India’s fight against Coronavirus will not be successful without Gram Panchayats and PM Modi knows it

In the context of the ongoing Pandemic, the mainstream media has been generally covering Central government and state government initiatives for combating the novel Wuhan virus. 

All decisions taken by the two levels of governments of India have been hogging all the limelight, but in a country of 121 billion with 68.84 per cent rural population, there is one level of governance that often misses our eye, that is, the Panchayati Raj. 

India adopted a two-tier, federal system of governance after Independence, but later even the Panchayati Raj was given constitutional status and the object was to recognise the role that Gram Panchayats play in taking things to the ground level. 

In times of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the Gram Panchayats and Sarpanchs have played a crucial role that Prime Minister Modi too recognises. 

Therefore, Prime Minister Modi interacted with Sarpanchs from across India via video conferencing on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day 2020. He made some big announcements during this video interaction, including the launch of a unified e-Gram Swaraj Portal and mobile application, and Swamitva Scheme.

e-Gram Swaraj will help in digitisation of the Gram Panchayat level, and the Samvita scheme whose pilot mode is to be launched in six states will use technology, including drones and latest survey methods to streamline planning, revenue collection and proper description of property rights. 

Prime Minister Modi also spoke about the Coronavirus Pandemic, underscoring the critical role that the Panchayats and Sarpanchs have got to play in tackling it. The Prime Minister said, “This Pandemic has thrown at us new challenges and problems which we have never imagined, but it also taught us a very good lesson with a strong message. It has taught us that we have to be self-reliant and self-sufficient. It has taught us that we should not look for solutions outside the country. This is the biggest lesson we have learnt.”

And he then emphasised the government’s plans to make the villages self-sufficient and the Panchayats stronger. He also complimented the Panchayats for their contribution in tackling the Pandemic and hailed the slogan ‘Do gaj doori’ given by rural India in order to define the concept of social distancing in simpler terms. 

The Prime Minister said that the slogan- “Do gaj Deh ki doori” shows the wisdom of rural India, and highlighted that “the collective power of the villages is helping the country move forward”, in combating the deadly Coronavirus. 

In fact, the Union government was eager to let the Panchayats play a more active role in combating Coronavirus, right from the word go and this too seems to have made a huge difference. Right at the start of this month, the Union government asked the Gram Panchayats to play an active role in plugging the spread of Coronavirus, and this was important for two reasons. 

A migrant crisis had erupted towards the end of March on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and other areas, and it was necessary to keep the Panchayat areas isolated in order to ensure that new Coronavirus clusters do not emerge in rural India. Secondly, the Tablighi Jamaat fiasco had led to a sharp surge in cases all across India. 

Therefore, the Gram Panchayats were asked to identify residents of their areas who might have come in contact with Tablighi Jamaat members who had attended a gathering of 8,000-odd Islamic preachers at the Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi. 

The government thus pressed into service the local wisdom and knowledge of the village administration for contact-tracing, and an officer speaking on the condition of anonymity said, “These elected representatives are the first point of contact for villagers because they are familiar with the specific problems of each household. It has been decided to use state and central funds to engage these representatives to fight the crisis.” 

The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) had also launched awareness programmes to help the Gram Panchayats migrants returning to villages from cities. 

Gram Panchayats across India have been playing their part in the fight against Coronavirus. In Jharkhand, they have been disseminating awareness through wall paintings and setting up isolation wards to lodge migrants. In Gorakhpur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Gram Panchayats were pressed into service to reach out to the Mahadalit communities such as Musahars and Vantangiyas.

In West Bengal too, the Gram Panchayats have stepped up to the occasion, and are today involved in making and distributing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), apart from playing a role in the distribution of necessary supplies to the villagers. 

In Karnataka, the Yediyurappa government set up village-level task forces that consisted of Gram Panchayat and local government workers to oversee the efforts for combating the novel Wuhan virus. 

The Karnataka government stated, “Village-level efforts are needed to communicate to the rural public about the risks of spread of COVID-19 and the importance of taking precautions, especially of social distancing by staying at home.” 

Enforcing the lockdown with sheer sincerity, Panchayats have turned themselves into fortresses preventing cross-village movements. A 23-year old Sarpanch in Andhra Pradesh stood outside her village holding a stick to stop people from other areas entering it without any reason. 

If India has been able to flatten the curve and keep the numbers relatively low, the credit goes largely to the Panchayats that have taken the fight against the Wuhan virus to the very grassroots of the country. 

It is now yielding rich dividends for India, as the country becomes one of the few across the world to keep COVID-19 in check- something that Prime Minister Modi understands and appreciates.