What Does the New Panchayat System Guarantee?

A Case Study of Pappapatti

Author(s): S. Sumathi and V. Sudarsen
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 34 (Aug. 20-26, 2005), pp. 3751-3758
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4417049
Accessed: 18-09-2016 09:56 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Economic and Political Weekly

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 What Does the
New Panchayat System Guarantee?
A Case Study of Pappapatti
This paper niakes an attempt to understand the working of the panchayat system
under the constitutionally guaranteed system. The case study here is of Pappapatti village
in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu where dalits elected as panchayat presidents are
not allowed to finction. This study began by following the dynamics of elections for the
post of panchayat president in Pappapatti from October 1996 to April 2005.
It illustrates the implementation or non-implementation of the process of transfer of
the local governance to the local dalit community.

S SUMATHI, V SUDARSEN

n spite of the long history of grassroot level political parti-

force from April 24, 1993. The present PRI in its newer dispen-
cipation and administration in India - whatever be thesation is the consequence of the 73rd Amendment.
institutional mechanism that was followed - the first draft The essential prerequisites of the self-governance of PRIs are:
(a) clearly demarcated constituencies; (b) clear power and
of India's Constitution did not include a provision for panchayats.
Later a provision was included in Part IV of the Constitutionauthority on one hand and responsibilities on the other;
(in the Directive Principles of State Policy). The relevant pro-(c) availability of enough human and financial resources to manage
vision (Article 40) says that "The state should take steps toand realise the planned goals; and (d) functional autonomy within
organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers the structure of the third-tier of governance.
and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function Till the introduction of this constitutional amendment, there
as units of self-government". were two levels of democratic governance - the state legislature
The basic argument for such a directive principle was that theand the two houses of the Parliament - which were the main
village panchayats could play an important role in implementing platforms for the active participation of the representative in
development programmes and thus help the social transformation decision-making and implementation of policies for the welfare
is quite a robust one. But the bottom line is that the panchayatof the state and people.
did not find a place in the legally enforceable part of the Con-
stitution, but remained a part of the directive principles. This Local Governance
has hardly made any impact and only a few state governments
created enabling conditions for the panchayats to function as The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act has made panchay
institutions of governance at the grassroots. They were seen andinstruments of local-governance with potential space for wo
used more as political and administrative units to strengthen theand marginalised groups in the federal set-up [Mahi Pal 2004
base of central and state governments. Some of the major features of this act are:
In the early 1950s, the Planning Commission introduced the(i) A three-tier system at village, block/mandal/union and dis
community development (CD) programmes. The panchayats were levels;
(ii) Direct election to all posts at all levels;
supposed to help bureaucracy in implementing these programmes
(iii) Reservation on a rotational basis for the SCs and STs in
and schemes of the central and state governments. A committee
was appointed in 1957 to assess the functioning and implemen-
proportion to their population;
tation of CD programmes under the chairmanship of Balvantrai(iv) Reservation of not less than one-third of the seats and offices
Mehta, who was a member of Parliament then. The committee for women;
expressed the view that the CD programmes failed to involve (v) Five-year term:
the local community participation. The committee also suggested (vi) Devolution of powers and responsibilities by the state in
a framework for the decentralisation. This certainly acceleratedpreparation and implementation of schemes relating to the subjects
listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Act;
the establishment of panchayat raj institutions (PRIs) in different
states. Rajasthan was the first state to implement the frame- (vii) Setting up a State Finance Commission after every five years
work suggested by Balavantrai Mehta Committee. In 1977 the to review the financial position of these institutions;
Ashok Mehta Committee was appointed to assess the (viii) Setting up a State Election Commission for holding
working of the PRIs and to provide suggestions to strengthenpanchayat elections (ibid).
them. The committee opined that there were second-generation According to this act, panchayats should be the institutions
panchayats in few states where the panchayats emerged as of self-governance. If panchayats have to function as institutions
political institutions. of self-governance at the grassroot level they have to:
In 1989, even though the Constitution (64th Amendment) ...Fulfil three basic conditions, namely. (a) institutional existence
bill was introduced in the Parliament, it was defeated in the Rajya in the sense the decisions are taken by the people's representatives;
Sabha. Then the 73rd Amendment was approved and came into (b) institutional capacity in the form of empowering institutions

