GAIRSAIN, A SMALL TOWN located in the middle of the Kumaon and Garhwal hills in Uttarakhand, is home to a very young group of change agents- school and college children- who, motivated by the Sri Bhuvneshwari Mahila Ashram (SBMA), an NGO, are working towards a new vision for their community. The children (ages 13-18) work on a whole lot of issues through their small groups called bal panchayats.

"The idea of bal panchayats emerged from children's camps organized by the SBMA in 1997. The idea was to inculcate values and to develop children potential managers of society and have a sense of community ownership," says project manager Suresh Balodi.

This was further nurtured by Plan International in 2001 and in the same year the first bal panchayat came into existence. Today there are 176 of them operating around Gairsain.

Bal Panchayats

A bal panchayat's main role is to channel the energies and talents of the hill children. The children meet once a month. The sanchar mantri on the communication minister communicates the day, time and place of the meeting to all the members, usually 20-30 in number.

Different panchayats have evolved different ways to communicate their message. Mahendra Singh of village Kalyana Talla climbs up a centrally located tree in the village and shots to everyone the day and time of the bal panchayat. This panchayat is presided over by the adhyaksh (president). Discussions are held on various issues. Members decide appropriate course of action like holding a meeting with villagers, approaching members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) or volunteering for cleanliness drives, etc.

Through meetings and cultural programmes these children try to sensitize villagers. Recently, bal panchayat members got together and constructed a playground for children. Unlike the plains, hill children do not have open spaces for play. "Bal panchayat member selected a place – a hilly area part of which they leveled with their own hands. It took more than four months to level it," said Kanchani Devi, a villager. "When we saw them work hard, we decided to join them."

The village panchayat also supported them, says Man Singh Rawat, the village Pradhan Pati (husband of the village pradhan ). The children received Rs. 40,000 from SBMA for construction of a boundary wall. School headmaster J.R. Joshi appreciates the good work of the bal panchayat. At least 15 dropouts from the school have rejoined.

Taking up local issues

Village Dharapani has 40 families, and 30 children are already in the bal panchayat headed by Divya. This one handles the same issues that other bal panchayats do. Many members are also part of the Umang group of SBMA that deals with media sensitization. One such member, Balwant Singh, is also an instructor in the computer centre called Nanda Devi Village Knowledge Centre set up by SBMA with the help of the village panchyaat. Pradhan Khem Singh Paliwal has arranged for four computers in the centre. "The pradhan was convinced of the need for a computer education for the children and he extended a helping hand, "say Susheela and Dhana, two village children.

The two-room building is provided by the panchayat. The four instructors don't charge any salary. Currently 20 students come to the centre and pay Rs. 75 a month as fee. The bal panchayat has also campaigned against dowry and promoted water conservation. This bal panchayat has also active members who are part of Umanag. Narendra Singh Rawat, a reporter for Umang participates in the activities of bal panchayat as well.

Laxman from Mehalchouri village, is the bal panchayat Upadhyaksh. His bal panchayat has worked on alcoholism, and campaigned for health and hygiene, gender equality, water conservation, registration of births, etc.

A portion of the bank of Ramganga river was extremely filthy and nothing was done about it for a long time. Members of bal panchayat approached traders who had shops nearby to enable them to clean up the area, which is used as a playground by the children, the traders started maintaining the patch and have promised to keep it clean.

To fight against alcoholism, Laxman created comic characters and ran a series on different wall posters. "The impact of these comics was such that the people stopped drinking of alcohol in public, which is a remarkable achievement for the bal panchayat," said Chandramani Uniyal of the village.

Exposure to governance

Farkunde village was the first one to have a bal panchayat has to climb about an hour. The children have a good rapport with village leaders. They have campaigned against alcoholism, gender discrimination and promoted safe motherhood. The commendable achievement of this bal panchayat is its success in mobilizing the gram panchayat. It is rated as one of the best around.

This bal panchayat has 36 members of whom 13 are boys and the remaining, girls. Many of its members are over 18 and active members of Umang. It has a small office of its own with a small library of books given by SBMA. The young panchayat members – Jyoti, Seema, Amita, Babita, Sangeeta, Mahesh, Rakesh and Roop Singh – seem confident and aware about things around them. They all are also part of the Umang team.

"People used to drink openly and fight with each other. We decided to impose a fine of Rs. 50. Every one stopped drinking and rioting at open places in fear of giving a fine," told Jyoti who is a part of the Umang team now.

Deepa and other bal panchayat members approached the village pradhan Kalyan Singh with a bottle of liquor complaining of increasing alcoholism because of a bhatti (distillery) there.

"I first warned the bhattiwalah and when he didn't pay heed to my warning I initiated his arrest that resulted in the closure of his bhatti, "says the pradhan.

