Chandor Ganv Vhodd Zaum!

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Let�s Use All the Power We Have!

• What the Panchayat should really be doing

• The Panchayat�s functions

• Use your power in the Gram Sabha

• The functions of the Gram Sabha

• The Chandor Development Forum is all of us

• Our children � the future of our village

• The power of women

What the Panchayat should really be doing

Our panchayat has become too politicised to function effectively in our interest. We need to restore to it its true responsibility, as the body we elect to oversee the development of our village and of all of us in Chandor. We repeat, the panchayat is not a branch office of the government in power nor the village cell of the constituency�s MLA. Chandor is an independent village republic, like all villages in Goa and India. We have a special identity as a distinct and separate ganv, self-governing and self-sustaining, with our own identity, dignity and self-respect.

Did you know that our panchayat ended the financial year 2005-2006 with a bank balance of Rs. 14,80,187?

To restore the true function of our panchayat we hereby define it as the development organisation of Chandor village and its people. The growth, prosperity and happiness of all villagers should be the sole aim and reason for being of our village panchayat.

To achieve this objective we specify that all seven panchas concern themselves with work devoted only to the growth and development of Chandor. (Only people with the will, and the capacidade, to work on development projects that really benefit the village, may join the panchayat, please!).

For instance, in addition to the care of their ward, each pancha should assume separate development portfolios, perhaps as follows:

• Panch 1 (the sarpanch) concentrates on increasing village income,
  attracts welfare schemes (of both the state and Central governments) into the village and also taps non-government sources for development projects the same way as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states go over the head of the Central government to invite foreign companies.

• Pancha 2 looks after Women and Child Development and interacts with
  villagers visiting the panchayat office.

• Pancha 3 looks after Agriculture and Water Bodies and maintains up to
  date statistics about the village.

• Pancha 4 oversees and manages tourism development and job creation.

• Pancha 5 will interact with the Village Cooperative.

• Pancha 6 oversees the Waste Recycling project, while

• Pancha 7 monitors the working of the Chandor Development Corporation. (When the CDC begins to flourish, we generously pay our panchas for their efforts, over and above the honorarium they receive from the state government).

Of course, we start off by insisting that each candidate in the forthcoming panchayat elections should attend an orientation course on panchayat functioning conducted by local self-government institutions or an NGO. Alternatively, the panchayat itself should organise a workshop for our future panchas. Not the least, every aspiring pancha should internalise and swear by the suggestions outlined in this little booklet.

Functions and Responsibilities of the Village Panchayat

(Schedule � I of the Goa Panchayats Act, 1994)

I. General functions:

1. Preparation of annual plans for the development of the Panchayat area.

2. Preparation of annual budget.

3. Providing relief in natural calamities.

4. Removal of encroachments on public properties.

5. Organising voluntary labour and contribution for community works.

6. Maintenance of essential statistics of the village.

7. Demolition of unauthorized constructions.

II. Agriculture, including agricultural extension:

1. Development of waste lands.

2. Development and maintenance of grazing lands and preventing their unauthorized  alienation and use.

III. Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Poultry:

1. Promotion of dairy farming, poultry and piggery.

2. Grass land development.

IV. Fisheries:

Development of fisheries in the villages.

V. Social and Farm Forestry, minor Forest Produce Fuel and Fodder:

1. Planting and preservation of trees on the sides of roads and other public lands  under its control.

2. Fuel plantation and fodder development.

3. Promotion of farm forestry.

4. Development of Social Forestry.

VI. Khadi, Village and Cottage Industries:

1. Promotion of rural and cottage industries.

2. Organisation of conferences, seminars and training programmes, agricultural and industrial exhibitions for the benefit of the rural areas.

VII. Rural Housing:

1. Distribution of house sites within Village Panchayat limits.

2. Maintenance of records relating to house sites and other private and public properties.

VIII. Drinking Water:

1. Construction, repairs and maintenance of drinking water wells, tanks and ponds.

2. Prevention and control of water pollution.

3. Maintenance of rural water supply schemes.

IX. Roads, Buildings, Culverts, Bridges, Ferries, Waterways and Other Means of Communication:

1. Construction and maintenance of village roads, drains and culverts.

2. Maintenance of buildings under its control or transferred to it by the Government of any public authority.

X. Rural Electrification:

Providing for and maintenance of lighting of public streets and other places.

XI. Non-Conventional Energy Source:

1. Promotion and development of non-conventional energy schemes.

2. Maintenance of community non-conventional energy devices, including bio-gas plants.

3. Promotion of approved chulhas and other efficient energy devices.

XII. Poverty alleviation programmes:

1. Promotion of public awareness and participation in poverty alleviation programmes for fuller employment and creation of productive assets, etc.

