THE DOON DECLARATION

We the elected women Panchayat Raj Functionaries and functionaries of Nagar Nigams / Nagar Palika from all the 13 districts of Uttaranchal, present at this the 5th OPEN FORUM, organised by RLEK and PRAGATI at Dehradun on 13th July, resolve and recommend, before the Government of Uttaranchal and the Central Government, for consideration the DOON DECLARATION.

The state has failed to devolve all the 29 departments to the panchayats as specified in the 11th Schedule of the 73rd Amendment and the 18 departments to urban local self-governance bodies as specified in the 12th Schedule of the 74th Amendment.

Misinformation has been given to the parliament that the Funds for 12 departments, Functions for 13 and Functionaries for 9 departments have been transferred in this state (37th Report of the Standing Committee on Urban and Rural Development, Appendix -V, Pg 111). However, at the ground level no devolution of power has taken place. We demand that not only should these departments be devolved at the earliest but a CBI enquiry should be set up to examine why false information has been given to the parliament. Those officers guilty of hindering the devolutions of power to the local bodies as well as those who have misinformed the parliament must be punished.

The government has also deliberately delayed the Panchayat elections in the state for nearly 2 years, which is reflective of the fact that the state government is not concerned about the interests of the women or SC/ST persons. During this period after dissolving the panchayats, the government appointed administrators who were given all powers, ranging from releasing funds, implementing, certifying, verifying and if there is any complaint to enquire. We feel that the government treasury has been robbed during these 2 years and we demand an audit enquiry by the CAG to punish those guilty.
Training programmes for elected women representatives should be organised separate from the males. This has even been recommended by the Standing Committee of the Parliament on Urban and Rural Development, comprising of members from both the houses of the parliament in the 37th report, "rural women are hesitant to attend training programmes along with the men. They therefore recommended that separate training programmes should be arranged for such women participants." (Pg 79)

Moreover, the government should not do trainings. We cannot expect the callous state government to provide us adequate trainings. Not only do the government officials have a highhanded approach and attitudinal differences but also the capacity building of women is their least priority. Trainings should be conducted by local NGOs, who have a good rapport with the women and have, in the past shown commitment for our cause.

Micro planning should be specially emphasised in the trainings, in order to enable the elected functionaries to prepare village development plans themselves rather than depend upon the government officials.
In the 11th schedule, "Minor Forest Produce, "Social forestry and Farm Forestry," and "Fuel and fodder." are amongst the 29 departments transferred to the panchayats. Thus, ideally this would mean that the women elected to the panchayats would play a key role in the management of the forests. However, instead of devolving powers to the panchayats, the government is creating parallel bodies in the form of Van Panchayats, Joint Forest Management Committee's etc. The government should immediately stop this and hand over the powers and responsibilities over the natural resources to the panchayats.

Nearly 70% of the population of Uttaranchal is directly or indirectly dependent upon the forests, yet the state has nearly 65% forest cover, in sharp contrast is the parent state of Uttar Pradesh, which has merely 4.46% forest cover. Infact, forty-four of the 70 districts in Uttar Pradesh have a forest cover of less then one percent, ten districts are pegged at having a green cover ranging from 1 to 5 percent. Yet another 10 districts fall under the 5-10 per cent category while two have been registered as having a forest cover of 15 per cent level. The high forest cover in Uttaranchal is due to the traditional systems of forest management by the local communities. It is an appalling fact that by the creation of parallel bodies the state government is disrupting the spirit of forest conservation by the local communities.
Not only is the Forest Policy violative of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment but also the Uttaranchal Panchayati Forest Rules 2001, enacted by the government, is anti people and anti women as it seeks to increase the government interference in the traditional Van Panchayats and also elected panchayats thus eroding the spirit of forest conservation by local communities.
The urban bodies such as the Nainital Development Authority (NDA), Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) and Special Area Development Authority (SADA) are nothing but parallel structures. These should be immediately disbanded and their work should be handed over to the elected bodies i.e. Nagar Nigam / Nagar Palika and Zilla Panchayats.
Only stamps are given to the Panchayat pradhans and "basta" remains with the panchayat secretaries. This means that all the records, documents and chequebooks remain with the Panchayat secretaries and the pradhans remain as mere titular head.

Under the 73rd Amendment the powers have been vested with the pradhans, however in blatant contempt of the Constitution the government is actually taking away the powers from the Pradhans and marginalising them.
The Confidential Report (CR) of the Panchayat Secretaries, Block Development Officers and District Panchyat Raj Officers, should be prepared by the Gram Pradhans, Block Pramukhs and Zilla Panchayat Adhyakshs, respectively.
As per Article 243 ZD (1) and (2) of the Constitution, a District Planning Committee should be constituted in every State at the District level and the elected members of the panchayats and municipalities should be elected to the committees. These committees are apex bodies with regard to decision-making regarding district planning. We demand that such committees should be formed in Uttaranchal at the earliest and a senior IAS officer should be deputed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the committees in each district. The CEO should work under the Mayor or Zilla Panchayat Adhyaksh.
The Nagar Panchayat Act and the Panchayat Raj Act are being prepared for this state without consulting the women at all. The bureaucrats are done the work on these acts secretly, and we the elected women, who are the key stakeholders in the panchayats, are not being informed.

We demand that there should be transparency in the formulation of these acts and that they should be debated before the Vidhan Sabha passes them.
The "Health Committees" under the panchayats should be strengthened such that they are able to monitor the PHCs and report to the government. These committees should have at least 50% female members.
The elected functionaries have to go to the block offices or district headquarters quite frequently in relation to the work. However, the state government is not providing travelling allowance of any kind for the functionaries, who have to spend from their own pockets. This poses serious impediments to our work. The state government should realise that in other states the panchyat functionaries do get travelling allowance therefore this provision should also be made in Uttaranchal with immediate effect.
We demand changes in law regarding the passing of no confidence motions against panchayat pradhans. Since the entire Gram Sabha elects the Pradhans, therefore a mere 2/3rd majority in the Gram Panchayat should not remove them. Instead, 2/3rd majority should pass a no confidence motion against the pradhans in the entire Gram Sabha.
We demand that State Women's Commission should be immediately formulated in Uttaranchal for redressing of the issues and problems confronting the women of this hill state.
We also demand that just like the 33% reservation for women in panchayats there should also be a 33% reservation for women in the police force.