Convergence, Linkages and

Collaboration among

Institutions through

Gram Sabhas

(Village Level General Body Meetings)

A Gram Sabha in Village Kodli

On a sunny afternoon in December 2003,the general body -comprising nearly 1000people- of village Kodli, situated in the semiarid tracts of Northern Karnataka in Indiawere discussing how to mobilize contributionfor watershed treatments on common lands.

“Who will pay the contribution for thetreatment on the village uplands? That landis the common property of the entire village,” said Deshmukh, the village leader. “If itwas a treatment on the private property, the individual farmer could pay the contributionas he/she is the direct beneficiary. Here no one is a direct beneficiary. Who will pay themandatory contribution for the watershed treatments? How do we resolve this issue?”

“The treatment in the commons will benefit the entire village. Any water conservationeffort will lead to the recharge in the plots in the lower reaches. Also the drinking waterwells in the village will get recharged. As all are getting the benefit, all should payequally!” said Khatal Saab, a progressive farmer.

“But not all people have land! The landless are not benefiting as much from the projectas the farmers on whose land the work is being done,” said Gauribi, a landlesslaborer. “As landless do not gain anything, why should we pay the contribution? Also,there are farmers in the village whose land does not fall in the watershed boundary.Why should they pay the contribution?”

Numerous other dimensions surrounding the issue were discussed openly. Finally,after long deliberations, there was a consensus that the contribution for the treatmenton the private land will be raised to 30% instead of the prevailing 25% while nocontribution will be collected for treatments planned on the common lands, the extra5% being a commitment towards community contribution to the common land treatments.

Such village general body meetings locally called Gram Sabhas, are usually held forarriving at a consensus on issues that are of common interest to the entire village. Inthe case of village Kodli, the Gram Sabhas have become a convergence point forbringing together institutions involved in the implementation of various programs.

Cooperation and Collaboration between the GramPanchayat and the VDS

Although the Gram Panchayat has the

legal right to call a Gram Sabha, it is in

the VDS general body meetings where

the true spirit of the Gram Sabhas was

first noticed. The participation,

transparency and the questioning that is

usual business in the VDS general

bodies was earlier missing in the Gram Sabhas. Subsequently, with better

linkages between the Gram Panchayat and VDS- the graduation of

members from the VDS to the Gram Panchayat, the Gram Panchayat

working closely with the VDS Governing Council, the difference between

the Gram Panchayat constituted Gram Sabhas and VDS general body

meetings has reduced. There are examples emerging of the two institutions

working in synergy. Recently, the two institutions have placed their agendas

in a common Gram Sabha. The Panchayat members attended a Gram

Sabha called by the VDS governing council. The panchayat members placed

an agenda for the meeting and the distribution of different kinds of ration

cards based on the economic status of the beneficiary was done in a highly

transparent manner in this Gram Sabha. This bodies well for the future

when the project is in its withdrawal stages.

Learnings

✽ Enhanced organizational capacities of the community in the VDS transferred tothe larger Panchayat system

✽ Integration of institutions for mainstreaming of development activities with inCBOs for sustainability of activities undertaken as part of various programs

✽ Common platform created in the form of gram sabha for involving all themembers of the community in decision-making processes especially duringthe selection of beneficiaries for development programs

✽ Discussions in the Gram Sabhas on the plan, progress and other projectrelated issues openly ensured that information and decision making on allaspects including finances was in the public domain

✽ The different social groups in village Kodli began to come together and thinktogether as a community.

M Y R A D A ISPWD-K Chincholli Project, KODLI - Post, Chincholli Tq, Gulbarga Dt, Karnataka, INDIAPhones : 08475 - 292002, E-mail : myrada_ispwdk@yahoo.co.in

M Y R A D AChange towards integrationIn Kodli, for the conduct of the VDS Gram Sabha, the VDS requests the Kodli GramPanchayat for providing the services of the “official information disseminator” (locallycalled Tom-Tom). This arrangement provides legitimacy to the VDS general bodymeeting and elevates its status to that equivalent to a Gram Sabha.

differences in the process of conduct of

the Gram Sabhas called by the two

institutions.

VDS Gram sabha: The constitution of

the governing council of the VDS, the

sanctioning of the plot wise microplans

for the watershed treatments, the selection of beneficiaries for the different

activities, arriving at consensus for addressing common issues like wage

fixation, deciding on local contribution on common and private lands, etc.

are all done collectively by the village community in a Gram Sabha.

An experience shared atCapitalization of Experiences:

Water, Land and People in India

For details of Capitalization of Experiences process contact :India : ramkumar@intercooperation.org.in Switzerland : mfischler@intercooperation.ch

Panchayat Gram Sabha: The Panchayat is accountable to the Gram

Sabha at the Panchayat level. Apart from conducting the beneficiary

selection for the implementation of the different schemes, the Gram

Panchayat is to present the audited accounts to the Gram Sabha of the

different villages twice in a year.