2. Selection of beneficiaries under various programmes.

3. Participation in effective implementation and monitoring.

XIII. Education including Primary Schools:

1. Promotion of public awareness and participation in primary education.

2. Ensuring full enrolment and attendance in primary schools.

XIV. Adult and non formal Education:

Promotion of adult literacy.

XV. Libraries:

Village libraries and reading rooms.

XVI. Cultural activities:

Promotion of social and cultural activities.

XVII. Markets and Fairs:

Regulation of fairs (including cattle fairs) and festivals.

XVIII. Rural Sanitation:

1. Maintenance of general sanitation.

2. Cleaning of public roads, drains, tanks, wells and other public places.

3. Maintenance and regulation of burning and burial grounds.

4. Construction and maintenance of public latrines.

5. Disposal of unclaimed corpses and carcasses.

6. Management and control of washing and bathing ghats.

XIX. Public Health and Family Welfare:

1. Implementation of Family Welfare Programmes.

2. Prevention and remedial measures against epidemics.

3. Regulation of sale of meat, fish and other perishable food articles.

4. Participation in programmes of human and animal vaccination.

5. Licensing of eating and entertainment establishments.

6. Destruction of stray dogs.

7. Regulation of offensive and dangerous trades.

8. Regulation of curing, tanning and dyeing of skins and hides.

XX. Women and Child Development:

1. Participation in the implementation of women and child welfare programmes.

2. Promotion of schools, health and nutrition programmes.

XXI. Social Welfare, including welfare of the Handicapped and Mentally Retarded:

1. Participation in the implementation of the social welfare programmes, including welfare of the handicapped, mentally retarded and destitutes.

2. Monitoring of old age and widows pension schemes.

XXII. Welfare of the Weaker Sections and in particular the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes:

1. Promotion of public awareness with regard to Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Weaker Sections.

2. Participation in the implementation of the specific programmes for the welfare of the Weaker Sections.

XXIII. Maintenance of community assets:

1. Maintenance of community assets.

2. Preservation and maintenance of other community assets.

XXIV. Construction and maintenance of cattle sheds, pounds and cart stands.

XXV. Construction and maintenance of slaughter houses.

XXVI. Maintenance of Public Parks, playgrounds, etc.

XXVII. Regulation of manure pits in public places.

XXVIII. Establishment and control of shanties.

XXIX: Such other functions as may be entrusted.

Use your power in the gram sabha

The gram sabha is our village parliament, the controller of and the real power behind the panchayat. Article 243 (A) of the Constitution says that the gram sabha �may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the legislature of a state may, by law, provide�. The gram sabha, in case you didn�t know, is all of us women and men having voting rights in Chandor and meeting to discuss the development of the village. This akkhe ganvchi zomat, or ganvchi sobha, meets compulsorily four times a year.

According to the Panchayats Act, �The meeting of the Gram Sabha shall ordinarily be held in the office of the panchayat or at any other convenient public place accessible to all villagers�

It is at the gram sabha that every woman and man in Chandor can exercise real political power. If you have a problem, speak about it in the gram sabha. If you have a complaint against the panchas or sarpanch, give it to them in the gram sabha. If you have an idea for Chandor�s development, tell us about it in the gram sabha. Show who has the power! (Consider how the villagers of Kundaim forced their whole panchayat to resign because the panchas were engaging in nepotism and favouritism. They have demonstrated that it is the gram sabha which is supreme.)

Enough shapotams in the balcao or bar. Come, speak them out in the gram sabha!

To make it easy for everyone to participate in the administration of our village, we propose that the four obligatory or ordinary gram sabhas be held in the different wards of the village. The Panchayat Raj Act specifies that these be held in the months of January, April, July and October, but, in order to avoid an overlap with the special gram sabha meetings, we may re-schedule these just a little. Accordingly, the first ordinary gram sabha of the year may be held in February in Cotta, the May one in Miria-Jirem, the September one in Cavorim, and the November one in Mena Covatem or Binddimod. These gram sabhas will, therefore, also double as ward sabhas.

The four �national holiday� or special gram sabhas, to be held as usual in the Panchayat community hall in Igorjebhatt, need to be conducted with the same seriousness and transact similar business as the obligatory gram sabhas. (These are slated to be held on Republic Day (January 26), Independence Day (August 15), Gandhi Jayanti (October 2) and Goa Liberation Day (December 19)).

For those of us who cannot attend in person, let us plan to broadcast gram sabha meetings through CableTv and internet webcasts. We are well into the 21st century, aren�t we?

Each and every gram sabha will be announced not just at Sunday Mass as at present (we are a secular village, and not every villager attends mass), but also through a press release to the media and the Chandor website (as soon as it is up) and even by sending an announcer throughout the village. The seating arrangement at the gram sabha will be circular so we can see and hear each other, making for a democratic, non-hierarchical and face-to-face setting. The minutes of the gram sabha will be recorded on the spot and endorsed by those present and will be available for viewing the very next day.

