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Methala Panchayat Set to Create History 

Methala, a 11.66 sq km gram panchayat near Kodungallur in Thrissur district, has been able to achieve what the country has failed to do in the past five decades people s participation in the development process. 

Spurring on the villagers is the ongoing People s Campaign for Ninth Plan. In the crucible of popular development committees, the poorest among the poor of the villagers have been able to dream many things that seemed impossible some two or three years ago a high-tech industrial park and a history museum. 

The villagers of Methala have found the winning mantra by shedding the obstructive tendencies in the development culture of the State, which prevents people of different political hues from getting together for common good. 

The villagers of Methala are the foot-soldiers of a silent but profound revolution taking place al over the State. They are part of another historical initiative, which may alter the socio-economic life of the State.

Methala panchayat president K. D. Kunjappan is happy that his panchayat has been able to overcome political rivalry. He says that political differences do not block his panchayat from joining together for an overall development of the area.

Kunjappan who belongs to CPI (Communist Party of India), is excited at the response from his political opponents, say the Congress, the Muslim League, and the PDP.

Chandrika Sivaraman, a Congress member of the panchayat is all praise for the programme, which will help the panchayat in effectively interacting with the people. 

K. R. Appukkuttan, convener of the Panchayat Planning Committee and the Standing Committee (Finance) chairman of the panchayat, says that extra care has been taken to ensure the participation of all political parties. Even small parties are represented in the committees. Also, cultural organizations and religious sections are eager to participate in the programme. 

Perhaps, Methala panchayat s track record in successfully tackling developmental problems by keeping aside the political rivalry provides the right impetus to the panchayat leadership.

In 1987, the head load workers who are trapped in stereotypes of perpetual condemnation of Methala had proved the feasibility and the enormous success of the participatory development process.

The construction work of the bus stand and sub-depot at Kodungallur was abandoned by the private contractor, to whom the work was assigned.

At this stage, 135 loading and unloading workers belonging to rival trade unions CPM-led CITU, Congress-led INTUC, CPI-led AITUC joined a workers society to complete the work. Collecting capital as interest-free returnable contributions from individuals, the society completed the work in a record time of 40 days.

They finished the work against heavy odds facing non-co-operation from DRDA and panchayat officials, opposition from the contractors lobby and the sceptical party workers.

This is what the current programme is aiming at organizing people of various political colours for the broad, common purpose of improving the quality of their life.

Making a radical departure from the past practice of deciding things from the top by a few bureaucrats and some experts, the People s Campaign for the Ninth Plan envisages space for the common man s say in the planning process.

Kodungallur block panchayat president K. A. Muhammed, a CPM leader who is actively in politics since 1957, admits that earlier the planning process had little involvement by the people and its nature was centralized in every aspect.

What is the perception of the people on the new programme? Well it has undergone a sea-change. In the beginning the general mood was that let the Government run things . But this has changed and now they feel that they also have a say in deciding things, says Muhammed.

In fact, more than anything else, this fundamental change in the attitude of the people is what makes the project worth watching. The decentralization of planning process aims at initiating and sustaining a process of participation, which would enable people to critically analyze their surroundings.

The current planning programme springs from the realization that apart form eulogizing the success story of the much-hyped Kerala Model, it is high time the State faced the real issues haunting it.

For this the power pyramid has to be reversed and the grassroots-level decision-making has to be made a reality.

Opening up new vistas for the creative potential of the common man who is the ultimate cause and the purpose of the development process People s Planning intends to evolve the ninth Plan of the State from the grassroots level. Each local panchayat /municipality has to prepare specific development projects after holding detailed discussions in the gram sabhas.

Under the People s Planning programme, every panchayat and municipality has to prepare a development report. The report prepared by the Methala panchayat is a telling account of the vast local expertise.

Gram Sabha was organized in all the wards of the panchayats. In the initial stage, Kunjappan remembers, suggestions and complaints were more of a personal nature. But later on it became public concern, which is truly a healthy sign . On an average, more than 2000 persons participated in the gram sabhas. As the people were convinced of their priorities, suggestions were concrete and practical. These suggestions were later fine-tuned by a panel of local experts.

The discussions and the suggestions evolved from the gram sabhas are listed in the development report under the following titles: Agriculture and Water Management, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, Industry, Market, Tourism, Energy, Transportation, Health and Drinking Water, Housing Social Welfare, Education, Culture, Sports, Women, Co-operative Sector, SC/ST Welfare, Resource Collection. These titles alone will tell you the scope and the depth of the subjects dealt within the report.

