At Soundala, 60 km from Ahilyanagar in Maharashtra, Class 5 students sit in a circle outside the village temple preparing for their primary scholarship examination. A few steps away is the gram panchayat office, where, on February 5, the village gram sabha passed a unique resolution to make the village ‘caste-free’ and end discrimination on all grounds.
The effects are not just on paper. “We had Hindu religious reading last week. She is Muslim and she also had food at the festival with us,” says one of the students Gauri Bhand, referring to her friend Mahira Sayyad sitting beside her. “Christian, Muslim, Maratha, everyone has the same rights,” she adds.
Led by sarpanch Sharad Argade, the resolution read, “There will be no discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, creed, or race in Mouje Soundala. All residents in the village will be equal and the belief of ‘My religion — humanity’ is being adopted.”
It also declared that public places, government services, water sources, temples, crematoriums, schools, and public events will be open to all, and stated that village authorities would take action against any social media posts that create caste tension in the village.
The village has a population of about 2,500, informs Aragade, and 65 per cent of the villagers are Marathas belonging to the general category. Twenty per cent of the village population, around 60 families, belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC). At least 15-20 of the SC families follow Christianity. Three Muslim families also reside in the village.
Argade says that the village itself doesn’t have any major caste divisions and no atrocity case has been registered in the past decade. “The resolution passed is a preventive measure. We are seeing the kind of hatred and division that is being spread in society. In Beed, people first check the caste of a shopkeeper before buying groceries. We don’t want this kind of hatred reaching our doorstep,” he explained.
Ashok Pandit, teacher at the ZP school, says that before each exam, all students, including Mahira, bow their heads at the two temples located just opposite the school. “These kids don’t have any discrimination among each other. But they won’t be here forever. Our school is just till fifth grade, they will go out for further schooling, then college. When they go out into the world, their minds get filled with hate. If we are able to finish all discrimination right here at the school level, then they will not get influenced by it later.”
History of progressive resolutions
Baba Argade, Sharad’s father, is a veteran Communist Party of India leader and worked in the anti-superstition movement with late Dr Narendra Dabholkar for over 30 years. He is still active in the local party unit. Even though not a member of the party, Sharad is a believer of the same ideology and has a history of introducing progressive resolutions.
In September 2024, the gram sabha passed a resolution to provide Rs 11,000 for widow remarriage, a practice usually frowned upon in Hindu culture. The resolution read, “…Society follows the objectionable tradition of keeping them (widows) away from festivals. They are not allowed to wear jewellery, apply vermilion on their forehead… to end this objectionable tradition and enable them to live a respectable life… (in events) they should be given respect equal to all other women.”
Another resolution, passed in November 2024, banned curse words that degrade women. “Men fight and use curses that demean their mothers and sisters, who have no relation to the fight. We have banned such words and also fined 13 people Rs 500 each till date,” says Argade.
In stark contrast, Madhi village, located in the same district, had passed a resolution in 2025 preventing Muslim vendors from setting up stalls in the village’s Kanifnath Yatra, a multi-cultural yearly event. “The villagers should have moved the Collector’s office and sought the sarpanch’s removal,” says Argade.
Sanjay Gore heads the village ‘tanta-mukti samiti’ (dispute resolution council). He is a pastor at the local church constructed by the gram panchayat. “I come from the Mahar community, an SC community. To appoint me as the head of the ‘tanta-mukti samiti’ was an attempt at finishing casteism. In general there is no casteism in the village, and after the resolution, everyone lives like a family.”
Bemoaning the lack of inter-caste marriages, Gore declares that he has no objection to his son and daughter marrying anyone from the village. “Inter-caste marriage was written into the Constitution when we got independence, and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar himself had an inter-caste marriage. Everyone should have had inter-caste marriages from 1947 itself but it didn’t happen. Whoever embraced inter-caste marriage are great people, because they followed Babasaheb. They should never be ashamed. They should be proud and declare with joy ‘We have not done a crime. We have followed the Constitution and done something in favour of the country,” he remarks.
Village ZP school in need of funds
Unlike many derelict government schools in the state, Soundala’s ZP school is flourishing. The classrooms are equipped with smart screens. Principal Kokat Bhagwan informs that Rs 20-25 lakh funds have been provided to the school by the gram panchayat in the past two years. The school has over 190 students and attracts kids from neighbouring villages.
But funds are not enough. Argade says, “Even though there are private schools around, we had a waitlist of 57 students and we could not grant them admission due to lack of space. I appeal to companies for CSR funds so that we can construct a building. Right now our school is spread across multiple individual rooms.”
Sarpanch Sharad Argade at the gram panchayat office. (Express photo by Soham Shah) 
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