The panchayat has also helped in setting up the computer centre here and the children have represent their issues in the village panchayat. Pradhan Hira Singh Phaniyal invites the members of bal panchayat to raise their issues in the meeting of gram Panchayat. The suggestions given by the bal panchayat are included by him in the action plan of the village panchayat.

From time to time the village panchayat also gives financial support to the young group on events such as decorations on wedding parties. etc. Here the bal panchayat members decorate the homes where weddings are taking place. The children use folk music and dance to educate people against felling of trees, alcoholism, dowry and made them aware of disease like AIDS, TB and diarrhoea.

"The library given to the bal panchayat by SBMA regularly gets magazines like Pratiyogita Darpan, Vigyan Aviskar," says Adhyaksh Rakesh. The books and magazines are only issued to bal panchayat members. "In order to test that whether the students are using the books, we have also conducted a GK quiz for children of age group 10-14 and away prizes to the winners."

"We also came out with a publication Mujhe Kuch Kehna hai to raise our problems but it could not survive long," says Jyoti, former president. They also support the members if they come across some serious problem. "We gave Rs. 500 from our bal kosh when the father of one member was seriously ill."

Catalysts for change

Bal panchayats were formed not only to give exposure to the hill children and their personality development but also to use them as catalysts for change," says Suresh. In the villages of Kalyana Malla, Kalyana Talla and Hislani, these bal panchayats have constructed their own playgrounds.

The bal panchayats have also contributed in making khals. A khal is made on the hills for water conservation; it is a 10 X 6 m pit where rainwater is collected. This is an effective method of water conservation in the hills and can also be used by animals for drinking. "Though the cost of making a khal is Rs. 10,000, about 20 children make it within 2-3 days without any money," said Ramswaroop Paliwal of SBMA. The NGO gives Rs. 1,000 to each of the bal panchayat members as reward for making khal.

Sports activities of bal panchayats are organized at the cluster level. This gives exposure to children to plan things and also helps to thing big. The children also get to meet senior government officials, which builds their confidence. "We have concentrated on the panchayats and tried to ensure that our bal panchayats work in co-ordination with the gram panchayats and play important role in the development of their respective villages," says Suresh.

Children of bal panchayats are confident and full of life. But the participation of girls is higher than boys. "Parents expect girls to work while the boys are allowed to play freely," said Pooja of Kalyana Talla.

Challenges

Bal panchayat members have worked hard on their own but have largely failed to motivate other people in their villages. They have access to the gram panchayat and are treated well by them. The hilly terrain does restrict their work, and even SBMA activists are not able to take care of their problems effectively at times as contacting each group involves a lot of time.

"We try our best to mobilize people of each village but we take more time to reach a village as we walk everywhere," says Purohit, a field worker of SBMA. He also adds that due to tough living conditions here, women have to work for almost 18 hours in a day. Girls bear the burden of work right from childhood.

Evolution: The Umang group

"In 2005, SBMA decided to take a plunge into the media by involving children and youths. A need to sensitize children and to train then to use media skills and tools to raise their problems strongly was felt," says Suresh. In the 'Amazing Kids' project of Plan some children were identified and trained on media issues. They learnt to file stories, specific case studies, conceptualize comics, draw cartoons, make radio programmes and digital stories. Finding a potential in these children, it was decided that these skills should be developed and publicized, and hence Umang came into existence in 2005-06.

Umang and the bal panchayats work in tandem. A team of 10 youth and 20 children was picked up to start Umang, a monthly news magazine. Not it has a core team of 43 children comprising of an editorial board through about 1,300 children are associated with it, and many are members of bal panchayats. The editor of Umanag is Deepa, a young member of the group and other important members of the board are Deepak Saha, Vandana and Luxmi. It has a team of reporters and photographers who are trained for the job. A point person however monitors the work of the team.

Umang group bring trained in photography

Powerful voice of community radio

Members of the Umang core group have also received training in community radio programming. So far about 20 programmes have been made by the group on issues such as dowry, liquor abuse, child labour, illiteracy, safe motherhood, cleanliness, etc. These were narrowcast (played on tape recorders in village gatherings) from time to time for the rural public. "Though none were recorded here, now they are having their own studio in which they would be able to record programs here itself," says a SBMA representative. In addition to narrowcasting, the programmes are also broadcast by the Najibabad centre of All India Radio twice a month.

In a little over a year, the Umang group has emerged as an effective tool of the children to fight with their problems and bring forth the important issues. Besides through the own publication Umang has crept into the lives of the children and youths of these 13 blocks.

"Children in hills are worst affected and are deprived of almost everything. They were not exposed to skills which now they have known through Umang," said Purushottam Asnora, a senior journalist of a Hindi daily. Now a change is being witnessed in these children: They are developing different skills and have started knowing the world outside the Himalayas.

Members of Umang getting to work in their office