The local experts college teachers, agricultural officers, doctors, engineers, and technical experts play a major role in fine-tuning the suggestions by the people. Kunju Mohammed, a retired KSEB engineer, says that his participation has been fruitful. His long stint with the KSEB enable him to point out the drawbacks and make the suggestions more practical.

The vast information collected by the panchayat also witnessed the voluntary participation by people, including salaried sections.

As a programme designed to restructure the bureaucracy by altering its orientation, what is the response of the white collar sections to the programme? According to the panchayat president though there was an initial reluctance on the part of the officials, soon it melted away. Under the ongoing programme, 35 to 40 per cent of the total Plan outlay of the State is to be distributed to the local bodies. This may amount to about Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000 crore.

A crucial question posed by the current programme is about corruption. The present programme, unfortunately doesn t offer any concrete fool-proof mechanism to check the large-scale corruption prevalent in the present set-up. But with the progress of the programme the conscience of the people will also raise, which will be an effective check against in local bodies , he says. 

Moreover, as K. R. Appukkuttan points out, the suggestions for increased transparency is an efficient system to prevent corruption. According to him, panchayats will be forced to make public the details of the expenditure incurred in each and every project. But he insists that this information should not use technical terms, which will be a self-defeating step. For example, if a road is constructed, the statement should say how many loads of earth were used instead of square and cubic measures .

The prospects of industrial development are another vital part in the development report. As a panchayat without any modern industrial unit, Methala panchayat moots some very practical and sensible suggestions.

The task force member and Thrissur Industrial Centre Manager Sadanandan points out that the stress should be on industries which consume less power and space. The women manufacturers could forma co-operatives. Also there are possibilities of V-Guard model industrial units, which get the product assembled from small-scale units and take care only to market them.

In panchayats, the technical know-how for the industrial units are important, says Sadanandan. Also sales and marketing aspects are crucial since the panchayats offer only limited market area. The development report also stresses the importance of the relationship between the industry and the panchayat bodies. Sadanandan also raises the most important question facing the panchayat-level leaders on how to integrate the private capital and the resources of the panchayat.

In the educational sector, Methala panchayat faces an acute crisis. Though the panchayat has been home to many a people known in their fields, like noted poet K. Satchidanandan, artist Madhava Menon, and State Planning Board member Thomas Isaac, the SSLC results of the only two high schools of the panchayat is lower than the State average.

The People s Planning ensures increased participation of the marginalized sections of society. The exclusive women s meet organized by the panchayat witnessed the women enumerating serious challenges facing the empowerment of women. Though women are ahead of men in number and literacy rate, unemployment is more prevalent among women. The meet invited participation of women from all age groups and social strata. For Heera, who dared to work in a driving school, the get-together was very useful. She also stresses the need for the women to acquire technical skills. Her only concern is that whether this programme would also have the fate of the literacy campaign, which had an abrupt end.

Chandrika Sivaraman, the panchayat member says the meet was highly informative and would help her in providing more meaningful service to the people. M. A. Usha Devi, the Kodungallur mandalam president of the CPI-led Mahila Sanghom and a councillor, who has been in public life for the last 12 years, is happy that the same women who were unwilling to join her political activities are now eagerly participating in the planning programme.

The meet was critical of the attitude of society towards women. There were demands to include sex education in school-level. Those who argued for it said that instead of taking on reality, if we cover up the situation would turn worse.

Methala panchayat, which has a long tradition of political struggles peasant struggles, struggles for temple entry for the low castes also has tremendous potential for cultural tourism. The panchayat s history is inevitably linked to the history of Kodungallur. As a major port, Kodungallur was the entry pint for many a culture from various part of the world. According to legends, St. Thomas arrived here in AD 52. The Jews arrived in AD 69. Another highlight in the social history of Methala is the legend on the last king Cheraman Perumal who embraced Islam and went to Mecca. The mosque here is in the name of Cheraman Perumal.

The Kodungallur kovilakom was a renaissance center of the country. It was a university for about tow centuries where classes on poetry, vedanta, grammar, ayurveda, music, sculpture, and acting were provided for the poor and rich students alike. The demand for a history museum sounds justifiable as the vibrant panchayat seems t o create history again.

ExpressWeek

The Indian Express

21 December 1996