1. Elappulli Panchayat (Palakkad Dt.): Area: 49.09 sq.km; projects: Ksheera-Gramam (Milk-village), full water supply and total sanitation (Samagra Sanitation).   Milk-Farming: The Elappully Milk-village had overtaken 800 milk-farms in the area in milk production. Initial production of 2,600 ltrs/cow per year increased to 10,240 ltrs in two years in 2009. Monthly health camps were conducted for disease control of the cattle. All the cattle were insured using panchayat funds. Elappully panchayat’s Milk scheme had 5300 cows; 1000 cows were given thru Panchayat scheme.   The income in the panchayat from milk was Rs. 731 lakhs (or 7.31 crores) in 2009! Elappulli’s Milk-village project won 1st prize in Green Kerala Express Social Realty Show Competition in 2010.   As a whole, the panchayat’s interventions in livelihood, agriculture, housing, water supply, healthcare, sanitation, education etc helped it to achieve almost all targets set for socio-economic development in Kerala & India and surpassed some.  

Elappully in the News: http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/23/stories/2010072361360400.htm

Agriculture: Elappully has 1870 hector paddy cultivation with yearly yield of average 8 tons/per hector per year. The panchayat is supporting paddy cultivation with considerable subsidies amounting to more than 50 lakhs a year. These are for fertilisers, maintaining the canals and ponds, purchasing harvesting machines etc. Elappully farmers increased the area of paddy cultivation and it is becoming a profitable one with better yields. Poultry farms in the panchayat had 20 thousand hens; additional 10,000 were given thru panchayat scheme – 5 each to 2000 families. Two goats each were given to 100 SC families; it is planned to give the same to 59 SC families.  

Housing: Elappully is with a high SC population. Kerala state’s ‘Ashraya’ scheme is for the care and rehabilitation of the weaker sections of population. In their Harigan colony of SC people, houses, health cards and pensions are given to the eligible. There is a day-care home for aged people run by the panchayat and local Lions club; it had 34 members who come in the morning and return in the evening. Doctors from the Community Health Centre attend the inmates twice a month and provide medicines too.  

Social Security: The panchayat has several Jagratha-samithies (local-vigilance-committees); they are publicised with display boards. They are effectively intervening in family problems and dispute between family members, problems with children etc.  

Health Care: The Community Health Centre (CHC) in Elappully has a hospital with 34 beds and 3 doctors; there are 7 sub-centres under the CHC. Free medicines are supplied to patients; satisfactory facilities like chairs, toilets etc for waiting patients are provided. There is a separate diabetes clinic with attendance of about 50/month. CHC has 42 staff members; the 17 field members do sanitation related activities of pre-monsoon cleaning, mosquito breeding prevention activity of checking toilet tank exhaust pipes and closing them with nets. The CHC organise ward level quick-action committees with the support of ward members and engage in awareness creation activity for personal hygiene and to eliminate mosquito breeding in and around homes by special care to prevent small water collections in broken utensils, small pits, drainages etc. Fliers and pamphlets are printed and distributed by the panchayat.  

Education: The panchayat has a UP School started in 1920; it had 1200 students in 2010. The school’s all-round performance has been recognised with several awards. The first counselling for final year school students (SSLC) in Palakkad district was in Elappully panchayat. This prepares them to choose further studies on completion of SSLC; information on institutions, courses and prospects in various fields are provided. This was a psycho-social project of the state govt. Considering the poor educational standard of Elappully students, a five-year scheme for its improvement by 2012 was devised in 2006 with a handbook prepared on the initiative of the panchayat executive committee with help of head masters, Panchayat Technical Advisory Committee (PTA) president, retired teachers etc. There are study-homes for weak students, extracurricular activities in arts and cultural fields at the initiative and funding of the panchayat. On suggestion for one study-home, the panchayat made five homes.  

