The initiative aimed to consolidate the impact of the PACS Programme in empowering poor people to access rights, resources and entitlements.

The campaign was proposed in 1,100 villages in 70 blocks in 11 districts of Maharashtra (eight districts in Marathwada and three in Vidarbha). The proposed activities included:

• Preparatory meetings in 11 districts.
• Gaon sabha (village meeting) campaign in 1,100 villages.
• District-wise documentation of the process, and compilation of findings.
• Press conferences.

Activities were planned with the involvement of all CSO partners of the Dushkal Hatavu Manus Jagavu (DHMJ) drought forum. The forum, initiated under the PACS Programme, includes a large number of CSOs not associated with the programme (to read more about the DHMJ, click here).

This regional advocacy programme was to culminate by submitting all resolutions made at the village level to the state government.

A report based on village meeting resolutions was submitted to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a huge rally of marginalised communities held with PACS Programme support in Aurangabad on January 27, 2008 (to read a report on the rally, click here). The minister gave his assurance that he would forward the report and demands raised at the rally to the authorities concerned.

Gaon sabha campaign

The campaign was launched in August 2007 and ended with the Aurangabad rally on January 27, 2008.

The objective was to involve the ‘last person on the ladder’ in governance. While gram sabhas are an important tool for good governance, people from marginalised groups often do not participate in these meetings. Hence, major problems faced by poor village households are never publicly discussed. Nor are they recorded or brought to the attention of the district administration.

The gaon sabha campaign aimed at enhancing the participation of marginalised groups in governance. It was felt that the process of calling a meeting, holding it, documenting the entire process, passing resolutions and finally submitting resolutions to the district administration would engender a feeling of participation and help build confidence among people from poor and marginalised households. This way, the campaign would also help bring the concerns of these people to the notice of the state.

Accordingly, 1,053 gaon sabha meetings with participation from around 210 local NGOs and 70,000 people from different villages were conducted in 11 districts of Maharashtra.

In Aurangabad, 10 local NGOs were involved in the process and village meetings were held in seven tehsils: Khultabad (six meetings, 581 people attended), Vaijapur (19 meetings, 422 people attended), Gangapur (three meetings, 376 people attended), Kannad (two meetings, 150 people attended), Fulambri (14 meetings, 834 people attended), Aurangabad (35 meetings, 1,280 people attended), and Paithan (26 meetings, 1,346 people attended). A total of 5,039 people attended the meetings; 1,311 of them were women.

In Beed, 21 NGOs were involved in the campaign and meetings were held in eight tehsils: Gevrai (10 meetings, 1,020 people attended), Kej (25 meetings, 1,740 people attended), Beed (20 meetings, 1,390 people attended), Parali (five meetings, 246 people attended), Mazalgaon (27 meetings, 1,830 people attended), Dharur (five meetings, 427 people attended), Wadwani (five meetings, 653 people attended), Shirur-Kasar (five meetings, 336 people attended). A total of 8,152 people attended the meetings, a majority of them women (4,840).

In Buldhana, 10 organisations were involved in the campaign and meetings were held in four tehsils: Shegaon (40 meetings, 2,089 people attended), Nandura (35 meetings, 2,074 people attended), Mehekar (13 meetings, 487 people attended), and Sangrampur (12 meetings, 559 people attended). A total of 5,209 people (2,477 women and 2,732 men) attended the meetings.

In Gadchiroli, 28 organisations were involved in the campaign and meetings were held in eight tehsils: Sironcha (four meetings, 205 people attended), Vadsa (three meetings, 290 people attended), Dhanora (four meetings, 290 people attended), Aheri (four meetings, 345 people attended), Armori (10 meetings, 751 people attended), Kurkheda (11 meetings, 559 people attended), Gadchiroli (27 meetings, 1,970 people attended), Charmoshi (28 meetings, 1,971 people attended). A total of 6,381 people attended the 91 meetings, including 3,203 women.

In Hingoli, 25 local NGOs were involved in the process in six tehsils: Kalamnuri (19 meetings, 1,270 people attended), Hingoli (35 meetings, 1,960 people attended), Vasmat (17 meetings, 1,125 people attended), Sengaon (13 meetings, 954 people attended), Aundha Nagnath (16 meetings, 1,093 people attended).

In Jalna, 19 local organisations were involved in the process that covered seven tehsils: Badnapur (25 meetings, 1,464 people attended), Jalna (51 meetings, 3,447 people attended), Ambad (seven meetings, 414 people attended), Jaffrabad (two meetings, 237 people attended), Mantha (five meetings, 356 people attended), Ghansawangi (five meetings, 425 people attended), Bhokardan (five meetings, 287 people attended).

As a result of the campaign, landless labourers from 15 villages got work under the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS). Around 21 NGOs formed an informal network that may work together on other issues as well.

In Latur, 19 local organisations participated in the process in nine tehsils: Ausa (24 meetings, 1,691 people attended), Dewani (seven meetings, 496 people attended), Latur (eight meetings, 415 people attended), Jalkot (six meetings, 387 people attended), Ahmedpur (24 meetings, 1,791 people attended), Renapur (eight meetings, 720 people attended), Udgir (two meetings, 138 people attended), Nilanga (eight meetings, 577 people attended), Chakur (13 meetings, 920 people attended).

A specific issue that came up for discussion was rehabilitation of people affected by a major earthquake that occurred 14 years ago.

As a result of the campaign, public work under the EGS started in some villages.

