Casting a new mould

These elections have, for the first time in UP, brought out into the openthe indirect involvement of most of the major political parties. While theBJP, the ruling party, is viewing the results of these elections as amandate on its governance, other parties is using it as an opportunity toassess their organisational strength at the grassroots level. Though theparties have not issued any formal tickets, most parties have decided toextend their `support’ to select contestants at the kshetriya and zillalevels. If one moves to the lowest tier of the pachayati raj structure thegram panchayats (village level panchayats) these aspects are underscoredby the number of contestants for the position of gram pradhan (VillageHead).

A gram panchayat is constituted for every two-three villages having apopulation figure of 1,000 or more. A village having a population between1,000 and 2,000 should have a nine-member panchayat. If the populationexceeds 2,000, the number of panch (members) increases to 11. Beyond apopulation level of 3,000, members increase to 13 and for any village withmore than 4,000 people living in it, the number of members goes up to 15.Each of these village panchayats is headed by a gram pradhan. However, giventhe way the panchayats have worked in the past, they have become synonymouswith the gram pradhan. A view that is further substantiated by the number ofcontestants for the post of panchs at the gram panchayats.

In UP, more than five persons contested for the post of pradhani in mostvillages, while many of the contestants to the post of the panch wereelected unopposed.

Most villagers still do not realise the importance of panchayats andconflate the Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) with the persons who head themat various levels. This has several ramifications for village-levelpolitics. On the one hand, the constitutional provisions of positivereservations are a direct challenge to the institutions of caste hierarchy.On the other, these very provisions are being used as an instrument ofsettling personal scores. Commenting on the spurt of violence in Western UP,a local journalist says: “Most of these incidents have their origin inproperty disputes. During the polls, people settle scores with each other toavenge old disputes.”

In constituencies which are reserved for SCs or women belonging to thereserved to the category, it is common to find influential persons of thedominant caste putting up dummy candidates belonging to the reservedcategories. The upper castes usually ally with the dominant caste within thereserved category. It is generally found that the upper caste allythemseleves with the backward Yadavs. This is because between theSamajawadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the former appears tobe more acceptable to the upper castes. Secondly, SP appears to have agreater hold over the masses, especially, the minorities communities.Another feature of the panchayat polls is the creation of a class of defacto gram pradhans in constituencies reserved for women. This is the classof Pati Pradhans or the Sarpanch Patis (Husband of the woman pradhan).Women’s literacy rates are low in UP. “In most villages, women are onlyfigureheads; most of the powers that lie in the office of the pradhan,”says Manoj Rai of the Participatory Research Institution in Asia (PRIA), anon-governmental organisation.

PRIA has launched a vigorous voter awareness campaign in rural areas of UPin association with two other UP-based NGOs Sahbhagi Shikan Kendra (SSK).Uttar Pradesh Voluntary Action Network (UPVAN). The focus of this campaignis to make villagers aware of their rights as guaranteed by the PRI in thestate. The NGOs have picked up select districts where they volunteers teachlocal self governance. “We educate the villagers about the voting processthrough user-friendly posters and pamphlets,” says Naveen Kapoor, in chargeof the local self governance programme of SSK.

Though a begining has been made, a great deal still needs to be done, goingby the responses of villagers. Villagers are still unsure of the identity ofthe NGO workers. Often, they are seen to be representatives of the districtadministration, and villagers’ responses become less candid. There stillexists a gap between the two worlds that of the villagers and theadministration that thr NGOs need to bridge. Yet, any such begininng whichpromises that power will percolate to the lowest unit of habitation thevillages is welcome.

Village vox
Meandering dusty roads, veiled women, toiling men on theirfields and bare-bodied children soiled all over with mud and slush greetus as we entered Hamirpur village in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh. Thedark clouds above threatened to pour down as if to bring relief to the landsbroken in a million pieces.

Hamirpur village is one of the many gram panchayats where the postion of thepradhani is reserved for scheduled caste women. There are four contestantsfor pradhani in a block of four villages which has 1,606 voters. Of this,about 930 voters belong to the Harijan community while the rest are dividedamong a number of castes. There are 250-odd voters belonging to the Rajputand Brahmin castes.

Within ten minutes of our arrival, word spreads around that ahebs have comefrom the town. One, two, groups of four, and the trickle picks up. Soon, theconcrete structure that serves as the Panchayat Resources Centre (PRC) fillsup.

Even after some prodding, most women prefer to keep quiet while a few menbegin to speak, somewhat suspiciously. Soon the discussions wander fromdevelopment to corruption. As accusations against the previous panchayatsbegin to fly thick and fast, women of the ruling camp are no longer silent.“We never knew what went on in the past five years,”says Shyamdali. “Sheis lying through her teeth. We made roads, installed hand-pumps and didseveral other development work,” says Kiran. And the fight goes on. Afterabout two hours, we prepare to leave when a villager comes up and says:“Sir, whom should we vote this time around?”