Nexus of Good Award: Catalysing change

The district administration of Dantewada is the proud recipient of the Nexus of Good Award, 2023. Under the inspired leadership of its District Collector, Vinit Nandawar, the district has attempted to reach out to remote villages through ‘Nidaan Shivir’ (diagnostic camps). The district administration has worked out a strategy to resolve the problems and demands of villagers. Under this innovative and well defined framework, the administration has reached out to the people in villages that are considered to be extremely sensitive.

Dantewada is a tribal-dominated district with a 76.9 per cent Scheduled Tribe (ST) population of Madia, Muriah, Dhurwa, Halba, Bhatra, and Gond tribes. Dantewada is also immensely affected by the Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) activities. On account of its remoteness and deeply entrenched extremist activities, Dantewada has been performing poorly in the context of all the development indicators. The literacy rate in the district is 42 per cent (Census 2011). Nearly 50 per cent of children aged 0-6 years are malnourished and 60 per cent of women in the age group of 15-60 are anaemic (NFHS-V). The livelihood in the district is mostly farm- and forest-oriented. The agriculture is rain-fed. This increases community dependency on forests. The simple-minded and innocent tribal people of the district have not yet developed competitive business acumen.

The people of this region have a poor understanding of government policies and schemes. The threat of Left-Wing extremism in the past decades has also contributed to the limited government outreach to the last mile. Despite the efforts of many administrators in the past, the existing systems were not able to effectively facilitate the community's awareness and access to the benefits of government policies.

The revenue records needed updation in numerous villages. In Dantewada, with predominant tribal inhabitation, land conflicts in terms of mutation, removing the names of the deceased, partition, etc. are common. People are also not very well informed about the benefits that can be obtained from caste certificates. This prevents many students from using welfare assistance like scholarships, rebates in fees, and reservations in educational institutes and employment.

In addition to the above, the slow process of getting assistance, and the problems associated with negotiating complex processes in the departments made it difficult for people to trust the paperwork and procedure. This situation detered people from acquiring benefits. To bridge these gaps, Nidaan Shivir was implemented.

The administration implemented Nidaan Shivir (Diagnosis camps) in remote villages across the district. The key to success of these camps was meticulous preparation. The objective was to make these villages Rajswa Vivadmukta (revenue dispute-free). Apart from this, caste certificates of all the school-going were to be prepared. Additionally, all the grievances of villagers were to be collected, enumerated with an objective to proactively address them.

It was strategized that the field staff of departments would actively work and reach out to people to resolve all the matters of contention. A date would be decided for Nidaan Shivir of villages in a cluster, where all the district officials would be present. A department-wise review of performance would be done by the District Collector in the presence of the community, along with community feedback. It was also decided that strict actions would be taken against the staff whose work will not be up to the mark.

The Revenue Department was instructed to resolve all issues in the villages related to revenue. Field staff in the administration were to reach out to the beneficiaries in villages. The revenue office was required to update all land records under which mutation, partition, and demarcation had been done, and each record (khata) of the village was cross-checked by announcing Rights of Record (B1 vachan). Frontline staff was directed to emphasise the need, rationale, and importance of announcing Rights of Record, so that every revenue record was up-dated.

A similar strategy was developed for making caste certificates. The district administration started the process for issuance of the caste certificates, with the education department as the nodal agency for application submission. With the intention that the students should not lose out on the benefits of caste certificates, schools were assigned the responsibility to help fill up the application forms for their students by putting up all the necessary documents like Aadhar cards and report cards, and submitting the application in the Tehsil Office.

The task of issuing the caste certificates was undertaken by the revenue office. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s (SDM) office was directed to laminate the certificates before delivering them to the beneficiaries at their doorstep. The idea behind laminating the certificates was to enhance the longevity of the caste certificates.

Other departments were also moved into action. The social welfare department was directed to provide pensions to old age people, widows, and persons with disabilities. The health department was to ensure that the medicine box of Mitanins must have all the necessary medicines. The food department was directed to ensure the quality and quantity of food grains provided to the beneficiaries in the PDS shops.

The field staff of all the related departments reached out to the beneficiaries in villages before Nidaan shivir was conducted. Necessary ground work was done well before the appointed day for the ‘Sivir’. On the decided dates, the District Collector reviewed the performances of departments in the villages and asked for community feedback.

With such a pragmatic initiative of the District Administration, Dantewada achieved a milestone in 2022-23, delivering 20,120 caste certificates within a year. 50 villages in the entire district were declared revenue conflict-free (Rajswa Vivad-Mukt) village. A total of 1,369 cases were resolved in these villages related to land conflicts.

The district administration has now set the target of issuance at 12,135 caste certificates for FY 2023-24. A target of 85 more villages to be made revenue conflict-free (rajswa vivad-mukt) in the year 2023-24 has also been set.

The initiative of Nidaan Shivir has seen unprecedented community participation in government camps. These camps have truly emerged as a platform of grievance redressal for the villagers, bridging the gap between Government and the community. With every voice being heard at the grassroots, this remarkable strategy has actualised proactive governance in Dantewada.

The model put in place at Dantewada is a wonderful example of Nexus of Good as it can be replicated and scaled through public-private partnership.

Views expressed are personal