REPORT OF THE KARNATAKA STATE PANCHAYAT RAJ CONVENTION

July 5th 2007

NGO Hall, Cubbon Park, Bangalore.

The Convention and Rally on July 5th marked the beginning of true solidarity of Gram Panchayats to assert their constitutional and legal rights. With 2300 Gram Panchayat representatives from 23 districts of Karnataka and more than 40% of them women, this unprecedented event , the first of its kind in the state and perhaps, even in the country, was a tremendous show of strength, demonstrating their active participation and validating their capacity to run their local government efficiently. 

 

1.      The Event:

More than 2300 (two thousand and three hundred) representatives of Gram Panchayats from 23 of the 27 Districts of Karnataka participated in the Convention and Rally convened by the Panchayat Raj Hakkottaya Andolan 2007 on July 5th 2007 at Bangalore.

 

It was very heartening to see a large presence of women (about 40%) at the event. Their participation was informed and active. They demanded to be heard and represented in all sub-committees during the event and also claimed and got 50% representation in Steering Committee of the Andolan.

 

About 300 representatives for some districts decided to arrive a day earlier and meet with MLAs and MLCs to convince them of the folly of passing the Amendment and seek their support for the campaign.

 

All the 2300 representatives from all the Districts bore their own expenditure for travel, board and lodging.

 

On the 4th (whole day) and 5th (morning) groups of Andolan members met with MLAs and MLCs at the Legislators Home and their residences. Six MLA and eleven MLCs participated in the Convention signed their name to the Oath Wall and spoke in support of decentralisation and Panchayat Raj and more specifically; condemned the Amendment. . Of the 144 legislators who were contacted, 30 MLAs and 21 MLCs pledged their support and 82 MLAs and 11 MLCs refused their support to the Andolan.

 

2.      Convention Proceedings:

a.       Inaugural

A lamp was lit by one representative each from the Steering Committee, each District and Advisory Committee to mark the inauguration of the Convention.

 

b.      MLA/MLC support

15 MLAs and MLCs attended the inaugural function and extended their support. They were:


MLA’s:

1.       P G R Sidhia (Kanakpura),

2.       Halappa (Hosanagar)

3.       Dr. H C Mahadevappa (T Narasipura)

4.       Y H Meti (Guledagudde, Bagalkote)

5.       B R Patil (Aland),

6.       Ramesh Kumar K R (Shrinivasapura),

 

 

MLC’s:

1.      A M Hindasageri (Hubli),

2.      Amenthappa M Kandur (Gulburga) and

3.      Arun Machayya (Kodagu)

4.      S M Anand (Hassan),

5.      Basavaraj Patil (Bidar),

6.      Nazir Ahmed (Shimoga),

7.      Pratap Chandra Shetty (Udupi),

8.      Ravi S (Bangalore Rural),

9.      Siddhu Neyama Gowda (Bagalkot),

10.   V S Ugrappa (Tumkur)

11.   N Manjunath (Mysore)

c.       Continuing the Andolan

There was absolute concurrence that the Andolan should be a permanent body and continue the campaign to strike down the Amendment and take up other issues of concern to the members of the Andolan. In this connection the following were unanimously agreed upon in the general plenary session:

 

                                                i.      The name shall be the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Hakkottaya Andolan

                                              ii.      The State Committee shall comprise of 3 representatives from each District chosen through elections in a bottom up system and not more than 10 representatives from like minded institutions or organisations.

                                            iii.      The Steering Committee shall comprise of 1 representative from each District chosen from among the State Committee members

                                            iv.      The Concerned for Working Children, the existing Convenors, shall continue as Convenors

                                              v.      The Honorary Advisory Committee shall be retained and a few more members may be added

                                            vi.      The General Membership of the Andolan shall be restricted to representatives of Gram Panchayats only

                                          vii.      The Membership fee shall be Rs: 100/- per year per General Member and Rs: 1000/- per organisation/institution.

