Slur on sarpanchs
Vijaysinh Parmar, TNN 10 December 2009, 05:20am IST
AHMEDABAD: A sarpanch would normally be respected as the most powerful
person in any village. As per the Panchayati Raj institution, he or
she is
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expected to play a pivotal role in the village's development.
But, a Dalit sarpanch, man or woman, hardly has any say in panchayats
if the village is dominated by upper castes or even backward castes.
Some of them are made to sit on the floor even as other elected
members get chairs. Some are not even offered drinking water at
panchayat meetings. It is another matter that as sarpanchs drinking
water to villagers is their primary responsibility.
Two months ago, Kanchan Harijan, 35, deputy sarpanch of Valotri
village in Kheda, lodged a police complaint against three members of
the panchayat under the Atrocities Act. "I decided to approach police
only after things got out of hand. I was subjected to casteist slurs
and abuses during panchayat meetings.
But, when some members hurled abuses at me in public, I could not take
it any more," she says. It was only after Amrat Vaghela, a Dalit
sarpanch in Karoli in Surendranagar, complained to the taluka
development office that the village talati started talking to her.
"The talati would not talk to me because I am a Dalit. How do you
expect me to work," she asks. But, even today, nobody offers Vaghela a
glass of water at the panchayat office.
As many as 62.71% Dalit members elected to panchayats are
discriminated against when it comes simple courtesy like offering
water, according to findings of the 'Census on Untouchability', a
study carried out by Ahmedabad-based Navsarjan Trust with three
US-based organisations — the Kroc Institute for International Peace
Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Dartmouth College at
the University of Michigan and Robert F Kennedy Centre for Social
Justice and Human Rights, Washington, DC. P K Valera, a retired IAS
officer, recalls a social gathering he had organized in his native
Borisana village near Kalol in 1997. "The caterer refused to clean up
utensils at my place. They all suddenly disappeared after the
community lunch," he says. Having worked as director of social
welfare, Valera says discrimination against elected members in
panchayat is a reality.
Voluntary organizations in rural Gujarat say those who oppose the
social norms face no-confidence motions in the local body. "Even
genuine protests from Dalit or women sarpanchs snowball into political
issues. We have come across cases where no-confidence motions were
moved against sarpanchs who questioned discrimination at the hands of
other members," says Paresh Parmar of Mahila Swaraj Abhiyaan.
Social scientist Ganshyam Shah, who assisted the study, says
untouchability in government establishments is the first thing the
government should address, even if it can't bring change at the social
or village level.
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