PARTICIPATORY APPROACH OF WOMEN SELF HELP GROUPS IN STRENGTHENING GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY Simple Jain 1 and Dolly Mogra 2. Abstract

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1 PARTICIPATORY APPROACH OF WOMEN SELF HELP GROUPS IN STRENGTHENING GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY Simple Jain 1 and Dolly Mogra 2 1 Assistant Professor, Dept of HECM, ASPEE College of Home Science, SDAU, SK Nagar, Gujarat. 2 Assistant Professor, Dept of TAD, ASPEE College of Home Science, SDAU, SK Nagar, Gujarat. Abstract India lives in villages and unless village life is revitalized the nation as a whole can hardly make any progress. Thus, there is a need to involve people in the decision making processes at grassroot level. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment provides a unique opportunity to promote local self governance in rural areas through establishment of Gram Sabha under article 243 A. The Gram Sabha is a constitutional body of all adult members of a village. Gram Sabha has the power and responsive to make gram panchayat transparent and directly accountable to the people. It is introduced to have decentralized planning and evaluation with people's participation from the bottom line. But the studies and previous literatures show that many Gram Sabhas are not functioning as expected. Many reasons behind it but major identified reasons are unavailability of information and ignorance about the power and functioning of Gram Sabha. Thus there is a prime need to improve the working of Gram Sabhas to bring the gains of democracy and to spread the economic prosperity evenly across the country. Self Help Group (SHG) can play an important role in strengthening grassroots democracy by framing and implementing the policies and programmes catering to the needs of women by their active participation in meetings and discussions at various hierarchy level of Panchayati Raj. Women SHG members can work as community leaders which represent the problems of thousands and millions of rural women who are otherwise kept aside by the policy planners at the top level. They can ensure the holding of Gram Sabha meeting and directly increase the participation in the meeting by motivating and creating awareness among villagers, especially, women. By the initiatives of SHGs on developmental issues Gram Sabha will be strengthen approaching social as well as economic and cultural development. Thus the interface between the Gram Sabha and SHGs need to be activated for ensuring good governance. I. Introduction Power resides in the people; they can use it at any time. Mahatma Gandhi "Democracy means power springing from the people. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru The basic unit of true democracy is the village. The Indian village system is all comprehensive, fundamental and important. The Gram Swaraj dream of Mahatma Gandhi and the Power to the People is the essence of true democracy. Gram Sabha is the soul of Panchayats and a tool for transparency, disclosure of information and social audit, a means for better and convergent delivery of services to citizens, improving internal management and efficiency of Panchayats, capacity building of representatives and officials of Panchayats, and a medium of e-procurement. For the rural local governance to be effective, energizing GSs is the real challenge. There is need to evolve mechanisms for regular and meaningful meeting of the GS, active participation of All rights Reserved Page 188

2 members and monitoring of its functioning. In energizing SHGs can work as functional body with clarity in respect of timelines, resource inflows and objectives of the capacity building of Gram Sabha. Gram Sabhas are the nuclei around which decentralized planning is built. It is an institutional mechanism of participatory democracy. It provides an opportunity to all the people to participate in the development process. The institution of Gram Sabha has been in vogue in most states in India for long. With the passing of the 73 rd amendment to the constitution, the body has become an integral part of Panchayat Raj, the third stratum of Government. The foundation of Panchayati Raj was laid on 2 nd October, 1959 and the completion of fifty years of its inception, the year was celebrated as The Year of the Gram Sabha. 