                                        viii.      Each member (Institutional or General) shall sign the Oath and Undertake the Pledge

                                            ix.      The Elections to select representatives for all tiers of the Andolan shall be bottom up. Each Gram Panchayat shall elect representatives for the Andolan Taluk Committee. The Taluk Committees shall elect representatives for the Zilla Committee from among themselves and the Zilla Committees shall elect representatives for the State Committee from among themselves.

                                              x.      There shall not lees than 50% Representation of Women at all tiers of the Andolan

                                            xi.      That the Andolan should call for a Strategy Development Meeting as soon as possible to develop a plan for the Campaign and Andolan and decide on points of focus.

 

 

3.      Intensifying Protest

 

It was decided that the Campaign needs to be intensified until the Andolan demand to ‘Strike Down the Amendment’ is met. The following means to intensify the struggle were suggested and accepted:

 

a.       It was decided that a Relay Hunger Dharani will be carried out by the Andolan members at Gandhi Statue from July 6th 2007 until the Monsoon Session of the Legislature ends.

b.      It was decided that a District would take responsibility of carrying out the Relay   Hunger Dharani each day. The Daily District List is as follows:

 

DATES

DISTRICTS

Fri 6th July

Bagalkot

Sat 7th July

Kodagu

Sun 8th July

Holiday

Mon 9th July

National Holiday

Tue 10th July

Doddaballapur

Wed 11th July

Hoskote, Anekal, Nellamangala

Thur 12th July

Kolar

Fri 13th July

Shimoga

Sat 14th July

Hassan

Sun 15th July

Mandya

Mon 16th July

Chikkamagalur

Tue 17th July

Bellary

Wed 18th July

Udupi

Thur 19th July

Dakshina Kannada

Fri 20th July

Raichur

Sat 21st July

Davangere

Sun 22nd July

 

Mon 23rd July

Gulbarga

Tue 24th July

Chamarajanagar

Wed 25th July

 

Thur 26th July

 

Fri 27th July

Belgaum

Sat 28th July

 

Sat 29th July

 

Sun 30th July

Mysore

 

     As all the days are not taken care of, Andolan from the Districts not already on the list are

      requested to come forward and take responsibility for the open  dates.

 

                                                i.      Pamphlets and Banners need to be printed for the daily Dharani and the Convenors will take responsibility for this

                                              ii.      Police Permission will be obtained by the Convenors

                                            iii.      Media Coverage will be handled by the Convenors and the respective District Representatives

 

c.       It was also decided to intensify Local Level Protests at the Gram, Taluk and Zilla levels.

 

d.      It was also decided to intensify the meetings and discussions with respective MLAs/MLCs in order to consolidate their support to the Andolans’ Demands or persuade them to see the wisdom and prudence of supporting the Andolans’ Demands and striking down the Amendment.

 

 

 

 

 

4.      Meetings

 

 

a.       The Meeting with Sri Kumara Swamy, Chief Minister of Karnataka, was scheduled at Krishna for 5.30pm for a delegation consisting of 20 Andolan Representatives. Just as the delegation was leaving for the meeting, a call was received informing them that the meeting was to be at Vidhan Soudha. The delegation rushed to the third floor only to be told that the meeting was on the first floor. They rushed down only to be directed to the CM’s car!

 

The CM was very brusque and irritated. He said ‘this is not a matter to be discussed in the street’. When he was reminded that the delegation had an appointment, he was irritated with the Secretary for giving the appointment. When the delegation asked him about the pending amendment, he asked ‘can you (Panchayats) place your hand on your heart and say you are working genuinely; if you were, people in rags would not come to my house asking me for houses. So when the MLAs asked for this power, I gave it.” He said ‘you are playing party politics’. Thus saying he drove off.

 

b.      The meeting with Sri C. M. Udasi Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj was scheduled for 3pm for a delegation of 20 Andolan Representatives. Sri Udasi gave the impression that he was very serious about this meeting. All concerned official were present and he was also gracious in offering the delegation tea and some snacks.

 

The Discussions around the amendment were quite intense and heated. The Minister was not very clear in defence of the Amendment and as time was limited the delegation requested the Minister to call for a meeting as soon as possible with at least 50 Andolan Representatives, two from each District; Department Officials and some experts. The Minister agreed. However a date needs to be fixed and the Convenors are following up on this. 

