The seminar organised by the Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development on “Panchayati Raj, Rural Reconstruction and Voluntary Organisations” towards the end of September has been followed up by several other initiatives. Last month, there was a meeting at the office of Voluntary Health Association of India, which incidentally has brought out an excellent issue on panchayati Raj (Health For The Millions, Au. ‘93), during which the members of various NGOs assembled - VANI, PRIYA, South-South Solidarity, Development Alternatives, and AVARD - to discuss the means of pressuring the states to introduce new legislation on panchayati raj as per the Constitution (Seventy Third Amendment) Act, 1992. So far, only the three states of Bihar, Karnataka and Gujarat have done so; Gujarat’s bill is by far the most progressive. There was some debate as to whether model legislation could be formulated as a guide to other states who have so far not introduced the panchayati raj bill in their legislatures. This idea was soon discarded since each region has its own peculiarities and the bill, accordingly, will have to take them into account. Instead, it was decided that based on the discussions during the seminar, when AVARD received inputs from representatives from all over the country, a check-list should be developed, which can be made available to the states. This will contain all the progressive pointers to enable the governments to formulate a bill that will promote equitable development and help the marginalised come in from the cold.

The latest meeting was held at VANI’s office on November 19. The decision was taken that the Delhi group attend regional meetings - the next few are being organised in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh during the months of December and January - to keep abreast to the seventy-third amendment in order to determine the role that NGOs can play.

The NGOs can make a vital contribution to ensuring that the new legislation in their states does not remain on paper. For instance, it is no secret that the place reserved for women, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes little or no purpose. For, the marginalised have continued to remain on the sidelines. Hence, the new bills that seek to enhance the reservations for them will amount to nothing if they are not made aware of their rights. Those of us who have worked in tribal belts were not entirely shocked to discover that the adivasi and women members of the panchayats of Sapoli, Sateri, Mahiskond, Mangrul and Gaothan (to mention some to the tribal hamlets of Pen taluka, Raigad district of Maharashtra) did not even know what was expected of them. This is where NGOs help can make a difference: through the peoples groups they can conscientize not only the tribal and women members of panchayats, but others belonging to the weaker sections of society to demand their due. Pressure built up in this manner will ensure a more balanced distribution of the funds of panchayati institutions which so far have constantly been cornered by members of the dominant castes. q

SOSVA Newsletter

The Society for Service to Voluntary Agencies (SOSVA) is a public trust established to assist other voluntary agencies. To achieve its objective we have started publishing a Newsletter. The objectives are broadly as follows:
q	Serve as a vehicle to reach out to voluntary agencies.
q	Disseminate knowledge on current developments, grant-in-aid rules of the government of India and government of Maharashtra in respect of voluntary agencies, legal and taxation matters, etc.
q	Give trips on und raising, taxation cash/asset management, etc.
q	Disseminate success stories of successful voluntary agencies.
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