Grama Jyothy
Community Movement in
Telangana
Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao
{Public
Participation Must to
Light up Grama Jyothy in TS
The New
Indian Express (06-08-2015)}
After meticulous
design and planning followed by different stages of implementation of various
flagship programs and prestigious schemes like Mission Kakatiya, Drinking Water
Project, Haritaharam, Power Projects, Single Window Industrial Policy, Housing
for Poor, Land Purchase, Swachh
Hyderabad, Aasara pensions, Kalyana
Laxmi, Shadi Mubarak etc, Telangana State Chief Minister K.
Chandrashekhar Rao has conceived yet another unique Community Up-Keeping
Program all over the state aiming at development of 10, 000 and odd villages
including Tandas. As part of this, every village will receive an amount ranging
from Rs. 2 Crores to Rs. 5 Crores. Known as Grama Jyothy, to be formally
announced on 15th of August 2015 and to be launched on 17th
of August, an amount of Rs. 25, 000 Crores would be spent on integrated and
comprehensive development of rural areas in the next five years. It will be a
weeklong event up to August 24 when officials and elected public
representatives will visit villages to prepare plans for development with the
participation of people.
Towards “plan your village and clean
your village” concept as part of this and to begin with, the Chief Minister
desires that each and every elected representative-MP, MLA, MLC-should adopt
one village in their respective constituency and make it a model village. In
addition, several district level officers right from Collector, Superintendent
of Police down the MRO and MDO etc. in the role of Change Agents will take lead
in the village development. They will help in constituting village level
committees. The threshold will be up-keeping of the village wherein the village
Serpanch will be exposed to Gram Sabha and the entire activity would be made as
development centric. Grama Jyothy will be followed by Pattana Jyothy with the
same objective in urban areas.
Elaborating the details and towards
chalking out an action plan as well as to discuss the modalities of implementation
of the programme, a conference of District Collectors, Joint Collectors,
Superintendents of Police and Departmental Heads was convened on 30th
July 2015 wherein the Chief Minister recalled the days that followed
immediately after independence when Jawaharlal Nehru was first Prime Minister
of India and SK Dey was India’s first Union Cabinet Minister for cooperation
and Panchayat Raj. CM remembered Dey as the one who pioneered and steered
community development in independent India and who believed that democracy
means grassroots democracy. The Chief Minister touched upon several interesting
aspects on Panchayat Raj, community development and cooperative institutions in
his remarks in the conference and the need to emulate from that experience.
In India the two most important
movements are Panchayat Raj and cooperative. These have been deliberately
politicized and subjected to annihilation. Though 73rd Constitutional Amendment
enumerates powers and functions of Panchayat Raj Institutions, in most of the
states the desired results could not be achieved. It is meaningful to discuss
the whole aspect with an objective to bring back the movement. In this context
it is appropriate to refer to the Eisenhower-Jawaharlal Nehru meeting in USA
during the days of first five year plan and SK Dey’s introduction to Nehru by
Eisenhower. Dey was in charge of Rural America affairs at that time and
Eisenhower was all praise for his work. After a luncheon discussion with Dey
and mentioning that he is proud of him, Nehru invited Dey to return to India
and take part in its development. Expressing his reservation on the First Five
Year Plan priorities which had emphasis on industrial development, Dey politely
deferred his decision to come back to India. He further suggested to Nehru that
instead of taking forward the country with support from foreign technical
knowhow, he should concentrate on distribution of Lakhs of acres of waste land
to rural poor, give top priority for education and literacy and eradicate
un-touchability.
On his return from US visit, Nehru
called for a full-fledged cabinet meeting first and later Congress Working
Committee and All India Congress Committee meetings, where he discussed at
length the suggestions of Dey. This paved way for deviation in the subsequent
plans. More emphasis on irrigation projects and public sector undertakings
started emerging. “Temples of Modern India” was how they were named by Nehru.
SK Dey on knowing these developments returned back to India and Nehru made him
Member of Rajya Sabha and then as Union Cabinet Minister for Cooperation and
Panchayat Raj. Dey’s commitment to developing grassroots democracy prompted
Nehru to hand over the reins of Rural Development. As minister his pet project
was the Community Development Program. Dey as minister spent considerable
amount of time in National Institute of Rural Development in Hyderabad from
where he steered Panchayat Raj movement. The
first Panchayat Raj was formed in Shadnagar, Mahaboobnagar district by
Jawaharlal Nehru on the auspicious day VijayDashami on October 14, 1959.
Against this background and history
of community development program in India, sheer politicization has come in its
place according to Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao. Seven decades of
independence has not brought much change in the Panchayat Raj system. Is it
possible to bring drastic change in the system with village as a basic unit?
Can we imbibe the system with more concerted efforts? Unfortunately Serpanch who
should think of his or her village development seldom stays in the village.
Mandal Parishath President who has to concentrate on entire mandal area hardly
visits even mandal headquarters. ZPTC member should be a link between mandal
and Zillah Parishath. There is no proper devolution. Villages like
Gangidevipally in Warangal District, Ankapally in
Nizamabad District and Mulkanoor in Karimnagar District which excelled in rural
and cooperative development should become the models and the best practices for
others. When development is possible in these three villages why not others
emulate from them?
It is time to take a pledge to do something for the village where we
live. Let permanent assets be created. Unfortunately every village, wherever we
go, resembles as one which does not belong to anyone. How to overcome this? In
what manner we need to involve people? People who as individuals are very
strong and as a team and society very week, need to be inculcated the habit of
planning their village. CM told the Collectors that they should educate
Serpanch, MPTC and ZPTC member and Mandal President about planning and how to
plan the expenditure of their budget. They should also be told the benefits of
collective strength. This would enable the Serpanch and others to do good job
for their villages. Insisting that it should be a people’s program where the
Government will only support administratively and financially, the CM told the
Collectors and others that if it is otherwise the program would fail.
73rd Amendment also
provides for a Gram Sabha in each village exercising such powers and performing
such functions at the village level as the Legislature of a State may provide
by law.
The
Chief Minister says that very individual in the village should participate in
the Gram Sabha during the week. The Gram Sabha should also take place with the
participation of all public representatives. Minister from the district, ZP
Chairperson, MP, MLA and MLC should be part of the Gram Sabha. They should draw
up plans for development over the next five years after they are discussed
widely. Apart from preparation of plans, people should also take part in hygiene
and sanitation drive, removal of debris and closure of old wells. Expressing concern over non-development of villages
despite spending thousands of crores of rupees, Chief Minister exhorted the
people to participate in Grama Jyothy programme actively to bring about
complete change and rapid development in villages.
Grama Jyothy belongs to all. It shall not be a mere individual’s
effort but shall be a collective effort with participation of all individuals.
The villagers ultimately decide the priorities of their village. When the whole
village moves anything is possible. End
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