowed with extensive natural resources. It has vast deposits of minerals like salt, gypsum, limestone and barytes. Horticulture was a symbol of higher status but today Dalits have also taken to horticulture making it a common vocation without any caste barriers and which has provided mobility to the lower castes. Although, the upper caste own more land but Dalits also have a good amount of land. The state has played an important role to promoting horticulture and nurseries and private plantation nurseries have been registered, cold storage have been established and the state government is providing subsidies to farmers, of which is up to fifty percent is being provided to farmers of belonging to SCs and STs, up to twenty five percent small farmers and up to thirty three percent to middle class farmers. The other significant areas contributing to the Himachal economy are forestry and hydropower production. Industrialization has also started taking its roots in the last decades; tourism has also been given priority as an industry. (Sharma 1989)

Political profile of state

The period following the first general election was a period of chequered politics in Himachal Pradesh. This is a period of political jubilation from the grant of responsible government in 1952. Administratively Himachal Pradesh consists of twelve districts seventy five tehsils and seventy five developmental blocks and three thousand thirty seven villages Panchayat. The state represents seven members to the parliament four to the lower house and three to the upper house of parliament. The unicameral legislature of Himachal Pradesh consists of a total sixty eight members in which sixteen seats are reserved for scheduled caste and three seats for scheduled tribes. (Sharma.1989)

 Rohru Block a profile

Rohru Block in District Shimla is located at a distance of 110 kilometer From Shimla town. It has 29 gram Panchayat and 181 ward panchayat. It has a population 55, 512 percent with males comprising 28, 214 and females 27, 298. The population of sc is 34.22 percent of the total population comprising 17.14 percent males and 17.07 females. Rohru town is the central place for all the social, political and economic activities of the people of the area. The people from the village frequently visit Rohru to meet their daily requirements and also sometimes in connection with some work in government offices. (Kumar, 2006)

All the important government offices such as the sub judge BPO office, PWD circle, government hospital, transport and communication etc. are situated at Rohru. Out of the 29 Panchayat in  under Rohru Block, the common features is that seven seats are reserved for women, six are for scheduled caste males and three for SC females and the remaining thirteen for the general category From the above mentioned 29 Panchayat, for the study I select village Kuthari Panchayat. Kuthari Panchayat is situated 30 Km from Rohru Block

Sex and Population of Panchayat in Kuthari Village of Rohru Block in Distt. Shimla

Sr. no.	General	Population	Percentage	Sc	Population	Percent
1.	Male	339	30.015	Male	283	21.342
2.	Female	398	25.566	Female	306	23.077
Total		737	55.581	Total	589	44.419

While probing it further, an attempt was made to investigate issues, such as the participation and empowerment of Dalits at the village level. In view of this an in depth study of the village panchayat Kuthari was conducted. In this study an attempt was made to contact all the elected members as well as the selected scheduled caste people of the village panchayat. Observations were made with regard to their socio economic condition and other issues related to their participation and empowerment. This village panchayat which consists of three small villages, namely Kuthari, Nalavan and Jarla for the practical aspect of the study I kept in mind the location, caste composition, distance from the nearby town, educational facilities, extent of development, access to the communication facilities and exposure of the scheduled caste to newer socio economic and political matters. Although the scheduled caste population is scattered in all the three villages of panchayat.

 Age of the Elected Members of Panchyat

Sr no	Age in years	Scheduled caste	Upper caste
1	21-35	2	1
2	36-50	1	2
3	51and above	-	1

Age wise distribution of the members reveals that the scheduled castes are relatively younger than upper caste.

The economy of this village panchayat is dependent on agriculture where three major crops, apple, peas, and potato, are produced. The land holding of scheduled caste people is equal to upper caste. There is not much difference between upper and lower caste land holding. They all have their pucca house.  In the past the scheduled caste who are also called as Achhut (untouchable) in the village panchayat, were not allowed to take water from the same wells as the upper castes. The entry in the temple was restricted. But nowadays, this regulation has little practical application, because people of every caste draw water from a tapped supply provided by the government and people from the scheduled caste also have separate water taps in front of their houses and get a regular water supply provided by the government.  Scheduled castes still have separate cremation ground.

As a result of a great breakthrough in the approach of the scheduled caste of this panchayat towards education and realization that education is virtually required for their progress and a secured life in the society. Education is receiving their attention. All the children from scheduled castes are enrolled in the government school and some in convent schools.

