1. Prelude: “Type of structures and attitudes and capacities determine the living conditions of the people” is the basic premise of this concept paper. The premise outlines three important and inter-dependent components. They are: structures and attitudes and capacities. Each component is inter-dependent and reinforces the other. Therefore, the introduction of new structures, new attitudes and new capacities will enable people to involve in a participatory governance process. These components will further strengthen the existing representative bodies (in the Indian context) at the grassroots levels. The concept paper outlines a variety of interventions at various levels to engage all the sections of society, irrespective of age, caste, creed, class, gender or religious affiliations, in a process that lead to empowering structures, attitudes and structures, and governance by people. 2. Why Structures? People need viable structures to involve themselves adequately and collectively in the development process. The type of structures determines their level of participation and the practice of democratic values in the governance process. Bigger the forums, the bigger the voice one needs to have to get him/her heard. In smaller forums, small person also can express himself/herself and be heard. The lack of scope for participation creates frustration, stress and even physical ailments. 2.1 The Structures we Need The structures we need for wider level implementation for governance-by-people multi-tier representative federations of neighbourhood parliaments based on five basic principles. The first is the principle of numerical uniformity that will ensure equality among villages, panchayats (inter-village governance units), blocks, districts, etc. in terms of numerical representations. Therefore, there will not be any big and small “villages” or big and small districts as we have at present. The second is the principle of smallness of size that will ensure small forums of face-to-face communities where everyone knows everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and where everyone will feel affirmed. The third is the principle of recall that will enable people at every level to call back their under-performing representatives with least expenses. The fourth is the principle of subsidiarity whereby all the businesses that could be settled at the lower levels will not be taken to higher levels. The fifth is the principle of convergence that will reinforce the structures by converging different programmes of the government and others within the ambits of neighbourhood forums and their respective levels of federations. 2.2. Neighbourhood Forums and Federations Neighbourhood–based structures have their own advantages. They are the most accessible and thus they ensure best control by people at the base. A neighbourhood action could be the lever through whose federations the people at the base could exercise control over the processes that affect them. Hence we need territory-based neighbourhood forums or neighbourhood parliaments of 30 families each at the grassroots level and their multi-tier representative federations at village, inter-village and block levels. Neighbourhood parliament is a forum where people come, discuss, plan and implement the set objectives together. It is a participatory structure that ensures collective and consensual response to matters that affect them. In other words, it ensures governance by people themselves. 2.3. Units within Each Neighbourhood Parliament Each neighbourhood forum will have a neighbourhood-based children’s parliament, adolescents’ parliament, youth parliament, self help group, a senior citizens’ parliament, a neighbourhood–based marketing unit and neighbourhood-based self-help group(s) for savings, credits and income generation. All these civil structures will have their own multi-tier representative federations at the same levels mentioned earlier. 2.4. Ministers at Neighbourhood and Federations The neighbourhood forums and the connected structures will have their own elected Ministers, such as Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Education Minister, Health Minister and other Ministers depending upon the portfolios needed in their territories. 2.5. Neighbourhood Women’s Groups Instead of “Self-help groups” The women of the neighbourhood forum will become part of neighb