In Nanded, 24 organisations participated in the process in 12 tehsils: Bhokar (13 meetings, 421 people attended), Biloli (eight meetings, 351 people attended), Himayatnagar (three meetings, 186 people attended), Kinwat (eight meetings, 495 people attended), Hadgaon (four meetings, 174 people attended), Umri (six meetings, 434 people attended), Deglur (eight meetings, 660 people attended), Kandhar (11 meetings, 1,003 people attended), Naigaon (11 meetings, 707 people attended), Loha (11 meetings, 799 people attended), Nanded (eight meetings, 600 people attended), and Mukhed (nine meetings, 641 people attended).

Many meetings were preceded by torch rallies that helped increase participation.

In Osmanabad, seven local organisations participated in the process in seven tehsils: Paranda (four meetings, 201 people attended), Osmanabad (six meetings, 289 people attended), Lohara (10 meetings, 435 people attended), Vashi (11 meetings, 682 people attended), Bhoom (16 meetings, 1,260 people attended), Tuljapur (25 meetings, 1,890 people attended), and Kalamb (27 meetings, 1,734 people attended).

People were informed about the meetings at least 10 days in advance. Resolutions demanding regular and proper holding of gram sabhas were passed in 46 villages.

In Parbhani, 28 NGOs participated in the process in nine tehsils: Purna (nine meetings, 682 people attended), Sonpeth (11 meetings, 1,042 people attended), Parbhani (nine meetings, 583 people attended), Palam (eight meetings, 639 people attended), Gangakhed (13 meetings, 868 people attended), Manavat (15 meetings, 982 people attended), Selu (eight meetings, 449 people attended), Jintur (12 meetings, 850 people attended), and Pathri (12 meetings, 572 people attended).

In Yavatmal, more than 8,000 people participated in the 100 meetings held in the eight tehsils of Ghatanji, Pandharkawda (Kelapur), Ralegaon, Pusad, Zari, Yavatmal, Morgaon and Vani. In 56 villages, gram sevaks and sarpanchs were invited by the villagers to hold official gram sabhas. For the first time, members of the Kolam tribe attended village meetings in large numbers.

Overall, the campaign helped make people from all sections of society aware of the importance of the gram sabha. Partner CSOs developed contacts with local community-based organisations like youth groups and mahila mandals. The participants’ knowledge about government welfare schemes increased and, in many villages, pressure groups were formed. Women’s issues were highlighted and resolutions regarding these were unanimously supported.

Resolutions passed at village meetings were sent to the district authorities, to pass on to the chief minister of the state. Broadly, the resolutions related to livelihoods, human rights, health and education, and village development as enumerated below:

Resolutions related to livelihoods

• Work under the EGS/NREGS should be started on an emergency footing. Job cards should be immediately distributed to those eligible and willing to work.
• Government and common land should be redistributed to landless families especially those from backward communities.
• Immediate steps should be taken to improve the condition of farmers and to stop suicides; farmers’ debts should be waived.
• Support prices for major crops should be reasonable, fixed, and properly implemented by the government. Agriculture should be given the status of an industry.
• All villages must have permanent sources of clean drinking water.
• Self-help groups should be assisted by banks and other government financial institutions to increase their access to loans.
• The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy should be scrapped to stop forcible land acquisitions.
• Construction of ` Kolhapur bandharas’ (checkdams), ponds and revival of percolation tanks should be undertaken to increase the availability of water for agriculture.
• Lists of below the poverty line (BPL) households should be periodically revised.
• There should be timely and adequate supply of foodgrain through the public distribution system (PDS). There should be proper distribution of new ration cards, and new ration shops should be allotted to self-help groups (SHGs). Sale of kerosene meant for distribution to poor households to operators of public transport jeeps must stop.
• Loans to unemployed youths through the Mahatma Phule Scheme should be immediately sanctioned. Young people must be given technical and other training to increase their employment opportunities.
• Payment of minimum and equal wages under the EGS/NREGS should be ensured.
• House allotments should be made to poor and homeless families.

Resolutions related to human rights

• Land for separate crematoriums and burial grounds should be allotted to dalits and other backward communities.
• The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act should be properly implemented and cases under the Act should not be settled through conflict resolution meetings at the village level.
• The Protection Of Women From Domestic Violence Act, 2005 should be strictly enforced.
• Fifty per cent of jobs and posts in the state legislature, zilla parishad and Parliament should be reserved for women.
• Dalits and marginalised backward communities should get up to 50% job reservations in the private sector.
• Caste certificates should be given after proper verification and only to eligible persons.

Resolutions related to health and education

• Working of village schools should be improved. New schools and anganwadis should be established.
• Stipends given to students from adivasi, dalit and backward communities should be increased.
• The state should ensure free and compulsory education, along with better quality education. Teachers should not be given additional work like carrying out surveys, etc.
• Immediate steps should be taken to improve the functioning of primary health centres (PHCs); new PHCs should be started wherever necessary.
• The state should ensure rehabilitation of people affected by natural disasters by giving them alternative land and government jobs.

Resolutions related to village development

• The development plan of each village should be discussed and passed in the gram sabha.
• Gram sabhas should be conducted regularly and not only on paper, with the participation of all communities.
• Electricity supply should be regular and, preferably, load-shedding should be reduced to one day in the week.
• Internal roads in all villages should be constructed and repaired wherever necessary.
• Bus services to remote villages must be restarted; pending railway projects must be completed on a war footing.
• Government must prohibit the production of country liquor and take strong action against suppliers.
• The Right to Information (RTI) Act should be properly implemented. Training in EGS and RTI should be given to members of mahila and youth mandals and also to students from Standards 10-12.
• In many villages, construction of common toilets was stressed.

While the above is a broad summary of all the resolutions, many resolutions were related to specific problems faced in the villages.