Village Pradhans from Weaker Sections on the Reality of Panchayati Raj

On the one hand, there is a growing demand for strengthening the panchayati raj system as there is a widespread realisation that genuine powers, functions and the resources to match them have not yet reached the panchayats. On the other hand, there is also a genuine concern that due to the present dominance of some big landowners-cum-contractors in several villages, the panchayats have been captured by them in several places and so they try to divert a lot of development resources for themselves. In other areas, panchayat representatives of weaker sections are not allowed to function indepen-dently. Officials force them to pay commissions, or else development funds will be delayed or denied to their villages. Some honest pradhans try to resist such demands initially, but when very few development funds reach their village, then they also come under pressure to agree to commission demands so that they can bring enough resources for their villages.

In this difficult situation it is important to bring together those elected representatives (pradhans or others) of the Panchayati Raj Institutions and social activists who have been making efforts
for honest implementation of development programmes and schemes so that benefits can reach those who need them. It is in this wider context that a meeting of village pradhans and social activists was recently co-organised by the ALGI (Association of Local Government of India) and ABSSS (a leading voluntary organisation of Uttar Pradesh).

Gopalji, founder of the ABSSS, said in his inaugural speech that while the strengthening of the panchayati raj is very important, special care needs to be taken to ensure the honest functioning of panchayats and protection of weaker sections. Transparent functioning of panchayats is also important. Honest pradhans have nothing to fear from the creation of a transparent system. Unity of honest pradhans, other elected representatives and social activists can be very useful for honest functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The ABSSS has been making such efforts for the past several years to help them when they are troubled by dishonest and dominant persons. At present obviously there is a lot of corruption; otherwise why is it that one panchayat is being given several times the funds compared to another panchayat, even though population is roughly the same.

Rajan Kol, the pradhan of Sarhat panchayat (Manikpur Block), said that in his present term as the pradhan, he started facing problems particularly with a panchayat secretary Balram (who has been suspended recently). When a case of corruption against this secretary was about to be proved, he deposited the money that he had pilfered earlier; but still the corruption complaint can be proved from the official records, Rajan said.

Sanjo Kol, the pradhan of Girdaha panchayat (Manikpur block of Chitrakut district), is widely regarded as a symbol of the new generation of young Kol tribal women who will no longer tolerate the injustices which were very much a regular part of the life of the previous generation. These women are searching for a new role and a new identity. Sanjo rides a motorcycle to many meetings and is not afraid to challenge injustice publicly.

Sanjo said that when she decided to stand for the pradhan’s post, this was taken by the local dominant persons as a challenge to their authority. So they connived with local officials in such a way that her name was eliminated from the voter’s list and so she could not stand for the pradhan’s post. She had to make last-minute efforts with the help of a social activist Gajendra (linked to the ABSSS) to approach the DM for justice. It was only the last-minute intervention at the higher level which led to re-inclusion of her name in the voter’s list so that she could fight the election. She won the election.

After winning the election, guided by idealism she tried to get various development work for her village approved without paying any commission to any official. But her experience was that some objection or the other was always raised and some hurdles was always created so that development funds could not reach her village or else very small amounts reached. Finally some sort of a compromise was reached with officials and then the flow of development funds increased. Despite all the problems which have remained, development work in this panchayat, particularly tank construction, has been appreciated by several people.

Gajendra, a social activist of this area has tried to help troubled pradhans (or candidates) like Sanjo. He says that there is a well-established system according to which about 60 per cent of the development funds end up as commissions for various officials and only about 40 per cent of the funds are actually spent on development work.

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Amod Rawat, the pradhan of Kanai panchayat, said that the complaints of corruption and commissions are real, but in his own panchayat he has been able to reduce these to the maximum extent so that only some very small amounts of commission may have to be still paid for technical clearance; otherwise all work is done honestly. He said that the villagers from the weaker sections had requested him to stand in the election as their representative because they were fed up of the dominance of some influential rich persons in the village. He could win comfortably because of these strong aspirations of the ordinary villagers.

Further, he was inspired in particular by a social activist, Raja Bhaiya of Vidya Dham Samiti (who is also linked to the ABSSS). Raja Bhaiya kept telling Amod Rawat that he should use this opportunity to create an ideal panchayat and serve the poor. This social activist is known for opposing corruption and irregularities very fearlessly and his support to the pradhan probably made it difficult for officials to insist on commission. Also he is known to use his media contacts very effectively and the local media highlighted the honest efforts of this pradhan. Thus it became possible to combine the aspirations of the villagers and the personal commitment of the pradhan with the help of voluntary organisations and media in such a way that very good work could be done in this panchayat. Particular mention was made by the pradhan to the work relating to housing for weaker sections. Amod said officials also need a few good panchayats where they can take visitors from Lucknow and Delhi. This panchayat is used in such a way by officials.

Aansi Kol was elected the pradhan of Kihuniya village, a village which had been dominated for a long time by big feudals. Mataprasad Tripathi, a feudal lord, used to say: “Let Kols remain Kols only.†(In this view, Kol tribals should not aspire to anything more than their traditional existence as exploited, bonded workers). Bhura Kol had dared to challenge the might of the feudals in an election and he was murdered. So when Desraj encouraged his wife to contest the election, people asked him why you are risking your life. Aansi won the election, but soon after this a tractor hit Desraj and he was badly injured. He could not walk for a long time and hence his work for social awakening was rudely shattered at a time when he could have been more effective (as his wife had been elected as the pradhan in the face of grim odds).

Durga Prasad (a Dalit) from Dodamaafi has also suffered a lot after his wife, Saroj, was elected the pradhan. Earlier when he became the village Kotedar he had antagonised the dominant people for protecting the interests of the poor. In the pradhan election his wife Saroj was elected. But soon after this Durgaprasad’s harassment started and today it is difficult for him to even enter his village.

There was by and large agreement that corruption starts with demands for commission by officials. Particularly in the case of pradhans from weaker sections, the panchayat secretary tries to dominate them. At an early stage he gets the pradhan’s signature on some wrongly prepared papers and tries to blackmail them later. This is common tactics followed at several places. Illiterate pradhans appear to be helpless before such tactics. Later when corruption is detected then they are the ones who are caught while the real culprits manage to save themselves.

Yet another issue raised by some pradhans was that they get a monthly honorarium of only Rs 750 but they have to travel so much for various works of the village and villagers, and they have to spend so much money in the process. Why does no one try to bother to find out how an honest pradhan will survive, and how an honest pradhan will meet all these expenses?

Most of them also agreed that gram sabha meetings are not held properly and various panchayat committees like those relating to education, water, construction etc. hardly exist. However, Amod Rawat said that he calls gram sabha meetings regularly and these function properly. He said that his village plan is also in place. However, others said that only a very small share, say, four-to-five per cent of the existing proposals is actually taken up. They also said that there is provision of financial allocation for emergency help to the needy but the pradhans do not get this fund. In the earlier system when workers’ payment was being delayed keeping in view the distress of some workers the pradhan would make alternative arrangements; but in the new system using bank accounts for NREGA payment this cannot be done.

Debraj Bhattacharya, co-ordinator of the ALGI, said now that various pradhans and social activists have met, they should keep in touch and meet again. This should be seen as the beginning of an effort to ensure better functioning of the panchayats.

Bharat Dogra is currently a Fellow, Institute for Social Sciences, New Delhi.