It is believed by many that free fund sent directly to the gram sabhas will be misused by the people.
How will it be misused was our question?
If a sum of rupees three crore is made available to gram Sabh a then it is possible that all villagers decide to keep this money or in other words distribute amongst themselves and not use for their own development.
Our reply is then let them do this. Even today what is happening that the entire money is embezzled by the politicians, the officials, the collector, the BDO, the tehsildar. If the villagers have decided to keep this money by themselves, in a joint meeting, the
n let it be so. The people’s money has gone back to the people and not to the middlemen.
But villagers will not do so. What do you think who loves a child more, his mother or the secretary of education? It is evident that it is the mother. So how do you assume that the villagers would decide that they do not want education for their children, health services for sick and the aged?
They would naturally want schools for education and hospitals for the sick and want all means of development of their village. Therefore, such a scene that the money will be distributed amongst them without a thought to development will never happen. The money will go into cottage industry, in building of roads and canals, for horticulture and agriculture and for warehouses. To think that this money would be distributed amongst them is a figment of imagination.
There is one more possibility that the sarpanch may usurp all this money by taking false signature of people without calling a village meeting. This is possible. It is happening even today. The money may come as free fund or in funds tied to schemes; if the sarpanch is corrupt then the money is embezzled.The money would go to the villagers or not, the fate entirely depends on the fact that the sarpanch is honest or corrupt. It also depends on the fact that the people are aware of their rights.
In today’s scenario people do not even know how much money has been allotted to any of the projects and how much money has trickled in the village sarpanch’s hands. In the new dispensation that we are proposing there is going to be transparency on the size of allocation of funds and the power to dispose off that fund the way the villagers want.
Once the people have the power to raise their voices against the sarpanch, the BDO, the Collector and the state government then there are very few chances that this money could be siphoned off easily by all the concerned officials and politicians.
When people raise their voices then more free funds will flow, the sarpanch will be forced to honesty. Today the fund is siphoned off by the chain of people who are handling that fund but the real people, for whom this fund is meant, have no say in the disbursement of the fund.
The chosen few, byfraudulent means, are the ones who get involved and no one else has any interest in it. In Indra Vikas Yojana, the sarpanch takes bribes from three chosen individuals who are the beneficiaries and rest of the people in the village are hardly concerned. They have no power to question the decisions of the sarpanch who in turn is blessed by the chain of the higher ups.
In a scenario where this money comes under free fund then the fund would be under the glare of all the villagers. The fund has to be disbursed by a consensus vote in an open assembly of people.
The people of the village would be together and it would be very difficult for sarpanch to act un justly. This would be a great step in curbing corruption because the fund is under the scrutiny of the people.
Today the people have no voice, no way to take action against the organized mafia within the government machinery. In self governed gram Sabha the Sabha will have power to question the actions of government officials and also will have ability to punish and if required suspend them.
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