Economic and Political Weekly August 20. 2005 3751

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 to make their rules independently; and (c) financial viability in Autonomy Issues
terms of sufficiently empowering panchayats in raising resources
to meet their responsibilities. In other words, the panchayats should The Eleventh Schedule with 29 subjects listed, which is quite
enjoy functional, administrative and financial autonomy [Mahi Pal
comprehensive, under the Article 243G in the amendment has
20041.
to be transferred to the panchayats. It is for the panchayats to
There is an opinion that:
plan and implement programmes pertaining to these subjects. Of
The affirmative action for these groups in local governance has
all the states, only Karnataka has transferred all the subjects to
resulted in social identities and political awareness among them the PRIs with functions, funds and functionaries. The states
and created an urge to become part of mainstream political,
which are still holding the control over these subjects at the
economic and social life. With initial clashes between 'higher'
grassroot level should pave way to devolve functions, powers,
castes and 'lower' castes. there are indications of social cohesion
functionaries and funds, thereby providing enough autonomy to
at local levels. The political space given to marginalised section
has, to some extent, dealt with a blow to the asymmetrical socialexercise their will to realise specific needs of the people in a
structure at the local level and given greater space for their democratic manner. thus empowering them to act independently
participation and involvement in decision-making [Mahi Pal in accordance with the goals of the act. The agenda prepared
2004:142]. by the union ministry of rural development for the meeting of
With the introduction of the 73rd Amendment and the process state panchayati raj ministers in July 2001, comments about the
role of bureaucrats thus:
of elections initiated in 1996 all over the country, the local bodies
were given powers, authority and functions to perform the role As scrutiny of all state laws reveals that wide powers of suspensions
of decentralised governance at the grassroot level - at least in and dismissal have been vested in the bureaucracy... The new
theory. system of panchayati raj perhaps threatens bureaucrats with loss
The 73rd Amendment has perceptually widened the democratic of powers [Parul 2001].
base providing the potential for local-level planning and imple- This straightaway places PRIs in a position of disadvantage
mentation of development programmes. The new PRIs have the vis-a-vis even middle-rung functionaries of the state government.
potential to act as the democratic institutions of local self- It also takes away the essential characteristic of PRIs as elected
governance. These potentialities include the participative self- representative bodies. In many states, even gram panchayats have
governance, ensuring political empowerment to the poor, been placed in a position of subordination vis-a-vis intermediate
marginalised and the oppressed - scheduled castes, scheduled panchayats.
tribes and women - at the grassroot level. Reservation of posts for the vulnerable sections of the society
Sheer numbers involved in this process of institutionalisation - women, scheduled tribes (STs) and scheduled castes (SCs) -
are mind-boggling as compared to the number of elected repre- in the local bodies is one of the most applaudable features of
sentatives in the Parliament and state legislatures. The two Houses the amended act. This has the potential to ensure representation
of Parliament together have 790 members (Lok Sabha: 545; Rajya for women and other marginalised groups. Through this provi-
Sabha:245), 25 state assemblies and two union territories with sion, many elected representatives of these categories have the
assemblies have 4,173 members together. While under the new first time experience in the arena of politics and governance. The
panchayat system there are 532 district panchayats, 5.912 block/ process has paved way for empowering these vulnerable sections
tehsil/mandal panchayats and 2,31,630 gram panchayats (as a to participate in the local governance. This new constitutionally
part of 73rd Amendment) and 95 city corporations, 1,436 town guaranteed panchayat institution tries to, which has a potential
municipalities and 2,055 nagar panchayats with elected repre- to, challenge the caste-driven structure at the village level all over
sentatives numbering about 30,00,000 (as per the 74th Amend- the country in various fronts.
ment). Of these, about 1 0,00,000 are women and 6,60.000 belong The constitutional provision has certainly provided new hopes
to scheduled castes/scheduled tribes [Mathew 2001]. of realising long-felt aspirations of the subjugated and marginalised
The 73rd Amendment has brought to the fore vital issues groups. There is a feeling that a perceptible change exists in the
wherein the PRIs could function as autonomous entities. Some attitude amongst the dominant communities who have been
basic definitions and working of this system as per Article arrogating
243 to themselves the right to local-governance. Most of
are presented below: the dominant communities are against the process of reservation
'Gram sabha' means a body consisting of persons registered for women
in and marginalised groups as they hold predominantly
patriarchal
electoral rolls relating to a village comprised with the area of a values. Some see a need to re-orient this class of the
panchayat at the village level; society to increase the potentiality for the political participation
'Panchayat' means an institution (by whatever name called) ofmarginalised in local-governance. However, there is another
of the
self- government constituted underArticle 243B, for the ruralangle from which this could be seen to adversely affect the
areas;
Constitution of panchayat (Article 243B): There shall be consti- sustainability of the institution due to the reserved seats in the
tuted in every state, panchayats at the village, intermediate and
constituencies being allotted by rotation every five years. In
district levels in accordance with the provisions of this part. practice, an elected representative, be it a ward member or a
Powers, authority and responsibilities of panchayats (243G): Subject
sarpanch/president in village panchayat elected under anyone of
to the provision of this Constitution, the legislature of a state may,
the reservation categories after having served the office for five
by law, endow the panchayat with such powers and authority as
years, and plan and work hard on several issues, there is all
may be necessary to enable them to functions as institutions of
self-government and such law may contain provisions forlikelihood devo- that there is no prospect for them to contest for the
lution of powers and responsibilities upon panchayats at the next term. This system of allotment of reservation through rotation
has several implications; in terms of political participation and
appropriate level, subject to such conditions as may be specified
socially excluded groups.
there in, with respect to (a) the preparation of plan for economic
The Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act, 1994, replaced the Madras
development and social justice (b) the implementation of schemes
Panchayat Act 1958. The three-tier system was implemented
for economic development and social justice as may be entrusted
to them including those in relation to the matters listed through
in the the 1994 Act. The prominent feature of this act is the
Eleventh Schedule. three-tier system, gram sabha, establishment of an election