'Gram Sabha' means a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of Panchayat at the village level. This was a model for democracy at the grass roots based on direct participation by the people. Democracy has been defined as, 'a Government where everybody has a say'. A democratic administration by a Panchayat cannot be a good substitute for it. The extension of the process of democracy to the people in the real sense, should mean that the Panchayat function as the executive body to give concrete shape to the wishes and aspirations of the village community as represented by the Gram sabha. Gram Sabha provides an institutional basis to popular participation. It provides a base for the three- tier structure of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. Gram Sabha provide an ideal forum for people to meet and discuss their local developmental problems, the causes for the problems and possible solutions. It is easier to know the felt needs and aspirations of the people in the meetings of the Gram Sabha. It ensures the accountability of the elected representatives at the village level and acts as a watchdog on the working of the Gram Panchayat. This has been used as a vehicle for bringing about greater people s participation in planning the developmental activities of the panchayat. Gram Sabha is a basic tier to popularize development programmes. The Gram Sabha establishes an active dialogue between the village people and their elected leaders at the village Panchayat level regarding development programmes to be undertaken. Good practices that provide people s assemblies below the GS such as Ward Sabha, Mahila Sabha and Bal Sabha should be promoted through SHGs. SHGS may act as supporting body of GS who can monitor and discuss attendance of government functionaries, functioning of schools, dispensaries, anganwadi centres, ration shops and other local institutions. SHGs can discuss reports of the Standing Committees of the GP in association with GS. SHGs can also go through the list of beneficiaries under schemes such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and National Old Age Pension Scheme. If SHGS keeps a close vigil on implementation and leakages, inefficiencies can be virtually eliminated. In order to increase the quality of life, it is essential that people should participate in other areas of service delivery like agriculture and allied sectors, education, health, drinking water, sanitation and artisan sectors. In disturbed areas with special problems like trafficking of women and children, forced indentured labour, starvation and other distress conditions and chronic natural disasters, in all these aspects SSGs should have special roles in parallel to Gram Sabha. Transparency and accountability in the functioning of Panchayats is very important for enhancing credibility and it may be improved through active participation of SHGs in GS. A. Functions of Gram Sabha The functions of Gram Sabha vary from state to state and there is no synchronization among the states in implementing the function devolved. Following functions are common for most of the states: I. Administrative and Budgeting 1) To examine annual statements of accounts, audit report, audit note and to seek clarification from the Panchayat. 2) To discuss report on the administration of the preceding All rights Reserved Page 189

3 3) To consider proposals for fresh taxation or for enhancement of existing taxation. 4) To get report from the Panchayat and review and make recommendations in respect of works and schemes sanctioned, in progress and funds received and spent for social audit. 5) To maintain a complete register for all development works undertaken by Gram Panchayat or any other department. 6) To supervise overall local institutions and functionaries in all social sectors. II. Physical developmental function 1) To consider, suggest and approve the development works and schemes for the next year from the budget of the Panchayat as well as from various other sources such as Government departments, DRDA, Block/District Panchayats own funds etc. to take maximum advantage for the welfare of the people. 2) To consider and give opinion about the sites for permission of excavation of minor minerals. 3) To review position of encroachment on Government or Panchayat land etc and unauthorised construction and measures to remove and control them by taking community efforts with time bound programme or legal actions as a last resort. 4) To review the maintenance and regulation of the use of public buildings, grazing lands, forest lands, tanks, wells and fisheries by gram panchayat. 5) To give suggestion about the control and maintenance of buildings, institutions and public property. 6) To assess the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, water ways, public roads, drains, embankments, bunds, bridges and culverts. III. Community welfare Function In this sphere works related to education, sports and culture, self defense, village defense etc. is reviewed. 1. To consider and suggest for rehabilitation problems and programmes in big projects in the village. 2. To assist in the programmes of welfare activities for women, children and backward classes. 3. To give suggestions for the organization of youth organization, co-operative societies, village volunteer s force and in assistance in relief of distress caused by flood, drought, earthquakes, scarcity condition and other calamities. 4. To consider and suggest in respect of difficulties experienced by the people. 