Background

Indo Swiss Participative Watershed

Development Project Karnataka (ISPWDK)

started in 1995 in five districts of Karnataka viz.

Bidar, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Koppal and

Chikmagalur. It was initiated as a bilateral project

in collaboration with Government of Karnataka (GoK) and 5 NGO

partners. The project entails a multi partnership set-up with community-

based organisations as the main stakeholders at village level.

Initially the implementation of the project was largely through government

line agencies - with NGO partners providing capacity building. But slowly

people controlled institutions called Village Development Societies (VDS)

evolved from the learnings gained during the implementation. The VDS

are expected to complement the larger local government administrative

unit of the Gram Panchayat, in terms of promoting democratic principles

and strengthening local competencies. This case study provides an insight

into the convergence of the VDS with the larger governing body called

Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) in a village called Kodli in Gulbarga district

of Karnataka State. The non-government organization called MYRADA

facilitated the process.

Village level Institutions

Gram Panchayat

The Gram Panchayat (GP) is a constitutionally mandated body for local

governance. It is the lowest unit of elected government in India, covering

between 5 to 7 villages depending on population. Recent legislations of

the Central and State Governments have provided the Gram Panchayat

with greater powers and a larger mandate to implement many schemes

and programmes of the Central and State Government. The Gram

panchayat members are elected from the respective villages and hamlets.

The Gram Panchayat is accountable to the Gram Sabha of the Panchayat

consisting of all eligible voters in the villages.

Village Development Society

The concept of VDS arose out of the

experiences in the first phase of ISPWDK.

The VDS was initially formed exclusively

to undertake the watershed development

activities under the project but now it

encompasses overall development of the

village. The VDS on the strength of its work

and transparent functioning has been able

to establish its own identity as a strong

village based institution and has established

strong linkages on its own.

The VDS for effective functioning delegates

responsibilities of implementation to

different sub- committees constituted for

different purposes like the watershed

management committee (for the

implementation of watershed works),

livelihood committee (for the livelihood

activities), etc. The sub-committees,

comprising of resource persons drawn from

different social groups in the village, report

to the Governing council of the VDS on a

monthly basis. The VDS Governing council

reports its progress to the Gram Sabha once

in six months.

Women Self Help Groups/ Self Affinity Groups

The village level women�s savings and thrift

groups are commonly called women self

help groups (SHGs). Most of the women

members in the VDS governing council

are members from the SHGs. In village

Kodli, there are 50 SHGs formed by

different agencies. A self-help group consists of 10 to 20 members. The

SHGs have played an important role in strengthening the institutional base

in Kodli. SHGs were formed even before the formation of the VDS.

The good practices from the SHGs were incorporated in the formation

and functioning of the VDS. The SHGs played an important role in

disseminating information about watershed treatments to all in the initial

stages of the project.

Community Managed Resource Centre

These 50 SHGs in Kodli have come

together to promote an informal institution

called Community Managed Resource

Centre (CMRC) that will provide financial,

legal and health related services to the

SHGs. The CMRC is expected to cover

costs through service charges by operation on a not-for-profit principle.

CMRC governing body consists of 15 women representing SHGs from

different villages.

Linkages between institutions

The linkages between the SHGs, VDS,

CMRC and VDS constituted committees

work on a principle of delegation of

responsibility. There are clear reporting

systems to the respective agency on the

stipulated frequency, which is usually

monthly. The Gram Panchayat and its sub

committees also have well defined role and responsibilities.

In Kodli VDS Governing council, there is a regular position of the Gram

Panchayat member as an ex-officio member. After the recent elections, a

few VDS governing council members have been elected to the Gram

Panchyat. This has helped establish synergies between the working of the

two bodies. The Kodli Gram Panchyat delegated the task of the selection

of the beneficiaries for the housing schemes sanctioned under the

Government schemes to the respective VDS governing council, which in

turn completed the process through community consensus in the Gram

Sabha. Effective village level bodies like the VDS can be recognized as

legitimate sub committees of the Gram Panchayat.

Gram Sabhas in Kodli: A convergence platform forcommunity decision making

Gram Sabha is a village level general body meeting. Both the VDS and the

Gram Panchyat are accountable to the Gram Sabha at different levels and

for different purposes. Both institutions call on the majority of the same

set of individuals in a village for collective decision making at more or less

the same frequency (twice in a year) but at a different periodicity. There are

Gram panchayat

Gram Sabha(People

Centered)VDS CMRC SHGs/SAGsWatershed

Managenent

DevelopmentalActivities

LivelihoodActivities

What is VDS?

✽ Village-based✽ Full representation of the

village✽ Elected Committee (the

Governing Council)✽ Focus beyond watershed✽ Permanent✽ Legally established

(registered under SocietiesRegistration Act, 1960)

✽ Financially empowered