3752 Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
commission, constitution of a finance commission, reservation While all the thevars clearly mention that they belong
for SCs/STs proportionate to their population for representation 'higher' caste and occupy a higher position in the hierar
in all three tiers, one-third reservation of seats for women and and dalits occupy a 'lower' position as ordained by God. Hu
constitution of district planning committees. beings, hence, cannot change this hierarchy. The analog
Elections to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu for 12,607 village patriarchal-value-specific "ambalai ambalaithan", pombil
panchayats, 384 panchayat unions and 28 district panchayats pombilaithan, ambilai pombilaiaga maramudiyathu (men
were held in two phases in October 1996. This marks an men, women are women - men cannot change as women
importantbenchmark in democratic decentralisation and em- While talking about the generous treatment they mete out to
powerment of weaker sections - women, dalits and adivasis - dalits, i e, not practising untouchability, the thevars mentioned
at grassroot level. the dalits move in all the streets of the village except one. T
This paper makes an attempt to understand the working of the was the street where the iyangar (brahmin) family originally sta
panchayat system under the constitutionally guaranteed system. Since long time back there has been no iyangar family in vi
The present study began by following the dynamics of elections and thevar families have moved into that street. But still, that s
for the post of president of Pappapatti panchayat - which has remains a forbidden place for dalits of this village even tod
been reserved for the scheduled castes - in Madurail district - The thevars showed a boy who was standing while the gr
from October 1996 to April 2005. The study involved intermittent interview was going on, and rhetorically said, "See this is a
field visits between 1996 and 2001. From 2001 to April 2005 boy. The very fact that he could walk into the group of the
there were more definitely planned field studies and visits. The is proof enough to show how free the harijans are here".
personal and group interviews formed the main basis. in addition They also mentioned that the panchayat in its earlier disp
to focus groups, for generating data. In this paper we are pre- sation always had a panchayat president board from the the
senting the Pappapatti as a case study to illustrate the implemen- community and a vice-president from the dalits - "That sys
tation or the non-implementation of the process of transferring was working well", they emphasised.
the local governance to the local dalit community. We have used
the narratives of both the dominant communities2 and dalits3 Voters' List - A Contentious Issue
extensively to present our argument.
The thevars feel that the voter's lists have not been updated. They
are still dependent on old list. Over a period of time the thevar and
Thevar Argument local dominant-community leaders tried to manipulate the SC voters
list with the view that the increased number of SC voters will help
Traditional Relations them in the election locally. Thus there is almost doubling of the
SC voters than the actual number. They argue that, "This same
In this section the traditional relations between the landed class
manipulation forms the basis for recognising the SC on substantial
numbers
thevars. and the agricultural working class of dalits in Pappapatti and the panchayat being declared reserved for SC".
are
traced. This is done basically to provide the background for The what
group feels that the only solution to the present crisis is
is discussed in this paper especially, the dominant community
to update the voter's list by genuine method of identity and
discourse. There are eight 'nadu' of thevar, namely, establishing
(1)Thidiya the claim. After a verification by the senior officials,
Nadu; (2) Puttur; (3) Karumathur; (4) Veepanuthur; (5) if Thimma
a particular community is found to be in majority then that
Kadu; (6) Valandur; (7) Pappapatti; and (8) Kocullam. The first should be allowed to contest the election according
community
five nadus are considered 'maman-machan' (one group to of them.
broth-The thevars did not, and often deliberately, appreciate
erly-clans) and the next three as annan 'thambi' (anotherthegroup
need for and the spirit of reservation under the new
of clans) - basically forming a moiety-organisation. panchayat system. In the first four or five years the thevar
Mudhiya Thevar, the origin-ancestor of thevars, had argument
10 boys.4 centred round the proportion of dalit voters in
Originally the thevars had 42 'kula-theivam' (clan-deities). After but once they realised that the relative proportion
Pappapatti,
sharing them with their original kuttam ('annan-thambi' group),
of voters has very little to do with the reservation of a post, their
two are left which are given to the dalits. In addition,narratives
the dalits changed distinctly. It is to overcome the marginalisation
are given three Karuppu Swamy.5 With these deities of the dalitsgroups historically, the new system of local governance
certain
stand in front of the thevar procession of deities and hasgivebeen
wayconstitutionally guaranteed.
to the procession.6 During the absence of these thevarThe deities,
thevars have expressed the view that, "we are doing a
the dalit-deities protect the village. The thevars claim favour
that they
by offering seats in our colleges but the government i
share the belief system with the dalits. offering dalits more scholarship. If we want we can stop admitting
There is a traditional economic relationship between the
them thevar
in our colleges. But we are not doing that." The thevar youth
also maintain
and dalit families. The thevar mentioned a particular word. which that. "Unlike in other districts we are not involved in
is used commonly in this context - 'adimai kudumbam' (slave
violence against dalits. If we want we have lot of strength." The
family). Every thevar (and paramalai kallar group) family
thevarshas
are unanimous in their view that they are in the majority
one family of dalit. which is referred to as a slave family.7
and there Inis no chance for dalit minority to rule over them.
some of the households, the slave family belongs to parayar and
in some to pallar. But the chakkiliyar are not slave families, even
Real and Other Issues
though they serve all the families of the village. In addition to
being messengers, they also clear the dead animals and night
Theresoil.
is also a roundabout argument that the basic proble
For these services, the entire village pays chakkiliyar is families
not between the thevars and dalits. It is a fight between
in kind. While the pallar and parayar work as farm two hands and
exogamous moieties within the thevar community. If the
also do odd jobs for the respective families. The thevar allow
landlords
the dalits to become leaders, their maman machan gro
provide about half an acre of land to their adimai to cultivate
will callon
them people belonging to Dalit Nadu. "Even our daugh
their own. In addition, the adimai family is paid in kindters will be called girls from SC Nadu."
annually.