5. To inform to the public regarding various community and beneficiaries oriented schemes. 6. To review and revise every year disaster mitigation plan in respect of any natural calamity like fire, floods, earthquake etc. and take all protective measures in advance. 7. To review relief measures, if necessary, in respect of food, fodder, drinking water, cash doles, relief works etc. 8. To plan and manage minor water bodies such as wells, tanks, streams and take all steps to augment water sources by various methods such as check dam and water shed and water conservation schemes. 9. To preserve, protect and develop natural resources and environment. 10. To give suggestions about the road map of layout and maintenance of public latrines; playground for village children and public garden; cleaning and lighting of streets; burial and cremation grounds, places for disposal of dead animals and other offensive matters. IV. Socio Cultural function 1) To approve the selection of schemes, beneficiaries' location, identification and implementation of various development programmes. 2) To propagate and advise people about personal, property, health and crop insurance scheme to help them in adverse All rights Reserved Page 190

4 3) To mobilize voluntary labour and contribution of kind and cash. 4) To undertake programmes for adult education and family welfare with in the village. 5) To promote unity and harmony among all the sections of the rural community. 6) To review law and order position and take steps to organize village volunteer force or home guards, if necessary. Reviews suggested that most of the states are not serious in implementing the functions to attain sustainable growth in the villages. The constitutional right empowered to Gram Sabha has miserably failed in bringing transformation among the rural poor. Most of the Panchayts have failed to execute the decisions taken of the Gram Sabha. B. ORGANIZATION OF GRAM SABHA MEETING The meeting of Gram Sabha should compulsorily be held at least twice a year in Rajasthan. Gram Sabha can be convened as and when necessary and as many times as possible depending on the need. The provision regarding the number of Gram Sabha meetings vary from state to state. The frequency of meetings of the Gram Sabha in different states ranges from one to four in a year. Gram Sabha should be conducted at a place convenient to all the members. The Gram Sabha meetings require a quorum of 10% of the total Gram Sabha members in Rajasthan. It differs from state to state. The Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat presides over the Gram Sabha. In case of absence of Sarpanch, Up Sarpanch presides over the Gram Sabha. The purpose, time and place of Gram Sabha meeting must be intimated through a notice giving at least two days prior to the date of meeting. The Gram Sabha should be conducted only after a proper notice of purpose, place and time of Gram Sabha is issued. Process of organizing Gram sabha Meetings 1. Preparation of Gram Sabha meetings Finalization of agenda for Gram Sabha in consultation with the Sarpanch. Issuing notice of Gram Sabha meeting. Publicising widely the Gram Sabha meeting details, such as the date, time and venue. Preparing the Action Taken Report on the resolutions of the previous Gram Sabha meeting. Preparation of notes on the agenda items to be placed before the current Gram Sabha meeting. Providing proper seating, drinking water facilities and sanitation facilities for people attending the Gram Sabha meeting. 2. Gram Sabha Meeting Recording the details of members attending the meeting of Gram Sabha. Presenting the Action Taken Report on resolutions of previous Gram Sabha meeting. Ensuring the smooth conduct of the meeting of Gram Sabha as per its Agenda. Sarpanch recording the minutes of Gram Sabha. C. The present scenario of functioning of Gramsabha C.1 Gram Sabha in India In a true sense, Gram Sabhas are the lowest level democratic decision making process. It can be termed as modern form of direct democracy. There are 589 district Panchayat, 6325 intermediate panchayat and Gram Panchayat in India ( In every gram panchayat 2 to 4 Gram sabha meetings should organize compulsorily every year as per recommended in panchayati raj act of their respective state. But in reality, the situation is entirely different. Previous studies and available literature show that many Gram panchayats did not organize meeting of Gram Sabha and whoever organized was not accordance with expectation and was a mere formality. In most of the states people are apathetic towards this body. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and All rights Reserved Page 191

