Samras scheme's essence have not been internalized

Priyanka Rajput
The samras scheme provides for the unanimous selection of a sarpanch of a village panchayat instead of electing one.The idea behind the scheme is to do away with conflict and disagreement of any nature in the village.But an NGO study shows that the essence of it has not been internalized.

Under the scheme, a samras village with a population above 5,000 receives an incentive of Rs.1 lakh,while villages with a population between 5,000 and 15,000 receives Rs.1.5 lakh as incentive money.A village that appoints a woman draws an incentive of Rs.7 lakh. Moreover,a village that goes the samras way for the second time receives an additional 25 percent over the incentive money.

An analytical study of the scheme by a network of NGOs like 'Marag' and 'Mahila Swaraj Abhiyan'(MSA), which have been working in the field since the inception of the scheme in 2006, has revealed some of the major pitfalls of the scheme.The study was conducted in about 200 samras villages across 12 districts

Dahod,Panchmahal,Aanand, Surendranagar,Kutch,Surat,Patan and Bhavnagar).The study included 40 all woman panchayats(22 in Ahmedabad,15 in Baroda and 3 in Kutch),while 95 percent of the woman chosen in samras never went to the first meeting after taking charge and were not aware of the incentive.Nearly 84 percent of the marginalised group(Dalits and adivasis) do not believe that election cause confrontations or competition.This is against the logic of the scheme.

No less than 32.2 percent members of the marginalised group said that they wanted to vote for the elections,but could not due to samras.The place where the decision of samras was taken was pointed out to be the temple by 15.8 percent and the sarpanch's home by 97 percent of members of the panchyat body. While 75.8 percent of the marginalised group was aware of the decision being taken at the temple, only 8.5 percent knew about meeting held at the sarpanch's house.

Thirty three percent of the panchayat body members and 32.2 percent of the marginalized group members said samras scheme was adopted for financial benefit. Nearly 12.4 percent of the panchyat body and 4.2 percent of the marginalized group believe that the reason was due to no elections in many years. Interestingly, none of the panchayat members said that the reason was to contain power within a certain community, 14 percent of marginalised group believe so.Only 13.4 percent panchyat body and 20 percent of the marginalized group believe that samras is held to avoid disputes,while 20 percent of panchayat body members are clueless about the reason.