Employment: The panchayat had 4859 people registered for MGNREGA work; 2952 persons were working in 2010. Of these, 2804 or 90% were women. In 2009-10 financial year, Rs. 2,16,96,000 were paid as wages under the MGNREGA scheme. Water-shed management was the main activity. More than 3000 women had benefited thru Kudumbashree’s self-employment activities. The panchayat developed a time-table for the labourers in panchayat, giving specific type of work for various seasons - MGNREGA for three months, then 1st paddy season work, then 2nd paddy season work and so on. This was on the initiative of the panchayat and the stake holders, to protect the interests of the local farmers and those who wanted MGNREGA work. This was a first such agreement in Kerala.  

Water Supply: The panchayat had 53 drinking water projects and 49 out of them were run by the beneficiaries in 2010. As previous projects run by the panchayat caused lot of problems, women made a protest march to panchayat office with water pots to highlight their water problem. The panchayat discussed the matter and decided to decentralise drinking water projects and to be run by respective local committees organised for that purpose.  

Vision & Coordination: The panchayat’s great success in utilizing many of the central and state government schemes for socio-economic development with vision and efficient coordination and management of the resources was especially noted and commended by the jury. The Panchayat’s new office building was under construction with Krishi-bhavan, Kundumbashree, Treasury offices etc integrated into it, to be completed by mid 2010.  

2. Akathethara Panchayat (Palakkad Dt.): Area: 19.77 sq.km., project: Re-forestation, Kalpathi River protection & Eco-restoration.  

Reforestation: On 5 June 2009 (World Environment Day), the panchayat planted 100,000 trees under a scheme named ‘Green the Gap’. An Eco-restoration group, ward-committees and neighbourhood groups were formed. Kerala’s former Finance Minister, Dr. Thomas Isaac inaugurated this programme in Sep. 2008. However, ‘Green the Gap’ was started in 2006 together with ‘Haritha Keralam’ scheme; the panchayats green army, Kudumbashree, NREGA etc were systematically utilized to maintain the planted trees.  

Eco-restoration of Kalpathi River: The panchayat reclaimed 25 acres of land along the Kalpathy River, from encroached private parties and planted a bamboo park and did vegetable cultivation there. Trees for this scheme were arranged with the help of Kerala Forest Research Institute and KILA (Kerala Institute of Local Administration). This initiative was also passed on to the younger generation and school students are greening school compounds. With the help of KILA, application forms for the variety of tree saplings needed were printed and distributed to resident associations, institutions and families and the saplings they requested were supplied. Awareness was created on the importance of ecological balance with the motto ‘Tree is the Solution’ (‘Maramanu-Marupati’) for eco-restoration. MGNREGA scheme was utilised for the maintenance of the planted trees and 90% of the trees planted could be maintained to survive and the forest dept. gave an award to the panchayat for this achievement.   Water Supply, Electrification and Waste Management: Under the Hariyali scheme and with NABARD, the panchayat has achieved 100% water supply. It is also fully electrified. Schools were given bio-gas plants as an eco-friendly initiative; residential colonies also will be arranged to install bio-gas plants. Under the Sanitised Village (Suchitwa-gramam) concept, the panchayat initiated solid waste collection throughout its area from waste bins at several locations and is making compost with one ton capacity. As the capacity is low, household waste is not collected.   The panchayat’s re-forestation project won 2nd Prize in the Green Kerala Express TV Reality Show competition in 2010.  

Akathethara in the News: http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/14/stories/2009091451370300.htm  

3. Adat Panchayat (Trissur Dt.): Area 23.22 sq.km., Population: 23441. Project: Bio-village (Jaiva-gramam).  

Bio-village and Paddy Cultivation: In Adat, 370 hectors is under Bio-paddy farming and aims to expand it all over the panchayat. In 2002, they used 40 quintal Furidan insecticide in 2500 acre rice fields. Panchayat set aside Rs.20 lakhs/year to subsidise the paddy farming without pesticides. In Adat, Kudumbashree is processing paddy to rice and market it. Adat Rice has acquired Geographical Identification for its rice as ‘Adat Rice’. From Presidents own experience, Paddy farming in 3 acres gave Rs.75,000 profit/year in 2009, from 60 quintals of Paddy. Adat is marketing their own Adat bio-rice at Rs.27/- per kg.; this is above the market price of rise. Adat has about 3000 acres of paddy farms and the majority are under bio-farming. Farming was initially at the initiative of Adat Farmers Bank and the panchayat has also helped this initiative with full support.   Panchayat prohibited soil-mining thru a High Court order and also educated the population on ecology. They planted 600 Mango trees and five lakhs Vetiver, with the help of NREGA scheme. Adat is planning to plant Chedumalli (Marigold) plants along the foot path of rice fields (Varampu) to repel insects/pests.   Adat’s Bio-village (Jaiva-gramam) project won 3rd prize in GKE competition 2010. Even before this Adat Panchayat won the Swaraj Trophy for best Panchayat in the district eight times.  