5 Bengal where Gram Sabha is not active in the desired way and not playing a sufficiently active role in programme planning and implementation (Ramit Basu, 2010). Meetings were conducted without any consideration of quorum and these meeting hardly meet the required quorum in most of the Gram Panchayats (Nayakara Veeresha, 2010). The absence of women and weaker sections of rural society is another feature of the Gram Sabha (Anupam Hazare, 2013). The agenda items are often limited to works taken up by the Panchayats and therefore many people have no interest to participate in the meeting. Decisions which are supposed to be taken by the Gram Sabha are taken by the local elite, thereby rendering this body redundant. Hence, this body could not deliver the expected results. C.2 Some reasons for their uninspiring performance are: 1. Lack of awareness among the Gramsabha members often contributes to limited presence and participation. This is more so for the marginalized section of any community who are in a worse position than others. 2. Subject covered in gram sabha are not based on felt needs of the villagers. 3. Very few Gram Panchayats places Action taken reports of previous meeting in the Gram Sabha. 4. Poor attendance of village level Officers & staff in Gram Sabha. 5. Lack of knowledge and skill about the development schemes among officials. 6. Constant changes in Nodal Officers, which leads to discontinuity. 7. The meeting notice does not contain Agenda notes to be discussed. 8. Lack of sufficient publicity among the members to attend Gram sabha. 9. Lack of Interest amongst members to attend Gram Sabha. 10. Dominance of ruling party cadres in the Gram Sabha proceedings. 11. Lack of co-operation from the departments outside the administrative jurisdiction of Zilla Panchayat like Revenue dept. etc. Even though, these departments are implementing majority of individual beneficiary schemes, they neither attend the Gram Sabhas nor they are accountable to the people. 12. People show interest in many service oriented departments like State Electricity Boards. They like to raise the issues of deficiency in services rendered by these departments. But these departments do not attend the Gramsabha. 13. Effective running of Gram Sabha needs strong political will. Hence the importance of Gram Sabha is dwindling. 14. Lack of transparency in recording the minutes of Gram Sabha s, has led to loss of faith of the people in the system of Gram Sabha. 15. Lack of educational level also hinder the involvement of people in Gram Sabha. 16. Non-harmonisation among Gram Sabha members 17. Excessive control by bureaucracy 18. Reluctance to use fiscal powers to levy tax, use of pasture land etc. 19. Lack of awareness amongst the elected representatives and villagers 20. Lack of clear understanding amongst the people about the importance and the functions of Gram Sabha. 21. Day and time of organization of meeting is not suitable to all as that clashes with their duty hours. 22. Household responsibility of women reduces their participation. 23. Women cannot speak in presence of large number of elder members. 24. Dominance by a group of people by virtue of their position, economic status, and political support. 25. Many people, especially the relatively well off, have the feeling that Gram Sabha is the institution of socially and economically backward people. This may be also the reason for poor participation of the reasonably well off sections in Gram Sabha All rights Reserved Page 192

6 26. The apathy of the Government officials towards the larger village population and the tendency of adopting short cuts by limiting visit s to the Gram Panchayats also contribute towards such situation. In Country like India with so much of diversity and unevenness, any mandate is not so easy to put into practice. Non-participation of the rural people has hobbled the development of the Gram Sabha, denying the true benefits of this institution to the people. Thus there is a need to activate gram sabha for positive and qualitative development. C.3 Gram Sabha in Rajasthan Rajasthan was first state where Panchayati Raj System was inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru on 2 nd October 1959 at Naugaur. The Rajasthan has 33 districts that divided into 295 Panchayat Samities and 9,894 village panchayats. The Rajasthan Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads were assigned 33, 58 and 19 subjects respectively by The Rajasthan Panchayat Raj Act (1994), however these were subject to 'conditions laid down by the government'. In Rajsthan, The meeting of Gram Sabha should compulsorily be held at least twice a year and can be convened as and when necessary and as many times as possible depending on the need. C.4 Gram Sabha in Udaipur Udaipur is a district in southern part of Rajasthan inhabited majorly by tribals with limited development. There are 11 blocks, 2471 revenue villages, and 467 Gram panchayats in the district. As regards the voters composition of the district, 50.1 percent are males while females are 49.9 percent. SCs constitute 5.4 percent while STs account for 50.6 percent of the voters in the district. Out of 11 block, Gram sabhas of 2 blocks namely Badgaon and Gogunda were surveyed to