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----------------------------------------------------------------------- Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service & circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network (GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ph:2252660 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forum of women councilors, panchayat members mooted ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Women elected representatives and activists have mooted the idea that a registered forum of women councilors and panchayat members be formed to serve as a support mechanism for one another and also to get training imparted in the various aspects of their field.
At a workshop of women municipal councillors of Panjim, Margao, Vasco and Ponda held on Wednesday on "Empowering Women in Local Self Government' convened by the Bailancho Saad, it was recommended that a forum of elected women representatives be started, which would rise above party considerations, to analyse the problems faced by them and collectively tackle those which are difficult to handle individually.
According to Patricia Pinto, councilor of the Panjim municipal council, one of the major problems faced is that a councilor becomes fully conversant with what her duties are only after quite a bit of her tenure is over.
In order to tackle this problem, it was recommended that this forum should impart knowledge about the way the Municipality or Panchayat works, including all the relevant laws, duties, budgetary allocations and schemes available. This forum could have the involvement of NGOs, researchers, and resource persons to disseminate knowledge.
It was also recommended that the Panjim Municipal Council form a Community Developmental Society (CDS), without which, none of the schemes offered by the Goa State Urban Development Agency can be taken advantage of for people below the poverty line.
According to Morad Ahmed, Member Secretary of this agency, the Panjim Municipal Council has not availed of a single of these schemes for people below the poverty line, and in fact, it is not clear if the PMC has a CDS or not.
According to Ahmed, whether or not a particular group can avail of the schemes available depends on the CDS, whose responsibility it is to see that the scheme percolates down to the grass root level.
The workshop had invited Radhika Naik, former Chairperson of the Ponda Municipal Council to talk on her experiences in local governance. Radhika stressed on the importance of building up a woman's capacity, to have a thorough knowledge of everything her job entails. She said that 'empowerment' of women will come only with knowledge of all aspects of the council work.
She emphasised the importance of women knowing all the relevant Acts, whether Municipality or Panchayat, the schemes, facilities, implementation and all other details related to their office backwards. She also spoke of the importance of implementing the various programmes on time, as only after the completion of the required project could further funds be obtained. She said that she had observed that women are more concerned as compared to men about how they will answer to those who have elected them.
Radhika also called upon women to rise above party politics, and not to depend only on State grants - Central grants also being available. Politics, she felt, were only "mental blocks", rather than actual hurdles. "The spirit of local governance is in the autonomy of the local body", she told the councilors, advising that they should be an independent entity, which can be seen as a force to reckon with. Talking about the character of women in general, she said that it has been proven beyond doubt that they are less corrupt, more sincere and have been able to identify with problems at the grass root level better than men. -------------------- Herald 20/2/03 --------------------
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