Panchayat Level Convergence Committee (PLCC)
When I started the baack2school campaign in Krishnagiri District in 2006, one area we felt needed urgent attention was the attitude of the Government and non –Government functionaries at the Village Panchayat Level. In fact we noticed that there was hardly any interaction among the ten odd Government and non-Government functionaries! In fact there were more ego clashes among them than anything!
- Panchayat PresidentVillage
- Administrative Officer (VAO)
- Panchayat Assistant
- Makkal Nala Paniyalar (MNP)
- Village Health Nurse (VHN)
- Anganwadi Worker (AW)
- Health Worker (HW)
- Local school Headmaster
- Local NGO
- Link Volunteer from VVF
A simple example will illustrate the lack of coordination among these grassroots level functionaries. When a child is born, the VHN has to report this to the Registrar of Births and Deaths who is the VAO. If she fails to do so in 20 days, then the birth date has to be determined by the Tahsildar! If this doesn’t happen, then the courts have to give their ruling! Krishnagiri district much like other districts had a large number of children who didn’t have birth certificates. The GOI officer brought this to my notice.
Thus I worked up the idea of a Panchayat Level convergence Committee (PLCC) of all Government and non-Government functionaries at the village level. A fiat was issued that in all 337 Village Panchayats; there will be a PLCC formed of the above members. The PLCC should meet at the Chairmanship of the Panchayat President, first Friday of every month at 11.00 am. The District Collector through 337 Observers would give the agenda for the first few meetings. At the end of the meeting the PLCC has to give back an A4 size paper with the minutes of the meeting, and action points. PLCC meetings used to be conducted simultaneously in all 337 Village Panchayats on the first Friday of every month for one hour. I would depute 337 observers for overseeing the meeting every month. Minutes (337 pages) would reach me the same day. I, the DRO, PO DRDA and other top officers used to attend at least one PLCC. The UNICEF team, which met me recently in 2016, informed me that the PLCC continues in Krishnagiri to this day, and that they would like to institutionalize this all over Tamil Nadu and India. The concept has been adopted in Erode district. I felt humbled……