Education Background of the Panchyat Members

Sr. no	Education	Scheduled caste	Upper caste
1	Upto primary	-	2
2	Upto middle	1	1
3	Matric and above	2	1

The above table reveals that the education of the panchayat member. The Pradhan of the village panchayat has studied up to metric likewise other; a majority of the other members are educated up to middle standard.  The scheduled caste members are no less educated than upper caste of the panchayat.  

Explosion of mass media in the decade of the nineties has also played an important role in increasing the political knowledge and awareness among the Indian masses. Of late, television has emerged as an important resource of knowledge. Many scholarly studies have also pointed towards the role played by the mass media and television as an agent of political information among Dalits. (Pai 2001)

It was notice that all of dalit household owned the television sets and they get information regarding the political matters from television. Though it may be reason that television might be one of the factors responsible for their awareness, some of them reported to learn about political matters from family members, neighbors’ and local village leaders, some Dalits told that they often read vernacular newspapers like Amar ujala, Dainik Bhaskar and Divya Himachal.

The electoral politics in the state of Himachal revolves around the congress and BJP. There is no regional party in the state majority of the scheduled caste preferred congress to which most of them have been voting for many years. The BJP has got second place in the political preferences of Dalits

With regard to the dominance of the upper caste the elected members of the village panchayat felt that it was a temporary phenomenon and would decline. They think that if the present policies of scheduled caste welfare and progress continue for a long time and Dalits themselves strive hard to achieve educational, economic and political equality, in that case gradually the dominance of the upper castes will cease to exist in near future. Some scheduled caste people also accept the dominance of upper caste as an unavoidable phenomenon. They feel that their social and economic conditions and minority character does not allow them to overcome the traditional dominance. 

Political participation and Representation

Regarding political participation, the scheduled caste had no chance to participate in the decision making of the village matters. Now there has been a considerable change in the post-independence era. The factor of reservation has further strengthened their participation and assertion in village matters. Now their share in power has further ameliorated their socio economic conditions.

At the time the Kuthari village panchayat had seven elected members, including the Pradhan/Sarpanch. Out of the seven elected members, three members belong to the scheduled caste and four from upper caste. Both the position of Pradhan and up-Pradhan belong to the scheduled caste. The majority population belongs to the upper caste in the village. This time this seat is reserved for scheduled caste women, she has no experience to run the affairs of a panchayat. However she was determined to handle the village matters. She thinks that the high caste people do not give her the desired cooperation in carrying out the developmental works of the panchayat on account of her being from the scheduled caste. The higher caste members even do not attend the meetings of the village panchayat convened by her.

 The adequate representation of scheduled caste in the village panchayat has paved the way for dalit community to assert their demands and problems in the village. With their empowerment and active participation in the decision making process, the age old practice of their exploitative on, discrimination and atrocities at the hands of the high caste also come down considerably. Conversely the participation of Dalits in different activities, like socio economic and political, has gone up significantly in the village panchayat. Their plight is getting reduced and awareness about their interest and well being is increased. 

However, according to her the provision of reservation has considerably increased the participation of Dalits at the village level. This can also help in building confidence and social security among lower caste people. She hoped to strengthen it further. She thinks that she would expedite matters relating to economic help and the other opportunities to the poor families. The panchayat would provide loans for cattle, housing and self employment as well. The hitherto neglected scheduled castes, according to her, get full help from her in the panchayat.

Reservation provides dalit a position within the new panchayat but is not a guarantee that they will be able to effectively participate in the decision making process. It is the level of participation of dalit leaders that will determine the success of the reservation policy; it was only after the 73^rd constitutional amendment act in which provision for reservation of seats to weaker sections of the society was made.

An important reason for the failure of dalit representative to play an effective role is the lack of awareness’ and knowledge about reservation provided in the panchayat. In this village panchayat forty percent of respondent were not aware at all. Dalit representative showed greater awareness’ then the general category representatives. Which is a reflection of rising political and social consciences and a desire for a share in power and decision making at the grass root level? Dalit leaders of the panchayat are fairly regular in attending panchayat meeting and other activities. Meetings are generally hold once a month and fixed in consultation with the block development officer concerned. The issues discussed at these meetings pertain to the overall development of village. 

Members take stock of the ongoing construction and developmental activities, expenditure occurred on various activities, welfare measures, education, health etc. despite signs of successful working of Dalits at the grassroots level, the scope for further improvements always remains. They find that it is not always smooth sailing as there are many hindrances. While the lack of education and lack of support from one’s own community is cited as major problems. In the case of women leaders, it has been found that they are very active and tend to participate in all activities. But there is a lack of support from their own families. This is not only curbs their free participation but also their personal growth as leaders and the growth of grassroots democracy 

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