check the present scenario of Gram Sabha in Udaipur. A total 204 Gram Sabha meeting (113 Gram Sabhas in Badgaon & 91 Gram Sabhas in Gogunda) of 24 Gram Panchayats of both the blocks were observed during to find out Gender based participation and involvement. The findings are discussed in following subheads: C.4.1 Attendance of voters at Gram Sabha meetings It was found that the overall presence in gram sabha was 5.2 percent in which male presence was 6.37 per cent and female presence was 4.0 per cent. It clearly shows that female presence was lower than male. This might be due to the lack of awareness, knowledge and confidence, lower educational level and hesitation to share common platform with male members. The overall poor attendance is due to the fact that provisions relating to the Gram Sabha contain nothing of substance which could attract the masses towards it. The people, particularly the poor, did not want to lose their daily wages for the sake of attending the Gram Sabha meetings. In fact, no one attends the meetings of the GS unless the benefits are apparent to them. Table: 1 Average attendance in Gram Sabha Meetings of Badgaon and Gogunda n= 204 Gram Sabhas Total Voters Present Voters (%) Panchayat Total Gram samiti Sabha Held Male Female Total Male Female Total (n/ %) (n/ %) (n/ %) Gogunda (7.47%) (4.11%) (5.85%) Badgaon (5.64%) (3.93%) (4.79%) Total (6.37%) (4.0%) All rights Reserved Page 193

7 C.4.2 Year wise average attendance of voters Year wise data depicted in the table show that the total presence of voters were 4.04 per cent in 2010 which then increased up to 4.95 per cent in 2012, and 7.11 in Although the participation of people in Gram Sabhas is still not ideal, but observed that there has been an increasing trend of participation each year. It was reported by the villagers that still they have lack say in the Gram Sabha meetings and few rich and powerful people are dominated the meetings. Some of them expressed that the powerful persons generally get most of the benefits of welfare schemes thus attending Gram Sabha is waste of time. Gender wise data clearly depicted the clear-cut picture of women as the attendance of women was 2.96 per cent in 2010 which increased up to 5.35 per cent in 2013 that is lower than their counterpart. Women were not informed and invited to the Gram sabha meeting and most of the women hesitate in participating in Gram Sabha meeting in the presence of a large number of elder members (Nambiar, 2001). Women are generally tied up with household responsibilities which leave them very little time to attend Gram Sabha meeting (Sinha, 2002). Table:2 Year wise average attendance of voters n= 204 Gram Sabhas Year Present Voters Total Gram Total Voters (%) Sabha Held Male Female Total Male Female Total (5.05%) (2.96%) (4.04%) (4.64%) (3.12%) (3.90%) (6.03%) (3.81%) (4.95%) (8.86%) (5.35%) (7.11%) Total (6.37%) (4.0%) (5.21%) C.4.3 Quorum of Gram Sabha Meetings The quorum was completed in only 33 Gram Sabha Meetings (16.2 percent Gram Sabha) and in remaining 171 Gram sabha meeting, the presence of voter was less than 10 percent. This shows the poor reality of the very important constitutional body of grassroots democracy. C.4.4 Agenda of Gram Sabha meetings Table: 6 Agenda wise distribution of Gram Sabhas n= 204 Gram Sabhas S. No. Agenda Panchayat Samiti Total Badgaon Gogunda No. % 1. Preparation of Annual Plan for MNREGA Social Audit Food Security Act Anganwadi Poshahar and filling vacant post Community participation in school enrollment campaign Proposals for works of 12 five year plan Women empowerment Gram Sabha for making Ration card Gram Sabha for C.M. Awas and Pension Scheme 1-1 All rights Reserved Page 194

8 10. Indira Awaas for BPL families Gram sabah for forest act Pasture land Total The agenda of observed Gram Sabha meetings were Preparation of Annual Plan for MNREGA (39.71%) social audit (29.41%), Food security act (7.84%), Anganwadi Poshahar and filling vacant post (6.37%), Community participation in school enrollment campaign (5.39%), Women empowerment (3.43%), Gram Sabha for C.M. Awas and Pension Scheme (0.49%), Indira Awaas for BPL families(0.49%), Gram Sabha for making Ration card (0.98%), Gram sabha for forest act (0.49%) and Pasture land (0.49%). Although all the Gram Sabha meetings were agenda based but their main emphasis was on physical development of village. Social, health and educational issues got very less space in these meeting. This also caused the poor attendance in the meeting. Some infrastructure issue of the village such as transport, pipeline for the drinking water facility etc. also did not get much consideration in the meetings. Gram sabha is the grassroots institution where there is a space for the identification and articulation of the needs and concerns of the people which generally did not take care there. The agenda to be discussed in the gram sabha meetings come from the top administration which undermines