Narendra Modi’s Samras scheme has chinks galore

The Samras Scheme provides for the unanimous selection of a sarpanch of a village panchayat instead of electing one. The idea behind the scheme is to do away with conflict and disagreement of any nature in the villages. The state government asserts that the scheme removes enmity in a village.

An analytical study of the scheme by a network of NGOs like Marag and Mahila Swaraj Abhiyan (MSA),which have been working in the field since the inception of the scheme in 2006,has revealed some of the major pitfalls of the scheme. The study was conducted in about 200 Samras villages across 12 districts (Dahod,Panchmahals,Anand,Surendranagar,Sabarkantha,Kutch,Surat,Amreli,Ahmedabad,Rajkot,Patan and Bhavnagar).

Under the scheme,a Samras village with a population above 5,000 receives an incentive of Rs 1 lakh,while villages with a population between 5,000 and 15,000 receive Rs 1.5 lakh as incentive money. A village that appoints a woman draws an incentive of Rs 7 lakh. Moreover,a village that goes the Samras way for the second time receives an additional 25 per cent over the incentive money.

The study included 40 all-women panchayats (22 in Ahmedabad,15 in Baroda and 3 in Kutch),while 95 percent of the women chosen in Samras never went to the first meeting after taking charge and were not aware of the incentive. Nearly 84 per cent of the marginalised group (Dalits and adivasis) do not believe that elections cause confrontations or competition. This is against the logic of the scheme.

No less than 32.3 per cent members of the marginalised group said that they wanted to stand for elections,but could not due to Samras. The place where the decision of the Samras was taken was pointed out to be the temple by 15.8 per cent and the sarpanch’s home by 97 per cent of members of the panchayat body. While 75.8 per cent of the marginalised group was aware of the decision being taken at the temple,only 8.5 percent knew about meetings held at the sarpanch’s house.

Thirty three percent of the panchayat body members and 32.3 per cent of the marginalised group members said that the Samras Scheme was adopted for financial benefit. Nearly12.4 per cent of the panchayat body and 4.2 per cent of the marginalised group believe that the reason was due to no elections in many years. Interestingly,none of the panchayat members said that the reason was to contain power within a certain community; 14 per cent of marginalised group believe so.

Only 13.4 per cent panchayat body and 20 per cent of the marginalised group believe that Samras is held to avoid disputes,while 20 per cent of panchayat body members are clueless about the reason.

When contacted on Monday,Principal Secretary (Panchayat and Rural Development) Varesh Sinha told Newsline,“I have not seen the survey report so I cannot comment on it.”

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