On the eve of every election,the villagers of Ranawade in Maharashtra sit down to decide who they will vote forTHE bamboo barricades are up in front of the village temple. Soon,colourful tarpaulins will sweep over the top,in time for the auspicious festival of Akshay Tritiya on April 27. But five days before that,Ranawade village witnessed another important gathering: one that happens only once in five years. On April 22,the eve of polling day for Raigad district,about 300 of Ranawades population of 600 came together to discuss and decide on the candidate who would get the vote of the entire village. For the farmers of Ranawade village,its a practice as old as the elections themselves and one they are proud of,even if it may seem to be an aberration from the basic concept of a democracy. Its a practice started by our forefathers and one that makes complete sense to us. Deep down,we think politicians have their own agendas and dont think they can do much for our village. Whatever progress we have made is because of our own efforts and the only thing we guard zealously is our unity. We dont want any politician to take that away from us. In the surrounding villages,you will find that 15 houses belong to the Congress,20 to the Shiv Sena and so on. We dont want politics to divide us,hence this decision to support only one person. The night before voting,we all sit togethermen and womenand decide. This year too,on April 23,290 of us voted for the person we had decided on, says Pandurang Ambekar,deputy sarpanch of the village. The village is part of Raigad constituency and has some heavy weights in the frayA.R. Antulay,Suresh Prabhu and Anant Geete. The decision on who to vote for is based on the work done by the parties and the candidates. We dont go by promises they make for the futurethose may never be kept, says Dattaram Tukaji Pate,president of the Ramawade Gram Vikas Mandal. So whenever candidates come to the village for campaigning,the villagers politely request them not to go from house to house but to come to the temple. We then make an announcement on the loudspeaker,asking everyone to gather at the temple and ask the candidates to address the gathering. But the final decision is solely ours. Also,we do not disclose our decisions to outsiders, says Pate. But how can they be sure that everyone sticks to the consensus candidate? That is the trust and faith we have in each other, says Ambekar.The voting pattern,he says,is an extension of the way in which this village of 115 houses is administered. No one in the village moves court or even lodges a police complaint in case of a dispute. All matters are settled by a meeting of the village committee and the parties concerned. Going to the court only means unnecessary expense and none of us wants that, says Ambekar. The village has only one shopone that stocks grocery and utility itemsand it is collectively owned by the villagers. We started it in 1993 after we felt that shopkeepers in markets in bigger towns were fleecing us. With a capital of Rs 50,000 that we got from donations,we started this shop, says Pate. The shop also doubles as a bank. We also lend money to each other,without charging any interest. If there is a wedding in the village,we stock up extra groceries, says Bhagwachi Dundho Ambekar,another village elder. Women in the village are part of a self-help group and each person contributes Rs five to it every month. The village school with 98 students has more girls than boysthe children study here till class seven and then go to Mangaon,where they study till class ten. While there is no hospital in the village,there is one in Sai village thats three kilometers away and is fairly accessible. Drinking,gambling and prostitution are banned in the village. The village also has a Mumbai Ranawade Committee,which is an association of villagers who have moved to the city for work. The migrants keep in touch with the village and send in money for welfare activities. We have two water sourcesone supplied by the government and one bore owned by all of us, says Pate. We do have our issueswater and electricity are erratic and the approach road to our village needs to be tarred. The school roof too needs to be reinforced before the rains. But we will address these issues like we always havethrough consensus and through our own efforts. We will not barter our votes for them, says Pate.