Housing: Panchayat has build flats under the EMS Housing scheme and also given landless families land etc. They also gave cycles to all girl students of SC community. There was signs of extraordinary cooperation among the ward members irrespective of party politics.   Sanitation: Adat became a fully sanitised panchayat way back in 1999 and won the national award Nirmal Puraskar.   Waste Management: Adat has an efficiently functioning waste processing plant; it is run by 20 Kudumbashree members. Its main product is compost and that is sold at Rs. 5.00/Kg; total cost of production is estimated at Rs. 2.00 in 2009. It has its own premises, machinery and collection & segregation system. It gives employment to 20 women and a few men of the panhchayat.  

Health Care: All members of the panchayat have medical insurance and their medical needs are met at the Amala Medical Collage Hospital in the panchayat. They have a participatory medical insurance for APL (Above Poverty Level) families at Rs. 548/- a year; it covers up to medical costs of Rs. 15,000/- for each family member a year. About 4,500 persons of the panchayat are insured under this insurance scheme. All the BPL families are also covered under a subsidised insurance scheme.  

Livelihood: Ten Kudumbashree members are running the Priyadarshini coconut oil unit; they are marketing good quality coconut oil under the name Kerashree coconut oil. Four of the members left as they got outside job and now there are only six women working at the unit. The total sales proceed is about Rs. 75,000. The unit is working in panchayat’s building and an expeller machine, given at subsidised rent of Rs. 100/- per month. The Kudumbashree members get a monthly salary of Rs. 4500/- a month. Profit above these expenses is used to pay back a Rs. 2 lakhs loan taken for the project.   Water-shed Project: Adat panchayat utilised the MGNREGA scheme to protect and maintain all the water bodies in the panchayat. It also cleared the small river of weeds and eco-village tourism has been initiated with Kashmir style boats therein.   As per Mr. Anil Akkara, the Panchayat President (1990-2010), the secret of success was ‘no party politics in development matters’; there were 9 INC members and 8 CPM members; the vice president was a class mate of Sri. Anil and represented another party.  

4. Eloor Panchayat (Ernakulam Dt.): Area: 11.21 sq.km; project: Efficient Household Energy Management thru Oorja-sena (Energy-army).  

Spectacular savings in Electricity: Thru this systematic and comparatively low cost campaign there was a saving of more than 10,00,000 units of electricity that year; this amounts to Rs.70,00,000. This project was implemented in 2008-9. Electricity charges of some households reduced from about Rs. 1800/- to  Rs. 400/- per month.  

Eloor in the News: http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/28/stories/2010062858950400.htm  

I am skipping parts of this and give No. 5 below.  

