Nilambur Gram Panchayat- Innovative endeavours to attain decentralisation
Nilambur Grama Panchayath, one of the panchayats in Nilambur block is known for its scenic and idyllic beauty for its bamboo groves and teak plantantion. The panchayat is skirted by the Chaliyar river. It has a population of and has wards.
The local self-government has initiated several innovative programmes especially addressing issues of social justice and gender equity. Nilambur was declared as the first Grama Panchayat in India to attain complete primary education through ‘Jyothirgamaya’.
Realising that literacy is an inevitable component of sustainable development which ensures social justice, the Nilambur Grama Panchayat began to spread the light of education among the marginalised communities. The Panchayat Administration which took office on October 2, 2005 started this massive literacy programme in November that year.
Social workers, educators and local groups voluntarily worked for days together and held meetings at various levels, conducted projects, discussions, workshops, practical sessions and surveys. All these activities finally gave form to ‘Jyothirgamaya’, the Basic Education For All Scheme.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008, was a day of celebration for the Nilambur Grama Panchayat. It was on that day, before an audience of thousands of people, that Mr. R.L. Bhatia, former Governor of Kerala, declared that this great achievement was the result of the cooperation and sincere efforts of all the people in that village.
Bal Suraksha – Scheme for Children
In an effort to ensure health and overall development of children, especially belonging to the under-priveleged sections, Nilambur took responsibility for providing Health Care and Medicines to underprivileged anganwadi Children and Upper Primary Section Students.
Health has always been one of the primary concerns of the people of Kerala. However, even today, proper health care is not available. Bala Suraksha is the Scheme through which the Panchayat has taken the responsibility for the health care of all the school-going children in the village. The realisation of the role that health plays in education has urged the Grama Panchayat to take on this responsibility.Under-privileged Anganwadi and UPS students are being provided with complete health care. Medical camps were conducted and health cards distributed to the children. The students with health cards who find that the medicines they need are not available in the hospitals, are provided the same through the ‘Neethi Stores’. They can also avail of specialised medical treatment. The Grama Panchayat pays the Neethi stores for the medicines provided to the children. Today, all the students up to Class VII and those in the Anganwadis of Nilambur Panchayat get free health care. The Grama Panchayat has set apart Rs. 6 lakhs for this purpose.
A comprehensive survey was conducted to identify1500 students. It was through the combined efforts of 350 facilitators educators, social workers and local groups who came forward to offer their services, that 142 learning centres were established for conducting a literacy progamme that made Nilambur the first all-literate Grama Panchayat in India within a period of one year.
Health Care for the Elderly
The panchayat offers free Health Care and Medicines to senior citizens above the age of 60 years of age Elders symbolise the grace and dignity of any society. We are surrounded by old people who have spent the prime of their life toiling for their families and for society, but who do not have even the means to afford one square meal a day, let alone medical care. In poor families, elders who are dependents, often pose a burden. It is for the relief of such persons that the Grama Panchayat set up the ‘Health Care Scheme for the Elderly’. Under this scheme, those above 60 will be provided medical treatment free of cost. As part of the scheme, medical camps were conducted in all wards of the Grama Panchayat. Health cards were distributed to senior citizens above the age of sixty. Those who are unable to get the medicines they need in the hospital can get them through the Neethi Stores. In addition, those who need advanced treatment will be offered the same under the auspices of the Grama Panchayat. A sum of Rs. 7.5 lakhs has been allotted for this scheme.
Women’s Empowerment through ‘Ayalkootams’ within the kudumbashree programme
The Grama Panchayat has the Highest Number of ‘Ayalkootams’ in the District. Today, women’s empowerment has achieved greater strength through strong neighbourhood groups (‘Ayalkootam’) and local self-help group networks in the Nilambur Grama Panchayat. Kudumbasree has a very strong role in successfully implementing various schemes, right from Jyothigamaya to those that the Grama Panchayat has implemented or is planning to implement. Nilambur is the Grama Panchayat with the highest number of local neighbourhood groups. The number of such groups has gone up from 165 when the Grama Panchayat took office to 320 at present. Today, about 6000 families constitute these neighbourhood groups.Kudumbashree groups have also been initiated in the tribal and dalit areas. Once these projects are completed, all the underprivileged people in the Grama Panchayat will be brought under the Kudambasree scheme.
Up to now, neighbourhood groups have been successful in mobilising bank deposits to the tune of around Rs. 2.25 crore. Banks have lent out about Rs. 3.5 crore to these groups. In the last financial year, Rs. 10 lakhs was set aside for the local groups to start employment generating schemes. This year, Rs. 10 lakhs has been allotted for setting up production units and marketing outlets.
Various Programmes for Anganwadi Children and Students up to the Higher Secondary level Standardisation of Education and Special Curriculum for Anganwadi Children Apart from providing health care for children, the Grama Panchayat also undertook the responsibility of providing them with all-round education, inculcating proper values and discipline in them. Various programmes were conducted to identify and encourage the artistic, cultural and sporting talents of the children.
The Grama Panchayat set up new Anganwadis wherever necessary. It started schemes to provide the children with nutritious food. It was made compulsory to serve eggs twice a week along with their meals. The Anganwadi education curriculum was standardised and ‘Kalikuttam’ (Play Groups), a publication for children, was brought out. The teachers in all the existing Anganwadis were trained in the new curriculum.
