Clashes rocked TN as backward caste elite couldn't digest the poor's victory
A major reason for the recent caste clashes in southern districts of Tamil Nadu is
the inability of the entrenched backward caste rural elite to come to terms with the shift in balance of power towards the depressed castes and the poor whose candidates emerged victorious in last
year's panchayat elections.
This is one of the findings of a survey conducted by the New
Delhi-based Institute of Social Sciences and the Human
Rights Research and Advocacy Foundation on the social
background of panchayat members in Tamil Nadu.
The survey, covering 2,929 of the 104,167 elected local body members, revealed that the grassroot political leadership was decisively shifting towards a new class of young, literate, lower and middle income groups belonging to the depressed castes, poor and women. Most of these are first generation politicians, ISS director George Mathew said.
The survey indicated that 89 per cent of the respondents were
literate, 78 per cent had no previous political experience, 70
per cent were below 40 years, 67 per cent had annual income less
than Rs 12,000, 33 per cent belonged to the scheduled castes and 41 per
cent women including those who had won from general constituencies,
52 per cent were involved in agriculture with 23 per cent being
daily wage earners.
Mathew said the survey revealed that the respondents were
well exposed to the mass media.
More than two per cent of the respondents revealed that
vested interests were hampering them from discharging their
responsibilities, including attending official meetings, he
said. The murder of Communist Party of India-Marxist ward councillor Leelavathi in Madurai, who fought for drinking water supply, and
the murder of Melavalavu panchayat president Murugesan and
five others, all dalits, were clear pointers of this dangerous
trend, he added.
He said the findings of the survey would be handed over
to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Local Administration
Minister Ko Si Mani.
He praised the state government for allotting more
financial resources to the local bodies and vesting village
panchayat presidents with financial powers. However,
collectors had not convened the gram sabhas in their
respective districts even once during the last one year,
let alone thrice as stipulated in the Constitution.
He said the bill introduced in the state assembly to make
collectors as chairmen of the district planning committees
and district panchayat presidents as vice-chairmen was a
return to the collector raj. The step was violative of
the Constitution, he added.
UNI
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