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005 3753

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 The emphatic feeling of thevars is that their own slaves cannot travel by bus paying the same fare, we receive harsh stares from
rule them. The thevars are emphasising that the dalits are what thevar women. Even water fetching involves the mercy of the
they are because of the divine ordinance. This cannot be changed. thevar. After every one takes the water, we are allowed to fetch.
At the same time, they are also ridiculing Narasingam, for his Why should we live in such a situation in this country? It is not
they alone who have the capacity and calibre to rule, we also have
reported statement that god has appeared in his dream and asked
him to contest.8 brains and we can also learn and rule. How long can we keep
quite like this? There should at least be some let-out for our
The thevars have reduced the argument to divinity vs state by
emotions and feelings. Under the PDS they take away all the items
saying that, "the whole issue involves traditional relations, divine that they want and, from whatever remains, we get small meagre
order, and hence, cannot be interfered with by any agency in the amounts. Instead of leading such a life, throw us into flames and
name of State, Constitution and Parliament. These moder institu- burn us alive.
tions do not govern the traditional relationships and divine sanctions." A dalit girl studying sixth standard expressed her aspirations and
One of the local parasmalai kallar leaders puts the point suc- difficulties she faces..."l want to become a police officer. That
cinctly... "These low caste people (meaning dalits) do not have gives me an opportunity to punish the offenders. I do face lot of
any land. We are landlords. They are our adimai...I mean not that insults in the school. The thevar girls tease me by saying that,
kind of adimai but they work for us. Like mill workers working "is it fair for a pallachi to crave for the president's post'?". Some-
for a mill owner, they work for us. They are like our staffs. We times they also ask me to sit on the floor in the class till the teacher
comes. My teacher is very nice and she never allows such treatment
perform two specific roles and that does not allow us to mingle
socially. They do their work and we do our work. We never work
to me. Experiencing all these. I always wish my father became
a president. I also know the privileges enjoyed by the thevar boys
against each other. Ritually we have given a specific role of
and girls. I am aware that I should put in a lot of effort to achieve
Chaatradu (to announce the decisions of the dominant community).
simple things in life, which are taken for granted by my thevar
There is no competition in this role performance. Why this com- classmates.
petition now only in panchayat election?" Narasingam passed away after filing his nomination papers for
The thevar argument, moreover, emphasises the dependency the April 2005 elections. His son, Velliratham (in Tamil it means
of dalits thus, "we are the food providers. Whenever they want 'silver chariot'), came from Thiruppur for the funeral of his father.
food they come and ask us and we give them." He said,
One thevar woman puts the argument a little differently, "as On my father's side for two or three generations they were not
landowners, we are also facing lot of problems and we were asked adimai to any landlord. We never asked him nor did he tell us
to pay huge electricity bills within a short time. On the top of how this has happened in his family. He also never asked us to
it, this problem, which is like creating disputes between the go to any landlord as an adimai or to perform the kottu. In fact,
members of the same family. A 'family-woman'9 would never while I was very young, he sent me to Thiruppur and encouraged
do this kind of a thing." me to take up a job there. Though we do not know the details
A paramalai kallar man puts the issues altogether in a different of the independent nature of family on my father's side, we have
perspective: "If one is talking about the backwardness of dalit the opportunity of enjoying freedom considerably. While on my
groups, one should note that we had also undergone tremendous mother's side my mama (maternal uncle) and his family had an
adimai relationship with the landlords and sometimes we used to
amount of miseries in the past. At one time we were declared
go and attend the rituals and festivals where my mama was
as a criminal community and we were referred to as kalla kuravar
performing the kottu. Today, we dalits are all in a position of no
during the British period. Now the government has recognised possible growth. Those adimai families which want to leave this
the mistakes of labelling an entire community as criminals and village permanently are advised by the landlords to leave our small
denotified the communities as normal ordinary communities.10 amount of land with the landlords who can sell that land whenever
So there is nothing wrong if we are also considered as SCs. We possible. This leaves very little chance for the adimai families other
are also backward." than to forgo the right to sell their lands and leave permanently".
A young dalit woman brings in another important point: "More
Relations of Power than 50 boys and girls of this 'cheri' (slum) have completed school
education. But none of them is employed. Whenever there is some
Justifying the hierarchical relationships one person work
has put
to be
it done, the thevars come to the cheri and when there
thus, "in spite of being a landlord, and economicallyare
well-off,
some job opportunities they invariably go to the thevar boys
when I go to any administrative office (for e g, police), I can
and girls."
only be submissive and stand a step lower than the officerAbecause
cursory look shows that the narratives of the thevar/paramalai
he has the power. Similarly, why is that when the dalits and
kallar, by we
and large, are centred round the 'traditions', non-
are in a similar relationship, the same government is trying to
material/abstract values rationalising the superior-inferior rela-
apply egalitarian principles to us? Donate the countrytionsto thecannot be and should not be challenged, while the
which
communists so that every one can drink kanji (rice dalit-narratives
gruel) and are down-to-earth and refer to the existential
equality could be maintained". He equates the principle of a
conditions.
positive discrimination of political participation at the grassroot
level to communism. With great vehemence the dominant com- II
munities say that "whatever be the law, that cannot be applied Us vs Them
in the case of our village".
Under the 73rd Amendment-based panchayat system, no
Existential Realities constituency is - be it a ward, a village or any other level -
reserved. But the posts are reserved; say a ward-member or a
A dalit woman expressed her anguish when she said, president of a panchayat and so on, for one term of five years
Normally, we cannot wear a good blouse or a new mundu (loin- to one category like women, SC, ST or OBC. The next term is
cloth), (in case we are found in a good mundu and blouse, thevar
rotated no matter whether that category constitutes a majority
women comment 'should a pallachi need all these?'. When we or minority of voters in that constituency. The Pappapatti village