‘Kalimuttam’ (Playground), a progamme designed to showcase the extra-curricular activities of the Anganwadi children was one that attracted much attention. This programme, in which all the Anganwadi children participated, proved to be one that honed the artistic skills of the tiny tots.
‘Varnamazha’ Painting Competition Camp
Dance Training for Female Students and Yoga and Martial Arts Training for High School Students
The Grama Panchayat ‘Varna Mazha’ is a painting competition conducted annually for children from the Anganwadi level to the High School level. The painting competition conducted last year was extremely noteworthy, with more than 1000 participants giving expression to their imagination. Those who performed well in the competition were given the chance to participate in a Varna Mazha study camp and to interact with well-known artists like M.V. Devan, Madanan, etc. Varna Mazha was extremely useful in initiating children into the world of colours. This year, prominent artists in Kerala participated in a week-long painting study session organised for the children in co-ordination with the Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy.
Dance, yoga and martial arts training sessions were among the various programmes organised by the Grama Panchayat for school children. Teachers were appointed to train lower primary (LP) class children in dance. Students of the upper primary (UP) section were given yoga training, and the High School students were provided with martial arts training.
Career Guidance and Counselling Classes
Higher secondary students and those studying in Class X were provided career guidance and counselling sessions. These sessions were very useful in making their studies easier and also in helping the students choose their career paths. The Grama Panchayat also planned and conducted motivation sessions for Class X students.
Senior Citizens Forum
Not just Medicines and Health Care, Dentures also Free of Cost
The elderly, who are weary with old age and illness, live in the hope and expectation of getting love, care and happiness from the community. As the guardians of a society which still retains a lot of goodwill, we have a lot of responsibility towards such persons. For this, the Grama Panchayat is providing active encouragement and support to set up the Senior Citizens Forum for the purpose. The ‘Smile – A Therapy’ Camp which was organised by the Grama Panchayat for the senior citizens was an exceptional one. Those above 60 years of age were provided with dentures free of charge. The Grama Panchayat is aiming to form a big group comprising of all the elders.
Self Reliant Farmers Groups in the Agricultural Sector
Government bodies are not always successful in providing timely assistance to the farmers. As a solution to this problem, a meeting of the farmers in Nilambur was organised and a study was conducted on the problems facing the agricultural sector. Self-reliant farmer groups were set up comprising representatives of various farms and coconut farmers. The Grama Panchayat provided the groups with tractors, drillers, harvesting machines, planting and weeding machines, threshing machines, etc. To market the produce of the groups, vegetable markets are being organised in festival venues and other such places.
‘Ente Gramam Shuchithwa Gramam’
(My Village, Clean Village)
A healthy and health conscious population is the backbone of a country. Though the people of Kerala are extremely conscious in matters concerning personal hygiene, they are often backward when it comes to public hygiene. Such a situation could lead to serious health problems and therefore it is extremely necessary that the public develops a health conscious attitude. It is with this goal in mind that the Nilambur Grama Panchayat has initiated the project called ‘Ente Gramam Shuchithwa Gramam’. All members of the village, including school students took immense effort to make this project a success. They visited the houses in the village to conduct surveys and to spread awareness about the importance of hygiene and cleanliness. They also conducted a big campaign against the dangers of the use of plastic. Plastic products under 30 microns were banned within the territory of the Grama Panchayat. In co-ordination with the farming community, a special project for the processing the bio-waste was implemented in the village.
“Oppathin oppam” (towards equality) programme was launched by beginning learning centres in each triabl and dalit colony to support their education and ensure that they are provided nutritious food and educational support and reach school regularly. . The programme led to the beginning of several learning centres among the tribal communities especially catering to the supportive education of children in order to support them gain access to mainstream schools. This programme has emerged as a major success. The programme has also instilled confidence among the marginalised children also through several camps and extra-curricular activities. Adult women are motivated to learn and the learning centre provides space to meet and share their issues. Several academic and non academic programmes including reading and writing workshops, workshop in martial arts and theatre, folk music and dance programmes were held for the children to stimulate their interest in learning.
A programme called the ‘stree dhana rahit gramam (dowry- free village campaign) was initiated to address the issues of dowry and desertion and child marriages in collaboration with Kerala Mahila Samakhya society and Nilambur panchayat. A status study of women was done and then special gramsabhas( discussions by the community to finalise issues of planning and implementation) in accordance with the Panchayati Raj Act in each ward of the panchayat was facilitated to discuss the issue and find solutions to it. Women participated in large numbers and this was for the first time in history that special grama sabhas were being convened to address the issue of dowry. Following this a campaign was launched where discussions were held with the Mahal committees, street plays performed to initiate discussions among men. Panchayat-level registeration was done. There was a huge demand from young girls awaiting marriages in the name of dowry and deserted women from the Muslim community for vocational training and opportunities for further study. Several vocational trainings were initiated and community college under the Indira Gandhi Open University was begun. Coaching for examination to appear for the Kerala Public Service Commission was also initiated. This led to several Muslim women coming out of their homes and entering into public spaces and engaging in studies. The programme is still ongoing and inorder to build up social consciousness and conceptual clarity about gender equality, a programme called Yuva has been launched among the youth. Several cultural, literary and social discussions have been initiated among the youth to instil social consciousness and leading towards the prevention of dowry, desertion and child marriages.