(At present, the minutes wilfully misrepresent the discussions taking place in the gram sabha. For instance, there is no record, in the minutes for 25 June 2006, of the sarpanch�s announcement that the panchayat planned to draft a 15-year development plan for the village. When questioned about this glaring omission at the next gram sabha on 10 December 2006, the sarpanch claimed that he had only casually mentioned the panchayat�s proposal and had not meant the statement to be taken too seriously. Of course, his actions subsequent to 25 June expose this denial for the falsehood it is. At the December gram sabha itself, the sarpanch admitted that the panchayat was acting on oral instructions from the panchayat minister, Subhash Shirodkar, to draw up the plan. The sarpanch followed his announcement of the plan with a call in the local church on Sunday, July 23 seeking suggestions from villagers for inclusion in the plan. (The church�s announcement register bears this assertion out).

The sarpanch himself informed Chandor Development Forum members in August that the church announcement had, sadly, failed to draw a single written response.

That the panchayat took the idea for the plan quite seriously is evident from the fact that three panchas, Rosalina Peixote, Agnelo Dias and Derrick Pereira, graciously attended the ward meetings called to discuss the plan; the sarpanch himself allowed the CDF to use the panchayat hall for its final all-Chandor public meeting. Even the constituency MLA, Joaquim Alemao, made a reference to the plan when inaugurating the market shed in October. And to cap it all, the sarpanch himself met with CDF representatives the same month, and discussed launching the plan with great fanfare as soon as it was ready!

This falsehood is a serious matter because it forms part of a series of inaccuracies the sarpanch has been peddling over the years. For instance, he claimed at the gram sabha in June 2006 that the panchayat had no money to tackle the garbage problem. The fact of the matter is, the panchayat was at the time actually sitting on a bank balance of over Rs 14 lakhs! The tendency to deliberately mislead us is a measure of how seriously the sarpanch, who is supposed to work in the interest of the village, takes not just the gram sabha meetings but all of us in the village.

The sarpanch�s lie, unfortunately, also belittles and depreciates the sincere efforts of all villagers who participated in the drafting of our development plan with well-considered suggestions and recommendations. Villagers agitated over this misuse of the forum of the gram sabha, which is considered to be the parliament of the village, are contemplating demanding an apology from the sarpanch for wilfully misleading the village).

Let�s hold the four obligatory gram sabha meetings in the four wards of Cotta, Cavorim, Miria Jirem and, alternately, Mena Covatem and Binddimod.

The minutes of gram sabha and panchayat meetings, the annual budget, the development report, the administrative report, the audit report and the panchayat�s replies to it, as also proposals for fresh taxation and other proposals, will be available for inspection as a matter of course in the panchayat office, as well as in the library. They will also be available online through the Chandor website.

It goes without saying that the Panchayat should reach out to people, and not expect them to come to it all the time. For instance, the Panchayat should not restrict itself to mere announcements in church about various government schemes. Each pancha should personally meet villagers eligible for these schemes and ensure that the benefits reach them.

Every villager has the right to attend and observe Panchayat meetings. These must therefore be held in the community hall, so all interested villagers can be accommodated. School children also need to be encouraged to attend, to start them off on the road to participation in village, and thereafter, in global, affairs.

The functions of the Gram Sabha

1. The Sarpanch shall place before the Gram Sabha for its approval the following matters:

1. The annual statement of accounts

2. Annual administration report

3. Budget estimates

4. The development and other programmes of the work proposed for the current financial year

5. The last audit report and the replies made thereto

6. Proposal for fresh taxation or enhanced taxation

7. Proposal for organising community service, voluntary labour or mobilisation of the local people for any specific work included in any programme

8. Identification of beneficiaries under various programmes of the government

9. Determination of the priorities of the work to be undertaken by the panchayat

10. Utilisation certificate in respect of the works undertaken by the panchayat from grants-in-aid or panchayat funds.

2. The Gram Sabha shall constitute a minimum of two Supervisory Committees to supervise the Panchayat work and other activities...

3. The Government shall constitute Vigilance Committees to oversee the quality of work schemes and other activities for each gram panchayat...

4. The decision taken by the Gram Sabha shall be binding on the Panchayat provided it is not contrary to the rules and regulations framed under this act or any other law for the time being in force and it shall be the duty of the Sarpanch to execute the same as early as possible. (Emphasis added).

5. Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Gram Sabha may prefer an appeal to the Director (of Panchayats) within a period of thirty days from the date of such decision and the Director�s decision on such appeal shall be final.

6. ...

