Chapter Two : Pratinidhitwa with Gram Pradhans and other Elected Panchayat Representatives

The second chapter of the Grassroots Leadership Development program was convened by the founders of HOPE, Digvijay Singh, and Anant Prakash. In this workshop, three Gram Pradhans, Mamata Devi, Ishwar Dayal Singh, and Narendra Kumar put forth their experience as village representatives in Dhampur.

Mamata Devi shared her experience and bring forth the need for Gender awareness, a proper ambulance facility for pregnant women, increasing the number of ASHA workers, and the need to emphasize primary education in her village.

Most importantly, Mamata Devi demanded that a local secretariat should be constructed and an official setup should be made functional at the village level so that government schemes can be tracked, and implemented smoothly. She highlighted her work in facilitating the issuance of BPL cardholders, rations cards, and Aayushman cards among other government schemes.

Village Pradhans, Ishwar Dayal Singh and Narendra Kumar shared their experience and asked for local hospital facilities, need for Inter Collage at a closer distance from their village and smooth Ambulance facility.

Along with three Gram Pradhans, common villagers also addressed their experiences with us. Among them were people like Anil Kumar Singh, a Lecturer in Inter Collage; Tikam Singh, a retired Army veteran, and some other former village representatives. They highlighted the need for arbiters at the local level to mediate conflicts at the village level, need for a robust and transparent system for ration card allocation, a local secretariat for land related registries and grievances, requirement for local storage facility for crops and better transportation facility from village to local towns and district headquarter.