the spirit of democracy. There is a dire need to activate this body to have direct participation of people in democracy. Many institutions have been working in activating this body. Looking to the importance of self empowerment and running trend of Self Help Groups (SHG) may be one of the best solutions to this problem. D. Participatory approach of Self Help Groups in strengthening Grassroots democracy The emergence and rapid multiplication of Self Help Groups (SHGs) is gaining increasing importance in the development scenario. Today there are seven million SHGs in the country. Nearly 90% of the groups are women only groups. (Source: NABARD website). SHGs have been viewed as a strategy for both women s empowerment as well as poverty reduction. SHGs are a channel for routing a wide range of government sponsored development messages and schemes. NGOs have increasingly been adopting SHGs as a strategy to bring women together, at a faster pace and larger scale than the collective building processes adopted by them earlier. Self help group is a small democratically formed group of about women from a homogenous class, who come together voluntary to attain collecting goals, social or economic. The women Self help groups can enhance the status of women as participant decision makers and beneficiaries on the democratic, economic, social and cultural spheres of life and sensitize the women members to take active part in socio-economic progress of rural India. Greater linkages and formal mechanisms between representatives of SHGs and PRI Institutions should be worked out so that the priorities of poor women can inform village planning processes and in order that governance systems are responsive to their demands. Women s increased political participation has yielded positive results. First, issues central to development, including health, nutrition, family income and education, take center stage as women participate in the PRI, village development boards and other governance structures. Secondly, women have shown that they have critical information about community resources, are adept at managing funds, result in more inclusive governance and learn quickly about how to lead effective community- centered development. SHG provide a forum to women where they can solve their personal, social and economic problems and fight against injustice. They are not alone there hence they can raise their voice for themselves as well as for others All rights Reserved Page 195

9 International Journal of Applied and Pure Science and Agriculture (IJAPSA) D.1 STRATEGIC ACTION MODEL OF PARTICIPATORY APPROACH OF SHGS IN STRENGTHENING GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY Note: a.) Follow up by SHGs of their raised issues in Next Gram Sabhas b.) Identification of potential leader from SHGs for PRI D.2 ROLE OF SELF HELP GROUP AT COMMUNITY LEVEL FOR STRENTHENING GRAM SABHA The Gram Sabha can only be empowered by ensuring active participation of each and every section of the community, especially the lager participation of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled tribes (ST) and women. SHGs can enhance community involvement in Gram sabha by following ways: 1. Creating Awareness: SHGs can create awareness among villagers especially, women about the role, function and importance of Gram Sabha as well as rights and responsibilities of the Gram Sabha members. So that villagers can use their constitutional rights to develop themselves and their community by taking active part in Gram Sabhas. 2. Development and use of audio-visual aids: Audio-visual aids can play an important role in creating awareness about Gram Sabha. SHGs can develop various audio-visual materials like films, posters and charts and paste at important places of the villages and distributed among Gram Sabha members to generate awareness about Gram Sabha. These materials can also be used for giving information about the Gram Sabha meeting like date, time, agenda, venue etc. SHG may screen of successful Gram Sabha case studies such as Hivre Bazar Village Panchayat, Maharashtra and Kuthumbakkam Village Panchayat, Tamil Nadu in every village panchayat. 3. Publicizing Gram Sabha Meeting: SHGs can publicize the Gram Sabha meeting to ensure greater participation of villagers. They can paste posters at important places of villages and distribute pamphlets at schools and anganwaris to communicate the Gram Sabha meeting

