Hand Book for Gaon Burahs and Panchayati Raj Leader

iI N T R O D U C T I O NIt gives me an immense pleasure to introduce this Handbook for thePanchayat Raj leaders and Gaon Buras titled “Chalo Gaon ki Ore”.which I would like to dedicate to the women of Arunachal Pradesh, whocomprises around 47% of the populace of the state (2001 Census), with ahope that, this effort will supplement the initiative of the nascent ArunachalPradesh State Commission for Women and its parent body the NationalCommission for Women, to spread awareness at the grassroots .A humble effort in the form of a handbook was made by me, during mydays at Lohit and Anjaw district, to honour the citizens Right to Informationabout all developmental schemes as well as to take development close tothe villages. Now, on the request of the Arunachal Pradesh Sate Commissionfor Women, the information has been placed in the context of readers from allover the state, who might like to benefit from the writing.The concepts of Decentralization & Equality are integral part of theArunachali culture and hence, in real sense, the Panchayati Raj Institute isnot an alien institution to us . The institution of Gaon Buras, an integral part ofour Arunachali society, is an example of democratic self governance . Forhundreds of years the Gaon Buras in Arunachal Pradesh have served thestate on developmental and judicial matters and are still retaining theirimportance!On one hand the Gaon Bura system is centuries old while on the otherhand we have the Panchayat Raj institute, which is in its infant stage inArunachal Pradesh. Without the active support from these two institutes, nodevelopmental program can be successful in Arunachal Pradesh.However it is observed, that the GB/PRIs are not fully aware about theirroles and responsibilities and hence these institutes are not delivering theresults to the expected level. In fact it has been observed that althoughwomen PRI members desire to come forward, there is a lack of awareness.The various centrally sponsored programmes such as SSA, NRHM,Disaster Management etc require that the planning should be initiated at thevillage level and then integrated with the state level plans. However it hasbeen observed that villagers are not taking interest in the affairs of VillageEducation Committees or Village Health Committees or Village DisasterManagement Committees neither they are monitoring the performance ofvillage level institutes such as Anganwadi centres.Developmental issues are very close to our heart, especially theGovernment. Administration is deeply concerned about Health & Hygiene,Sanitation, Safe Drinking Water, Immunisation, Drug De-addiction, DisasterManagement etc.