7. Any member of the Gram Sabha shall have the right to obtain information relating to any developmental works undertaken by the panchayat as well as certified copies of the proceedings of the meeting of the panchayat and gram sabha�

The Chandor Development Forum is you and me, all of us!

The development and prosperity of our village is the responsibility of all Chandorcars. It is not the job of one, two or three individuals. Everyone in the village is the Chandor Development Forum if you care for your village and want to see it prosper. We expect our representatives in the village panchayats of Cavorim-Chandor and of Guirdolim to therefore line themselves up solidly behind the aspirations of our villagers expressed in this vision for Chandor�s sustainable development. The CDF is a cooperative venture involving everyone in the village � the gram sabhas of Chandor and Guirdolim, the two panchayats, the fabrica of our church, the proposed village cooperative, our Hindu, Muslim, Parsi (yes!) and agnostic (yes!) co-villagers, and each and everyone in the village without exception.

The villagers who came together under the banner of the Chandor Development Forum did so for the express purpose of sketching out a vision for the future development of our village. Now it is for the entire village, working through the gram sabha and the panchayat, to make this 5-year plan reality. The role of the panchayat is crucial, as this is the body we choose and designate to oversee development in our village. The panchayat is really the forum which should be engaging with the issues raised and discussed during the preparation of this vision for Chandor�s future. It is incumbent on all of us to transform our panchayat into the development organisation that is it's true mandate in the life of Chandor.

They are not doing this, they are not doing that, we like to say! But, who are they? We think it is them. They think it is us. Who really is they then? We really don�t know for sure, do we? If we look at them and think they are they, and if they look at us and think we are they, could they be (good Lord!) all of us, and all of them, put together?

Our children: the future of our village

There can be no question that the future of our village hinges as much on its adults as on its future adults. It is the skills, attitudes and values our children acquire from us that will determine not just their own future but the shape of our village and the world at large. The stress parents lay on childhood education is, therefore, appropriate. We definitely need to be concerned about not just the physical, but also the intellectual and spiritual development of our children.

We are fortunate, in Chandor, in having a school which compares favourably, for infrastructure and faculty, with the best schools in any village in Goa. Our school has produced students who have gone on to excel in fields as wide ranging as medicine, engineering, sport and business. But, as in any field of endeavour, there is always scope for improvement. Of late, the inclination among parents to send their children to schools elsewhere is a cause for concern. Every year almost a hundred new students join schools in Margao town, in neighbouring villages or in private schools in Chandor. There could be any number of reasons for a preference for schools other than the more convenient one in the heart of the village. This is worrisome only for the implication that our school leaves something to be desired.

Perhaps, some of us could assist the school authorities, the Parent-Teacher Association and the newly-formed Ex-Students� Association to go into this question and explore the possibility of making St. Joseph�s our very own local centre of educational excellence? We need to create a school (and a new junior college) which can help mould students with the capability of transforming life not only in Chandor, but perhaps the world over.

At the same time, we need to also think of the nearly 27% of our villagers who badly need stints in literacy classes. During the CDF meetings in the various wards, we discovered many women and elderly villagers keen on learning to read and write. Adult literacy classes, using innovative learning techniques, could benefit not just our villagers but also eager learners from other nearby villages.

The power of our women

Another neglected force for change is almost half the population of the village � the women in our lives. We may notionally embrace the idea of the equality of the sexes, but we have a long way to go in ensuring women the same chances in life that men get as a matter of course. It is time to redress this traditional unfairness, as much because it is the right thing to do as to make available more hands for the task of Chandor�s balanced development.

For starters, we could reserve at least three seats for women in the village development organisation that is the village panchayat. We may also alternate the post of sarpanch with a woman every time a new panchayat is constituted. This seems absolutely necessary considering the pass to which the village has reached with only men at the helm in village institutions all these years.

Another field of activity where the male-centric perspective needs to be toned down is sport. We could make a beginning by immediately developing separate playgrounds for girls in all wards. One immediate possibility is the old football ground adjacent to St. Anthony�s chapel in Cavorim. (The boys already have two spacious football grounds, one near the community hall and the other touching the aula). Another is one of the three open spaces available in Mena Covatem. The third could be the Igorjebhat ground near the natural spring. (When their sisters, daughters and mothers play here, the boys in Igorjebhat can use the nearby church football ground). Open spaces need to be notified in all wards for playgrounds for girls.

The premier sporting body in the village, the Chandor Sports Club, perhaps has plans for women chalked out, now that it�s new clubhouse is nearing completion. Considering the declining interest in football among boys and the shortage of players in the village team, it would be worthwhile considering a women�s football team and football tournaments for women instead.

We (particularly women) need to identify more activity where the full repertoire of women�s talents and special skills can be given full play. If we are serious about this, we could see results in a transformation of the village in much less time than it might otherwise take.

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