5. Cheriyanad (Alappuzha Dt.): Area: 14.0 sq.km., Population ca. 25,000; project: Litigation controlled Panchayat (in fact, litigation minimised).   India’s First Litigation Controlled (minimised) Village: The panchayat is perhaps the first panchayat in India, which attained litigation control and acquired full legal literacy and has a Village Court. All the residents are tested, marks given and recorded with register in the panchayat. There is a permanent Legal Aid Clinic with the help of the High Court held on Saturdays. 400 civil and criminal cases languishing in various courts were retrieved and handled in the Village Court; all except two complicated cases could be settled amicably. It should be specially noted that there are no costs for the proceedings in the Village Court. From the year 2000 till 6 Feb 2010, 905 cases were resolved at in the Village Court. The panchayat also follows up whether the issues were really resolved.   The procedure of the Village Court: Written complaints received are registered in a special register in the panchayat. Respective ward member must make a first enquiry on it; then the parties are called for a meeting thru a notice. Panchayat president, vice-president, two members and five prominent persons from the society like retired teachers, SP etc constitute the court committee. This committee talks to the disputed parties and settles the maters amicably. This agreement is recorded in the minutes and the parties sign to accept the agreement. The parties incur no cost for these Village Court proceedings. 99 percent of cases coming to this court have been settled amicably; these settlements are given approval thru the legal service authority amendment act of 2002 and no appeals will be allowed on these settled matters. The amicable settlement of a 40 years old and unresolved case was a spectacular example. It was a case between relatives languished for years in Chengannoor municipf court, in Mavelikkara District court and in Ernakulam High Court.   Full legal literacy of Cheriyanad Panchayat was achieved thru a systematic procedure. 22 lawyers of Chengannor Bar and Legal Association together with the help of Kudumbashree, voluntary organisations etc worked for it. They visited each home in the panchayat and educated each family member. In 2008, the Chief Justice of India declared Cheriyanad Panchayat as Litigation Controlled panchayat. As all the 400 cases could not be settled, the Chief Justice of India suggested a change in name from Litigation Free to Litigation Controlled Panchayat. As criminal cases cannot be settled in Village courts, Adaalaths were held in the presence of Judges and with the help of courts to settle criminal cases in the panchayat court. It is estimated there are 30 million cases in Indian courts; of which 26 million in lower courts, 3 million in High Courts and the rest in the Supreme Court.  

Cheriyanad in the News: http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110960570100.htm

Abraham’s Remarks: This is an excellent and exceptional project. As ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’, such village courts will help millions of Indians get justice! This should be copied all over India. I think, ‘Litigation Minimised village’ would be better to convey the real meaning and achievement of the project.  

6. Kannadi (Palakkad Dt.): Area: 19.8 sq.km., project: Natural fresh milk.

Natural Fresh Milk Project: Kannadi Panchayat had a very smart, systematic and scientific milk project with two cows per family for a few groups of 50 families each. It assures natural fresh milk of very high quality at reasonable prices.   A comprehensive family survey was done to assess the socio-economy of the panchayat. Sri. Asokan, a native of Kannadi and Deputy Director of Economics & Statistics Department, initiated it. It revealed that the panchayat had 848 families without electricity, 752 without toilets and literacy was 82%.  Now there is a very special and highly scientific and systematic milk farm unit. It is a joint initiative of the state dept. of Animal Husbandry, the district Panchayat and Kudumbashree.  The uniqueness of the project starts with the selection of cows, construction of cattle sheds with scientifically appropriate measurements (the poles at the manger are spaced at 93 cm), specially shaped grooving for cow-dung and urine drainage, maintaining 24 hour automatic drinking water supply in hygienic utensils for the cows etc. The daily milking of the cows start after washing of the cow-breasts with water and potassium permanganate solution and drying with a towel; then first streams of milk is tested on a milk pad with California Mastitis Test Reagent for disease detection. Special hygienic arrangements are made to keep equipments etc in special boxes; the utensils used are clean and of stainless steel. The glass bottles are filled with unmixed milk (only milk of one cow comes in a bottle and the code No. of the cow is also on the seal of the bottle). Bottles are closed with special food grade caps and sealed with pilfer-proof labels of the Kudumbashree unit’s on the bottle caps. There are only two cows per family to fifty families and arrangements are made to provide self-adhesive labels with code numbers of the respective cows to each family. Only cows that have high quality milk with three quality standards of 3.5% fat content, 8.5% SNF (Solids not fat) and a lactometer reading of 28 for water content are eligible to this project. Milk is distributed in the panchayat to colonies, flats etc by four ladies. The price was only Rs. 24 per litter (2010) of which Rs. 20 was to the farmer and Rs. 4 to the distributor. The distributors get a monthly income of Rs. 6,000. The scooters for the four distributors were financed by bank and with Kudumbashree subsidy. The project has been visited by more than 2000 persons and study groups from Kerala and outside.  

I am shortening No. 6 here.   Anyone interested for more, please email me: a.karammel@yahoo.com