Magic of a new law of Madhya Pradesh

In 2002 an amendment was brought about in the law t hat governed panchayati raj. A provision was made that if a government employee did not perform his duty properly then by calling gram Sabha they

could vote to stop his salary. This had some positive effects. Some examples are given below.

We went to many schools of villages in Amrawati Block of Chindwara District. Earlier the teachers did not come to school. They used to come on the last day of the month to collect their salaries. When this law came into effect, the villagers called the gram Sabha where they took a joint decision that the salaries of teachers should be stopped. For two months salaries were stopped but from third month the teachers started to come regularly. It was such a simple solution. If power is given to the people directly,they will take care of their own development. 

We went to one more village of Madhya Pradesh. An Anganwadi worker did not visit the village regularly for her duties. One day the sarpanch collected all the people and questioned her in front of the gathering on her duties that she performed in last six months. It was very difficult for her to tell a lie in front of everyone. She accepted in front of everyone that she had visited the village only twice in last six months. She was then questioned on the government funds that were under her charge. She had no alternative but to accept that the money was embezzled by her. 

Imagine what alternative people had if this power been not vested in them. That Anganwadi worker was not coming for the job and she had embezzled the money. What the people could have done? They had only one choice; to report her to an Anganwadi officer only. Their report would have been consigned to a waste paper basket. If the Anganwadi officer was good then he would have started an investigation against the complaint. Investigator would go to the village, take bribe from the Anganwadi worker and would write in the report that the worker was coming to the village for last six months and that there is no basis for the report lodged by the people. The complaint should be dismissed. After this the villagers could have staged a sit in but the result would have come to naught.

But when the power was given directly to people and gave right to take decisions then there was no need to start an investigation. It took only two minutes for that anganwadi worker to accept that she had come only twice during last six months and that she had embezzled the money sent by the

government. 

As soon as she accepted her crime some young boys suggested that she should be suspended but some older people advised that it was not their intention to punish her but to reform her. She was given ten days to mend her ways and attend to her duties regularly. It was agreed that if she mends her ways then

it was alright but if does not, then a meeting would be convened of the gram Sabha where she would be

suspended. Actually she got reformed and did her du

ties diligently and the need to suspend her never

arose.