Adivasi saathis have shaken up the system

This has been a defunct blog but we could not resist this post. Meanwhile Doosra Dashak also started a print newsletter (you can go their website and register to get it if you like).


So coming back to why we were shaken into reviving the blog:


Rajasthan held Panchayat elections whose results were announced in February 2010. As you know, Doosra Dashak saathis have been involved in voter education campaigns from the beginning. Doosra Dashak has been particularly concerned by the hijacking of the adivasi agenda by corrupt incumbents. And since the program works mainly in remote adivasi areas, the saathis from these areas have grown into formidable community leaders. This includes not just the youth but also members of the Mahila Samoohas (wormen's groups).


During the last Panchayat elections many Doosra Dashak saathis realized that they were educating voters on the ills of a system which they had the power to change. So some of them contested elections and few became panchs (ward members). That was then. Over the last few years Doosra Dashak's leadership in the areas it works has become a socio-political force. In every area there are specific issues, but overriding all others is the issue of eroding moral fibre and use of large money in elections (to be recovered when the contestant wins).


During the Jan-Feb 2010 elections 22 saathis contested for the position of sarpanch (head of the panchayat) and 12 won!! 160 others contested for the panch positions and 148 - one hundred and 148 - have won! All those who have won are in adivasi areas - Doosra Dashak saathis lost all seats in the non-adivasi areas. The election platform is - clean elections and better implementation of government programs.

Doosra Dashak is part of a consortium of NGOs and NGO led programs whose members and associates have contested the last Panchayat elections. The solidarity amongst these groups is unusual.

What does this mean for a social movement? What can we expect? What do you think?