3754 Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
panchayat has 1,142 voters and 364 (31.9 per cent) of them are Already twice elections were held and the elected presidents
dalits. The post of the panchayat president of Pappapatti village took their oath and then resigned. All the times we sincerely
is reserved for dalits. The assertion of the thevars is clearly based voted and never created any problems for the conduct of the
on wrong assumption- elections. In what way are we responsible for all these?
In this village panchayat we are the majority. Always a majority Should not the government now declare this village panchayat
community is the one which is allowed to contest. If a minority presidentship as a general category? Even now we are willing to
community is allowed to contest, how can that candidate get a elect ten dalit presidents within a five-year period but they should
winning majority. Let the dalits show their majority and win and continue. We don't have anything against them. They asked us
rule the panchayat. It is never the bridegroom's family, which seeks to vote for them and we did. All these years only thevars provided
alliance with a bride's family but not the other way round. Simi- leadership and everything was smooth. We did everything for all
larly, after marriage a bride goes to bridegroom's family and not the communities, why is that only in the past eight years there
the other way round. It is always for the women to cook and serve had been a reservation of this constituency and by doing so
the men to eat. Here the government is searching for bride's house insulting us.
to seek an alliance.
The thevars argue that as regards Pappapatti.... The thevar youths also argue that, Why special privileges for
A person from any community can contest and win the position. dalits? We are from the same village. We go to the same school
and almost in the same economic status - so what is the dif-
Today's world is a level playing ground, why this special treatment
ference?"
to one community. In Usilampatty taluk 1 there are no violent fights
between dalits and thevars/paramalai kallares and now throughThere is a direct assertion that tih dominant community is intel-
this process of reservation but the government is driving us to
lectually superior to the dalits - "In the name of reservation, if
such a situation. In many of the villages there are disputes we
andare giving a job to a less brainy fellow, what is the use of
court cases, in the context of these elections, between the local
merit? A brainy fellow should be given the job. So that he can
dominant caste and dalits. In this village there are neither any
perform it well. They are putting the brainy fellow as well as the
disputes nor any court cases. People are talking about basic human
brainless on the same pedestal. Imagine a situation where a fellow
rights. Even if this problem is placed before the Human Rights
who scored more than thousand marks should go to the fellow
Commission, it will give the verdict that this panchayat should be
who scored only 800 marks and stand in front of him and salute.
left alone for the open category forever so that any one can contest.
Simply his heart burns. Give them (dalits) notebooks, uniforms
The thevars continue their argument by saying that - "Even
and provide them tuition classes. Once they come up successfully,
in the case of the centre (central government) it is either Vajpayee
or a Congress person. In Tamil Nadu either it is DMKprovide
or them positions. But why these special privileges of
providing political power. This kind of reserving political position
AIADMK. There is no scope for any other party to enter into
is a stupid rule created by the politicians".
that role. Here it is either thevar or paramalai kallar."12 The
The changed track of thevar youths also reinforces the same
bottom line of the argument of the dominant community is quite
clear - "The government. is spending crores of rupees onviewpoint
these in a slightly different way
elections, but we will vote as a majority community and we The willthevars are ready to accept the dalits as their leaders. But the
dalits are illiterate. Without education, they do not have the
see to it that the elected dalit resigns. That is the end result."
leadership quality. Even if the thevars accept, the dalits think that
The dominant communities present a picture of state support...
they do not have the capacity to lead. They are accustomed to
the high-level committee was in Madurai and was a little scared
the dependency situation and hence, they look to thevars as
to approach us. But the minister, Panneerselvam, who led the team
their 'Thalamai' (head). There are certain rituals, which cannot
said, "I am also a kallar" and gave Rs 5,000 and invited us for
be performed without the presence of dalits. There is one
negotiations.13 We wanted to be like this forever. The poor people
ritual wherein the dalit initiates and leaves for eight days. On
(dalits) are very scared because of the new system. Our functional
relationships are fine and they want to be in their place and the
weeighth day the thevar goes personally and invites the dalits
back into the village. Now the government is trying to change the
want to be in our position. It is only government, which is creating
culture.
problems, and only Amma can intervene and solve the problem.
Ammal4 should not create a rift between the two communities,
but should say everybody can contest. But the government Political
is not Interference
willing to listen to our opinion. But it expects us to listen to the
The thevar women came out with a strong voice against the
government and vote (participate in the election process). Our
strong opinion is that the panchayat position here should be de-
political interference in the affairs of Pappapatti...
reserved. Everybody should be free to contest. Let the dalits also
contest and let us also contest."
All the women of our community are planning a protest march
from Usilampatti against that 'SOB'(referring to a dalit leader).
The thevars argue that it is only the dalit leaders who are Thirumavalavan
at who is a beer-addict. We are going to beat him
fault -"The political leaders are instigating the dalits and pro- with our slippers. This will force the central government and
Vajpayee (He was the then prime minister) take a decision to de-
jecting the Pappapatti issue as a great crisis. Let the dalits contest
and gain the votes and win under the present dispensation. But reserve this panchayat. If this does not happen (de-reservation)
if they are resigning, how are we responsible? Previously the situation may turn violent and many murders may take place.
We will nominate our own candidate, conduct elections, and elect
Thirumavalavan15 helped a dalit in the process of filing nomi-
our own panchayat president".
nation and campaigning, but things did not go according to their
expectations. Are we responsible for that?" There is a parallel track of argument by thevar women who
try to project supposedly a different face of the problem
When we meet together during the rituals and ceremonies, our
Changing Discourse
own community people refer to us in a derogative way as
"people from SC thogudi (geographic area). This is a great insult
The thevar youths have changed the track after 2001 and said that
to us. Under these circumstances, it is becoming extremely
We accept the procedure. But how many presidents should be difficult to seek alliances for our boys and girls. Right now there
allowed to be elected and resigned in a period of five years? are hundreds of boys and girls remaining unmarried because of

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005 3755

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 this problem. Does the government expect us to seek alliance
with Chakkiliyan?.
Basically the thevar community has the economic and political
power in many areas of Tamil Nadu, whereas dalits have no such
powers. But in some constituencies the dalits contested for some
posts and took up the position at least theoretically fulfilling the
constitutional guarantees. while the local dominant castes manipu-
lated and controlled the finances and programmes. But in this village
even this small mercy is not allowed. If this is allowed the thevars
think that they are sliding down a step below in the hierarchy.
A Dalit Is President
is right and who is wrong. At the grassroot level there is no need
for political interference. We used to have no caste differences
earlier we were interdependent and this went on well. Only after
Thirumavalavan entered the field for the first time our community
is divided into caste. The consequences of which are seeing now.
A person of the dominant community from a different village
has consolidated the patriarchal sentiment when he said
I would like to claim myself as a mukkulathur and not as kallar
or thevar or maravar because we believe that we all belong to
the same community. We don't believe in these reservation
and we think that only Kenapayal (brainless people) believe in
such reservations. We are smart people and hence we oppose this.