10 schedule to the parents through the children. They can also put notice of date, time, place and purpose of Gram Sabha meeting at public places to increase participation of villagers in Gram Sabha. They can spread information among villagers about the meetings 4. Home Visit: SHG member can contact personally to villagers to give the information about the gram meeting and motivate them to attend meeting and take active part in that. 5. Discuss social, Health and educational issues in the meeting: It was observed that Gram Sabhas meeting generally focused on physical development of villages. Social issues get very less spaces in such meetings. Women of SHGs can put emphasis on such developmental issues i.e. health, nutrition, education etc. in these meetings by placing proposals on these aspects and also ensure the implementation of those proposals. 6. Enhancing Harmonization among Gram Sabha members: Caste and party politics play major role in lack of coordination among Gram Sabha members. The influential people, elected representatives and government officials (Panchayat Secretary etc. and higher officers) make better use of the infighting for their greed and self interests. So, villagers should be oriented and motivated to practice better coordination among themselves for the development of their village. SHGs can make it possible by contacting and convincing people for better coordination. 7. Effective delivery of policies and programmes: Government has been made many programmes and policies to uplift the rural masses. In order to optimally utilize the advantages it is essential to reach these initiatives to actual beneficiaries i. e. rural people by making it assessable. Beneficiaries of most of the Government programmes are identified through gram sabha meeting but this is not done in reality. Hence, SHG can enable panchayats for effective delivery of policies and programmes, which presently are managed within silos. 8. Enhancing participation of women and weaker sections: It has been noticed that the elected women representatives only become a signatory and all the work is being done by the male members of the family. In most of the cases women representatives are not even aware about the activities and the work being taken in the village. Similarly participation of women was very poor in the Gram Sabha meetings. The women from the high castes and the dominant peasant castes did not attend these because of the Parda System. The women from the backward classes and scheduled castes did not report owing to the same constraints which prevented the male members of their families from participating in the Gram Sabha meetings. Self Help Groups can ensure and enhance participation of women in these meetings. Their office bearers can approach the women in general and those from the backward classes and scheduled castes in particular to participate in the meetings of Gram Sabha for ensuring that they are able to take advantage of the programmes and schemes for their empowerment. They can particularly ensure the presence of the women members of the SHGs and other women from their families. This can make some difference. 9. SHGs can stimulate bottom up planning and empowers local bodies with periodic replenishment: SHGs can make people aware about the importance of planning, budgeting and auditing of all the development works to be carried out at the village level that will enhance their involvement in planning. This will create a sense of responsibility for both Panchayat as well as Gram Sabha. Strengthening people s participation in the Gram Sabha is a critical prerequisite for making Panchayats accountable to the people. D.3 ROLE OF SHGS AT ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE LEVEL FOR STRENTHENING GRAM SABHA It was found from studies that elected representatives are not performing their duties properly. Many elected representative especially women, are not even aware about their roles and responsibilities thus they do not carry out their works such as organization of Gram Sabha and ward Sabha meetings timely and properly. Office bearers and members of SHGs can try to ensure holding of these meetings by motivating and insisting elected representatives. 1. Ensure Holding of Gram Sabha Meeting: It has been observed in most of the rural areas that the Gram Sabha meetings do not take place regularly. The members and office bearers of All rights Reserved Page 197

11 can contact sarpanch, secretary or even at Panchayati samiti and Zilla parishad to hold the meeting which generally held on papers only. They can also try to convince the Sarpanches that the holding of these meetings would strengthen their position and enhance their popular support. They also ensure the minutes of meetings display in the Gram Panchayat along with the signatories, i.e. members of the Gram Sabha. A copy each should be sent to the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad. Regular organization of Gram Sabha meetings motivate villagers to participate in it. 2. Organising of Ward Sabha Meetings: Ward Sabha meeting should be organized before Gram Sabha meeting to effectively bring the grassroots level issues at the Gram Sabha. Ward-wise Sabhas would enable more voters to participate in the deliberations. They Ward members can decide upon the priorities of issues. As the area and population of a Ward Sabha is smaller and commonality of interest greater, people would discuss with close involvement