 

c.       The Andolan Delegation of 15 representatives met with Sri T. N. Chaturvedi, Governor of Karnataka as scheduled at 12.30. He was gracious and patient as always and listened to the concerns of the delegation. He promised to take serious consideration of their submissions and act on the Amendment soon.

 

d.      A meeting with Prof. BK Chandrasekhar was scheduled for 11 am. However, this meeting was cancelled as BKC refused to meet with Andolan representatives.

 

5.      The Rally was the high point of the day. 2500 Andolan Members and supporters walked to the Gandhi Statue on MG Road and burnt copies of the Amendment. No negative slogans were shouted, no inconvenience was caused to the public and the procession and demonstration was non-violent and peaceful.

 

 

6.      Facilitation of Gram Panchayats at the District level:

In the months of May and June different organisations had taken on the responsibility mobilising various Panchayats about the proposed amendment and building the campaign. The district-wise responsibility shared by different organisations (as decided during the meeting held on 2nd June at CWC) is below:

 

Singama Srineevasa Foundation: Bijapur, Mysore, Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Chamarajnagar and Bellary

 

Mahila Samakhya-Karnataka: Bijapur, Mysore, Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Chamarajnagar, Bellary, Bagalkot, Koppal, Gadag, Kolar and Belgaum

 

Kisan Coordination Committee: Dharwad, Bijapur, Haveri, Belgaum, Shimoga, Hassan, Mysore and Tumkur

 

The Hunger Project: Kolar, Chickmagalur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bidar, Kogadu and Gulbarga.

 

Grama Ganarajya Vedike: Haveri, Dharwad, Davangere, Gadag and Chitradurga

 

CWC: Udupi, Coorg, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada and Chikmagalur.

However, CWC covered Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal, Bagalkote, Bijapur, Dharwad, Haveri, Shimoga, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Coorg, Mandya, Hassan, Tumkur, Chikmagalur, Davangere, Chitradurga, Bangalore Rural, Belgaum, Bellary and Gadag.

 

7.      Event Arrangements:

The following Steering Committee Members and Organisations undertook the following arrangements for the Convention and Rally. The success of the event was due to all the hard work and genuine commitment demonstrated by all.

 

a.       Seeking the opinion of MLAs and MLAs about the amendment over phone – APSA and The Concerned for Working Children

b.      Media and Press – Open Space, The Concerned for Working Children and The Hunger Project

c.       Registration – Singama Srineevasa Foundation and The Hunger Project

d.      Registration Tables Hired – The Hunger Project

e.      Reception Booths at Majestic Bus Stop and Railway Station - APSA

f.        Lunch – The Hunger Project and The Concerned for Working Children

g.      Water – Open Space and The Hunger Project

h.      Medical Assistance at the Venue: Dr. Prakash Rao and Dr. Vinay

i.        Head Bands – Sponsored by Mahila Samakhya and executed by APSA

j.        Invitations - The Concerned for Working Children

k.      Inviting MLAs and MLCs - The Concerned for Working Children

l.        Proceedings – Sri Manu Kulkarni and The Concerned for Working Children

m.    Documentation – The Concerned for Working Children

n.      Banners - The Hunger Project and The Concerned for Working Children

o.      Placards - The Concerned for Working Children and The Hunger Project

p.      Pamphlets – The Hunger Project

q.      Oath Wall - The Concerned for Working Children

r.       Accommodation - The Concerned for Working Children

s.       Venue and PA System – APSA and The Concerned for Working Children

t.        Freedom Movement and Mass Mobilisation Songs, Quotes and Film Clips – VOICES

u.      Photography and video documentation: VOICES and The Concerned for Working Children

v.      Meeting with Sri Kumara Swamy, CM, Karnataka, Sri C. M. Udasi, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Sri T. N. Chaturvedi, Governor of Karnataka - The Concerned for Working Children

w.      Police Permissions – The Concerned for Working Children

With regards

                      Nandana Reddy

                      Convener

                      10th July, 2007