The thevar youths tried to strengthen their argument with the Ill
political happenings at the state/national level Political Inequality and Mythological Equality
At the centre and state level there are so many changes in ministerial
positions. When Amma had problem, O Panneer Selvam has taken By presenting the narratives in the above sections, hopefully
we have succeeded in presenting the views, stereotypes, values
the charge of chief minister and when Lalloo16 had problem, Rabri
and so on of the two major groups having stake in the process
Devi become the chief minister: when rules could be so flexible,
of electing a president of Pappapati panchayat. We also tried to
why is the government insisting that this village panchayat should
have a SC president. bring out the inherent contradictions and the latent discontents
The poorer economic standing of dalits also forms a point of by the new panchayat system. The new system
triggered
argument against dalits has certainly brought in new challenges to the existing power
relations.
In these elections one has to spend at least Rs 20,000 to 25,000.
When these people are not capable of spending why should the The major issues around which the dominant community
post be reserved for them? narratives centre on the issue of landlord and the slave family
and how the complex relations are by divine ordination. Their
There is a strong thevar-opinion that Pappapatti has got some
uniqueness and it has got its own sacredness. This sacredness
narratives emphasise how and why a political equality is not
keeps people in a good condition, but they have to followpossible
the and, at the same time, co-opting the dalit into their
tradition. If not. mythology/ritual base. The question of so-called ritual equality
the divine force will immediately show its wrath towards its people. and so on.
The people of villages around Pappapattti know about its sacred- Each household of dalits is affiliated to one household of
ness. Hence, when they pass by Pappapati during their rituals, they dominant community for generations as farm hands and for
also stop kottu and go very humbly by giving due respect to this domestic labour. In the local parlance such a dalit household is
village. Because this is the village where the brahmins lived and called 'adimai kudumbam (slave household).
they used it as a patti (cow-shed). Even today in the Naidu street
Keeping in mind the socio-economic inequalities, and the
we have Venkateswara temple and the temple poosari (priest) is
social structure, which rationalises such inequalities, it is almost
a brahmin and no one else can do puja there. This is a birth place
of Mukku Thevar. The entire soil here contains his influence. impossible for the dalits either individually or as a community
to walk over their landlords. This is what obtained at the time
People violating the traditional norms have been attracting the
wrath. Traditionally we had the parayan as our kottu (drum beaters)of introduction of new panchayat raj system in 1996. There is
both for good (rituals) and bad (death ceremony) and collectedno change in the objective conditions of existence of dalits in
materials like rice and other items. When people with that traditionthis one decade. There certainly were no substantive efforts to
contested, they faced the wrath of Ottachiyamman (goddess).create enabling conditions for the dalits to overcome the depen-
When Narasingam contested he fell ill and his health wasdency-conditions and thus allowing them to participate in the
severely affected. When Alagar contested, his house was strucknew panchayat system.
by lightning and when Chinnan and Sadayan wanted to contest
this time their goat died which is the only source of their-income".
The thevars are rationalising that the goddess will punish themStalling Electoral Process
if they violate this and moreover the relationship of their kottu
The dominant communities expected that by stalling the elec-
will break and the dalits will face lot of problems. In order to
tion procedure for five years, ie, till 2001, the reservation of the
avoid this constituency should be de-reserved and put an end to
this controversy. post of president of the panchayat for the dalits would end.
"Government without understanding the local social conditions
Is It Just a Cultural Issue? is talking about an egalitarian political order.... You are enacting
laws and regulations, which do not have anything to do with the
The thevar arguments are basically trying to de-politicise local social conditions". Narasingam, a dalit who contested for
the issue by projecting the present Pappapatti issue as a purely presidentship, was very mild in his criticism in 2001: "Even in
local (and private?) and cultural/traditional issue. They argue that1996 I was not allowed to contest... Even now they oppose
because they want the slave conditions to continue". He said
Politicians like Thirumavalavan (a dalit leader of DPI) do not know
that when he went to the thevar to inform that he is going to
about all these local issues. He is only bothered about his political
position and wanted his name to come in the newspaper. That's contest this time (2001)-...The major refrain was 'do your job'...
why he is sitting there and talking nonsense. If he really bothers this meant that we dalits should remain adimai (slave) and accept
about his own people, he should come here and give full supportthe treatment meted out without questioning.
to these people. He should come and talk to his own people and The dominant community rationalises the extreme inequality
find solutions for his own people. Only then he will know who by saying, "We two communities perform two specific roles and