and evolve a consensus on matters that they wish to be taken up by the Ward Member to the Gram Panchayat. SHG members contact ward panch and insist him/her to organize ward sabha before the Gram Sabha meeting, so that villagers can finalize some proposals which they can put in gram sabha meeting. D.4 ROLE OF SHGS DURING GRAM SABHA MEETING SHGs can strengthen Gram Sabha by taking following action during the Gram Sabha meeting: 1) Ensuring correct attendance of villagers in Gram Sabha meeting: It is observed that the Sarpanch, Secretary and other officials make up fake attendance to show the quorum. SHG members can keep watch and get the real presence recorded and displayed with the minutes by name and in numbers to avoid any misrepresentation 2) Proper recording of Minutes: Office bearers of SHGs can monitor and ensure that the minutes of Gram Sabha meeting are recording properly and displaying on the notice board of the Gram Panchayat office so that each and every villager knows about the decisions. 3) Proper selection of beneficiaries for various schemes: Beneficiaries of various schemes should be identified and approved only in the Gram Sabha meetings. Where ever possible, disbursement under various schemes should be made in the Gram Sabha, so that benefits would go to right persons only. This, in turn, would help increase the participation of people in Gram Sabha. SHG women can somehow make it possible. SHGs can works in bridging the critical gaps in development that are not met through the existing schemes and resources. 4) Ensuring say of women: Women generally hesitate to speak in gathering especially in front of elder male members. If any woman has courage to say something in public but powerful person stop them to speak. SHG can help women to raise their voice in such meeting and also ensure that authority must listen them and take action accordingly. 5) Raising issues related to women: Women issues are generally not a part of the Gram Sabha meeting. Although Government has been made many initiatives in this direction like organsiation of special Gram Sabha meetings to discuss issues related nutrition, health, sanitation, drinking water, prevention of violence against women & children, prevention of dowry, female foeticide etc. but still the women issues are not inherent part of gram sabha meetings. Women SHGs can raise women related issue in these meeting and also force the authority to take action on the raised issues. D.5 OTHERS 1. Follow up by SHGs of their raised issues in Next Gram Sabhas: The members of SHGs should do follow-up of their proposal that put up in the last meeting. They also ensure that action taken report of last meeting must read in Gram All rights Reserved Page 198

12 2. Identification of potential leader from SHGs for PRI: NGOs working with SHGs and Women of SHGs should identify the potential leader from their groups and motivate them to fight in election for ward panch and Sarpanch. Workshops should organize for enhancing their leadership qualities. II. CONCLUSION Gram Sabha is a key to the self-governance. Active participation of its members and monitoring its functioning will make the meaningful meeting of the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha would not become an effective agency for decision-making, unless the women members, who represent about 50 percent of the total population, took active part in it. Self Help Group (SHG) can play an important role in strengthening grassroots democracy by enhancing active participation of people in the meetings and discussions. Office bearers and members of SHGs become community leaders who represent the problems of rural women whose needs seldom find a space in the policies and programmes at the state and national levels. Therefore, the interface between the PRIs and SHGs needs to be activated for ensuring good governance through the Gram Sabha. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] Anupam Hazare (2013), Empowering Rural Voices of India, Kurukshetra, May :7:3-5. [2] Nambiar (2001), Making the Gram Sabha Work, Economic and Political Weekly, 36(33), August 18-24, 2001, pp [3] Nayakara Veeresha (2010), Functioning of Gram Sabha in Tamilnadu: A study in selected village panchayats in Sreperumbudur block, Kancheepuram District Proceedings of the National Seminar on GRAMA SABHA Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development, Mysore, Karnataka, pp [4] Ramesh Kumar Singh (2013), People s Participation in Gram Sabha of Bihar, Kurukshetra, May :7: [5] Ramit Basu (2010) The Role of the Gram Sabha in the process of Planning An analytical approach Proceedings of the National Seminar on GRAMA SABHA Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development, Mysore, Karnataka, pp [6] Sinha R., Singh A. and Bajpai P. (2002), Women s Particiaption in Panchayati Raj for improving Health Status: A case For Uttar Pradesh, Special Issue, Vol. All rights Reserved Page 199