It takes a village to bring in amenities

(Published in Times of India on 20th July 2009)

NEW DELHI: A few kilometres from the Sonia Vihar treatment plant, there's a quiet revolution taking place.
Badarpur Khadar, a small village with barely 1,500 inhabitants, may not seem much it's a village without electricity, school, health centre, ration shop or even pukka roads. But if activities of the past few weeks are any indication, this "unauthorized colony'' is taking a small step towards participatory governance that could spell big success for citizens all over. On July 12, residents of Badarpur Khadar, for the first time, collectively took decisions and told their local representative what they wanted. In an open mohalla sabha meeting with Annapurna Mishra, Sonia Vihar councillor, over 100 men and women of Badarpur Khadar decided they wanted a school, ration cards for every household, voter ID cards for every adult, widow and old-age pension for eight identified women, and a pukka road from "Babu's home to Jafru's home''. It's an experiment in participatory governance which, Mishra says, is already bearing fruit. "My first mohalla sabha was in E-block, Sonia Vihar, with the second one being in Badarpur Khadar. Initially, people were skeptical but they saw I was serious about the effort and the feedback has been phenomenal,'' says Mishra. Accompanied by MCD officials, Mishra conducts the sabha with a clear-cut agenda ask the people directly what they want. "I'm a first-time councillor. Instead of spending public funds on projects which people may not want, I wanted to ask them what they really wanted. The idea of the mohalla sabha was suggested by Parivartan, a local NGO,'' adds the councillor. Mishra has about Rs 50 lakh in councillor's funds. In addition, MCD also spends funds under various heads. These would now be spent according to the will of the people, she says. The sabha is especially useful for a village like Badarpur Khadar, which has woefully few resources. This village has never had any school and most children don't go to school. A few go to those in Loni or Mirpur in UP. After the Sunday sabha, village adults decided that a 10 bigha plot of land belonging to gram samaj (common land) would be set aside for a school. Villagers also claimed that hardly 10-15 out of the 180 households have ration cards. Solution: a team of local volunteers would collect documents from all households and complete the formalities for getting their ration cards made. Also, names of eight women were suggested so that their pension accounts could be opened with the government. That's not all. Next on agenda is voter ID cards, and more importantly, a pukka road. At the sabha, Soopanji and one Hashim Ali proposed that the path from Babu's home to Jafru's home should first be turned into a pukka road. After others voiced their agreement, MCD officials conferred with the two to confirm the location of the proposed road and took notes. Moreover, the village doesn't have a dispensary or primary health centre (PHC). Mishra said she suspected the village might not have enough population to qualify for a PHC, but she would nevertheless try. "What I can do immediately is to send mobile health vans here,'' she promised. Finally, a list of the tasks set by the mohalla sabha for Mishra was read out and the date of the next meeting was decided. The sabha in Badarpur Khadar is not a one-off phenomenon. While Mishra says she's committed to the experiment, nearby councillor Hari Shankar Kashyap of Trilokpuri is also planning to start the sabhas. It's a movement that could well change the way governments function, admit politicians. Adds Mishra, "It obviously makes me more accountable. But if I can make a difference, it ultimately reflects well on my political career and means progress for the ward. I'm okay with that.'' So are residents of Badarpur Khadar.