3756 Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
this does not allow us to mingle socially. They do their work achieve the 'targeted' objective, with the methodology left at the
and we do ours. There is no competition in this role performance". choice of the poor. Due to participation, unknowingly but
Moreover, the dominant community invoking the divine will to willingly, local people are 'empowered' to take part in the
rationalise the inequality by saying that - "We occupy higher process of modernisation. Therefore, even the best of the PRA
position in the hierarchy. The dalits are occupying lowerposition as practitioners, functioning within a project framed with pre-
ordained by God and cannot be changed by the human beings". conceived objective, may find it difficult to give up their authority
The discourse of dominant community has undergone consid- over the poor as the terms of transfer of power to people are still not
erable change over a period of five years. Once they realised that set by poor but the project leader [Narayanan 2003: 24851.
the reservation of the post of president can change only after The excluded groups are often very large in sheer numbers;
the dalits complete five years in office, the dominant community with the result the community participation is in effect the
youths changed the course of their discourse - "We accept the participation of the minuscule local dominant communities. The
procedure. Already twice the elections were held and the elected dominant communities use the ritual and economic superiority
took oath and then resigned. In what way we are responsible. to grasp political power. This often makes the empowerment of
Should not the government declare this position for the general oppressed sections quite a task.
category? In spite of the best efforts to put dalits in the leadership There is a strong viewpoint that participatory method used by
position, dalits are not able to withstand the pressure of work bureaucracy is basically...
and do not have the capacity to lead us".
...a means for top-down planning to be imposed from the bottom
Similarly, there is a considerable change in discourse of dalits.
up [Hildyard et al 2001:591 as quoted in Narayanan 2003].
Their sense of defiance is clearly manifested when they said that
- "For long time we have been serving them - our hands are Constitutional guarantee for the planning at grassroots-level
paining. We have come to a stage, which forces us to react. We reflects the government's intention of 'planning from below'.
will contest. What are the new difficulties that we are going to However, in practice, how to break the stranglehold of the
face? We are already facing all the problems possible". Besides dominant communities over these institutions is an important
other factors, the political support the dalits received from DPI but vexatious issue. Constitutional provisions, other legislation,
was definitely a positive point - a shot in the arm as it were. for reservation of seats for women and other disadvantaged
sections are only intended potential and theoretical issues.
Voice for the Voiceless In a hierarchical society, local government elections with reser-
vations for women who have been suppressed and SC/STs who
There is increasingly a viewpoint emerging - and already have been subjugated for centuries, is a new institutional mecha-
being utilised by various external agencies including NGOs,nism to recast hierarchies. Poverty and economic dependence of
excluded section on dominant section prevent them from enjoying
multilateral agencies and the state agencies themselves - that
autonomy even after being elected (Narayanan 2003).
a participatory consent of the local community is required in
Majority of political parties and bureaucracy are trying to
planning and execution of developmental plans at the grassroots
sabotage the spirit of 73rd Amendment at the practical level. No
Participation as a framework ensures that the excluded sections
wonder
participate, get empowered, voice their views and alter the the Andhra Pradesh government did not conduct the
panchayat
programmes according to their needs. Culturally, participation of elections in 2001 and sought to amend the panchayat
people implies their sense of belonging to the community act.
andLater, the elections were conducted when the court of law
fraternity ;ather than the state, while politically it denotes the them to do so. There is a definite move by Tamil Nadu
directed
involvement of all stakeholders and creation and sustenance of
government to appoint special officers to govern the panchayats.
accountability of the state towards the people [Narayan 2003:
It will not be long before we see a special officer instead of an
2484]. elected president governing Pappapatti panchayat.
The very purpose of the participatory approach is to provide It is true that. PRIs operate in a complex social environment.
voice to the voiceless, as the scientist M S Swaminathan always "Caste, class and gender hierarchies have a crucial bearing on
puts it. and also meant to bring in the excluded sections to be institutional processes and democratic practices" [Vaddiraju and
a part of the grassroots level democracy and. thus, becomes Mehrotra 2004:4141]. Dreze and Sen (2002) rightly point out
beneficial to the marginalised people. that "The practice of local democracy is also a form of wider
However, if participation leads to reproduction of power relation- political education. In the context of the village politics, people
ship. identical or similar, or perpetuates the dependency relation- are learning (if only at varying speed) to organise, to question
ships between have and have-nots, it cannot be construed as real established patrons of authority, to demand their right..."17
participation [Narayanan 2003:2484]. (p 360). [3
Chamber, the guru and the champion of participatory approach,
opines that the practitioners of this method should take the time Email: sumathirajesh2004@yahoo.co.in
to "find the poorest, to learn from them, and to empower them".
This method, according to Chambers, besides empowering the Notes
local people to analyse their problems also provides a voice to
them in policy-making [Chambers 1994]. 1 Keeripatti and Natankulam were the other two panchayats where the
According to Henkal and Stirrat (2001), it is important to know post of president of the panchayat was reserved for SC. In October 1996
'what' the people are empowered with. Most of the times goals no nominations could be filed in these three panchayats. Between October
are set by project managers, who have a limited and indirect 1996 and April 2005, elections for the post of president of Pappapatti
stake in the whole process. The project goals and methods of panchayat were announced 19 times and actual elections were held only
thrice and rest of the times no nominations could be filed.
implementation are often decided by agencies/personnel with
2 We are using this term in the sense ofM N Srinivas' concept of 'dominant
least stakes and with enormous superiority complex and are caste' in its broadest sense.
ethnocentric.
3 This term is used as a political category synonymous to the constitutional
The power is given to the local people by the project leaders to category of 'scheduled castes'.

