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Information
Is Empowerment: Public hearing in Girwar panchayat
Photo Jan Chetna Sansthan |
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Many villagers who
had earlier testified on video to irregularities simply did not turn up or pretended to have
forgotten what they said |
Irregularities amounting
to Rs 6 lakh in Valota panchayat, Dungarpur of Rajasthan and seven tonnes
of “missing” wheat in Girwar panchayat, Sirohi district
came to light on April 25 and May 9 at two separate jan sunwais (public
hearings) in the presence of local residents and government officials.
The public hearings demonstrated once again the power of the National
Right to Information Act that was used in drawing out the panchayats’
records for public scrutiny, in exposing corruption.
However, for one
focussing only on the event of the jan sunwai, these outcomes overshadow
a much larger context. This is the process of the social audit that
starts much earlier and whose effects persist much beyond the date of
the public hearing; a story less scripted but far more significant than
the amount of corruption itself (The disappointment on the faces of
mediapersons — “only Rs 6 lakh?” — was discernible!).
In January, local
NGOs — Wagad Mazdoor Kisan Sangathan (WMKS), Dungarpur and Jan
Chetna Sansthan with the Bhakhar Bhitrot Vikas Manch, Abu Road —
had respectively helped residents of Valota and Girwar in getting information
pertaining to the major development schemes implemented in their panchayats
in the year 2004-05 (and 2005-06 in Girwar). Their experiences show
that, to begin with, obtaining information was no cakewalk.
Why do you
want it? you are illiterate
In Girwar panchayat,
residents Lala Ram and Dharma Ram had applied for the information and
had to face serious resistance. “Why do you want this information,
you are illiterate, what are you going to do with it,” was the
response from the sarpanch and the Block Development Officer (BDO).
When Richa of Jan Chetna Sansthan accompanied them to meet the BDO,
he wanted to know why her NGO was instigating them to do this, and what
was their real motive after all? “When the district Collector
came to know that the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (that spearheaded
the Right To Information (RTI) movement in the state) was involved and
the purpose was to do a social audit of the development works, he also
put pressure on the BDO and they all ultimately fell in line,”
says Richa. Incidentally, the social audits were jointly organised by
the Centre for Equity Studies, Jaipur supported by the National Institute
of Rural Development (NIRD), in itself a government-backed body.
In Valota too, there
were similar obstacles and it was only after some “pressure from
above” that the information was given. But the manner in which
this played out reflects a certain thought-provoking irony. The RTI
Act grants a legal right to every citizen equally but in Valota and
Girwar, it could not bypass the very power structures that it aimed
to bring down, questioning the true accessibility of the law to the
ordinary citizen.
RTI
ACT |
|
| • |
Right
to Information Act came into force in
October 2005 |
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This
Act is applicable to
all of India except J&K |
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It gives
the right to access any government documents or records in
part or in full |
|
How the cover was
blown
After obtaining the information
and collating it, came the actual door-to-door verification. In both
Valota and Girwar, this commenced a few days prior to the day of the
jan sunwai, and efforts were made to match the records with the oral
evidence of labourers supposedly employed on these works. In the social
audit process, this stage marks a transition point; when vested interests
start to realise that the Right to Information users mean ‘serious
business’. As they see groups going around the panchayat with
muster rolls, pointing out to labourers the amounts of money and grain
lifted in their name under their signatures and physically measuring
and assessing the quality of the finished works to corroborate what
the measurement books (MB) say; they realise their cover is blown. And
this is when the backlash begins.
A tale of two sarpanchs
At this juncture, Valota
and Girwar need to be distinguished. Valota panchayat holds the record
of being one of the leading beneficiaries of government schemes in the
district with substantial funds flowing in. It has seen the incumbent
sarpanch Kurma Ram and his wife hold fort for the last 13 years. His
family tractor business has a monopoly of sorts in all development works
in the panchayat — bills show that material worth Rs 15.2 lakh
(out of the Rs 50 lakh worth of works for which records were obtained
in 2004-05 alone) was transported by his son and the panchayat sachiv’s
brother to the worksites. The effects of these were apparent on the
day of the jan sunwai when many villagers who had earlier testified
(on video) to irregularities simply did not turn up or pretended to
have forgotten what they said.
In Girwar panchayat, residents
not only showed up in large numbers but also testified without going
back on their word. Here, however, the twist in the tale was the sarpanch’s
own prior affiliation to the NGO which organised the social audit. “Bhimaram
(the sarpanch) had joined the Bhakhar Bhitrot Vikas Manch about six
years ago, and went on to become its adhyaksha for the last three years.
He actively took up issues like employment guarantee and right to information
and agreed to start his own panchayat for social audit in a meeting
of the manch three months ago — which is how Girwar was chosen.
He probably did not think that the social audit would go into such detail
and he would get into trouble!” remarks Richa. He too tried to
hush up the villagers prior to the jan sunwai, but was definitely less
successful than Kurma.
Got the information.
what now?
A panel comprising Planning
Commission member BN Yugandar, Joint Secretary and Financial Adviser
(Lok Sabha Secretariat) Amitabh Mukhopadhay, Shailesh Gandhi, member,
National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, Trilochan
Shastry (Professor, IIM Bangalore) besides local political representatives
and administration witnessed the jan sunwai on April 25 in Valota. The
district Collector pledged to bring anyone found guilty to book after
an official enquiry, no matter who they are.
“We heard that sarpanch
Kurma hosted a sumptuous feast on the night of the public hearing and
warned people that no one should give any further evidence. He also
gathered all workers on a later date and threatened that if they wanted
work and payments, they’d better not open their mouths. He got
two women to physically assault the wife of one of those who testified,
charging that her husband caused all this. NGO workers who reside in
the panchayat are facing a social boycott with no one willing to visit
them,” revealed Maan Singh Sisodia of WMKS. Political equations
are also bound to play a role, as the sarpanch’s alleged saffron
affiliations are said to have got him some sympathy from the government.
An enquiry committee set
up at the district level has been directed to submit its findings by
May 20, but it has asked for more time now. “Everyone knows that
it is not the sarpanch alone who is corrupt and there is a nexus. In
the least, the enquiry should be done by an independent authority,”
says Maan Singh.
Will more heads roll?
In Girwar, it is too early
to say what the enquiry will lead up to but some encouraging spillovers
are in sight. The fate of Bhimaram within the manch is to be decided
in a meeting. In nearby Aamthala panchayat, people have demanded information
on Indira Awas Yojana, old age and widow pensions. In Shurpakala panchayat,
an application for muster rolls has been put in.
But ultimately the ball
will be in the administration’s court. Valota and Girwar have
demonstrated that the RTI Act may be a powerful tool to get information
but then it is back to facing the same systems — of law, politics
and administration. A serious thinking needs to go into the processes
that follow a social audit within this system, if the objectives of
the RTI Act have to be taken to its logical end.