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005 3757

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
4 The names of the sons are - Periyaichatan, Molla Thevar, Aggi Thevar, 14 Reference to chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
Utlupanthi. Suzli, Kattakali. Manhiya, Keri, Kolla and Panchayi. 15 Thirumavalavan is the Tamil Nadu state leader of DPI party. DPI
5 Lit (Tamil) 'Black deity'. supported the candidature of Narasingam once earlier and again when
6 The thevars take out a procession annually carrying the idols of their the elections were announced in April 2005. The DPI supported the
deities and take them out to the temple a little away from the village. candidature of Narasingam both the times. But Narasingam passed away
7 Pallar, Parayar and Chakkiliyar are the major communities forming part a few days before the election scheduled for April 19, 2005 and hence
of scheduled castes (dalits) in Tamil Nadu. the election was countermanded.
8 Narasingam was the first dalit from Pappapatti panchayat to declare16 that
Both amma (J Jayalalithaa) and Laloo Prasad faced some corruption
charges and had to resign as chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Bihar,
he would contest for the post of president in October 1996. He was coerced
not to file his nomination papers. He complained to the local authorities.
respectively.
The collector of the district came to the village, sat in the chavidi
17 Inof
the Pappapatti situation the dalits are trying to assert their rights slowly.
the hamlet of dominant communities and later filed a report giving Buta the state - politically and bureaucratically - is giving support tacitly
'clean chit' to the dominant communities. to the dominant communities. This situation, in effect, is sabotaging the
9 The reference is to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. constitutional guarantee as per Act 243 and 73rd Amendment.
10 The reference is to the declaration of some as criminal communities by
the British. In 1950 the government of India de-classified these communities References
and were referred to as denotified communities. In the year 1980 these
communities were merged with the respective constitutional categories
Chambers. R (1994): 'Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): Analysis and
of SC. ST and OBC. But still some of the line departments/agencies
Experience'. World Development and Change. Vol 22, No 10.
use the category of 'criminal community' even today to refer to the Jean and Amertya Sen (2002): India: Development and Participation,
Dreze,
erstwhile denotofied communities. OUP, Delhi.
11 Pappapatti panchayat is a part of Usilampatti taluk of Madurai district.
Henkal. H and R Stirrat (2001): 'Participation as Spiritual Duty: Empowerment
12 Paramalai kallars are also a dominant community in Pappapatti as butSecular Subjection' in B Cook and U Kothari (eds), Participation:
numerically a small group. This group has traditionally been working The new Tyrams, second edition, London.
in tanclem with the thevars in this village. Mathew, G (2000): 'Panchayat Raj in India - An Overview' in Mathew,G
13 This committee has not visited the cheri (the dalit habitation). Narasingam
(ed), Status of Panchayat Raj in the States and UTs of India, Institute
of Social Sciences, New Delhi.
said, half in all seriousness and half in sarcastic jest, that there are three
reasons why the committee has not visited the cheri; (1) perhaps as Pal,there
Mahi (2004): 'Panchayat Raj and Rural Governance', EPW, Vol XXXIX,
is no chavadi in the cheri the committee could not come; (2) minister
pp 137-42.
Karuppusamy who was a member of the committee and who was Chandra (2001): 'A Distant Dream'. Humanscape, November.
Parul.
supposed to represent their interests seems to have not suggested aNarayanan,
visit Pradeep (2003): 'Empowerment through Participation', EPW,
Vol XXXVIII, pp 2484-86.
to the cheri.: and (3) the committee itself was perhaps worried that they
will be in an irksome position if the dalits asked for the money which
Vaddiraju, A K and S Mehrotra (2004): 'Making Panchayats Accountable'
the committee has promised to give the contesting dalit-candidate.EPW. Vol XXXIX. pp 4139-41.

ERALA COP:D I.R Research/Publication Fellowships

N S..- . . i <. . . . . . iw;. *.ig
:i:

The KCHR proposes to institute two categories of fellowships to further research and pub
the History of Kerala. The fellowships offer both academic and monetary support. The
available to Indian nationals only.
I. Fellowships for Preliminary Post-Doctoral Research:
The fellowship is meant to initiate scholars into post- doctoral research. The financial assi
the form of seed money to enable them to develop their research area and design.The
.V;: np-;-- vs ca be fr.-:C
available only to scholars below 45 years of age.
His<.<td it KCRCH The seed money will be limited to a maximum of Rs. 25,000/- and can be utilised for field w
insitued ith KCHRvto
India and contingency expenses. It would be released in two instalments - a part of th
beginning of the term and the balance on the submission of the report. The scholar
re: '':3|. .........
complete the work and submit the report within a period of six months.
Emsaikcr@sch. WereqestJ
::::::: : :::-: ::':.::::::. '.:.,: i:: ::, ,_'. ''s' E i. :.::-::.:: E':: ,. : ::,:;, .i7 :-:E ; :
t: i: i :-: i : - " l ;
KCHR will give priority to gender studies, dalit history, local history, environmental his
Pemorial felolshpsany
relating to class consciousness. Other areas of historical research will also be considered
. : . :::: : :-: :r S : ; i..: :._ : :..:

: : .- ; :i '::t.. - i it;,:: ii;iii- i' 50i-

l? : :i-:- ;::;ii: : :i ,ii :::: -: ::::- :::::. ::::: :S::,:E3:..f>:
Selected researchers will be attached to senior subject experts or a committee of expe
Memoridalflosh aiips,an
consultation and guidance. The KCHR will consider the award of a post- doctoral fellow
P r * i CEivo - ,7S j 5 :
research depending upon the quality of the research design produced by the scholars.
II. Fellowships to Revise Ph.D Dissertation:
institutions and trusts
Thetofellowship will support scholars to modify their Ph.D. thesis for publication.The finan
make use of this facility.
be a maximum of Rs.50,000/- and can be utilised for field work, travel within India and-con
The revised thesis should be submitted to the Council within a period of one year. The fel
released in three instalments on the basis of satisfactory interim reports.The last instalme
.:s . ..:.. ..:.. .. w .t e :
only after the submission of the final draft. The scholar will have the facility to consult s
the KCHR Research/Publication Committees find the revised work to be of high acade
KCHR will consider its publication. .
Interested researchers may apply to the Director, KCHR, with his/her CV and a detailed pr
will be expected to make a presentation of the proposal, revise it as per the suggestions of
abide by the rules and regulations of the award. The last date for receiving proposals is 31

3758 Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 2005

This content downloaded from 128.6.218.72 on Sun, 18 Sep 2016 09:56:33 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms