Will a local body provide compensation for stray dog bite? Can a panchayat member work abroad after he has been elected to a local administrative body? What are the duties and responsibilities of a panchayat president? These queries seem simple to answer, but they are difficult to answer for many, including many a member of three-tier local administrative bodies.
The Panchayat Talk Series, a comprehensive awareness YouTube channel programme on the three-tier system of local government launched by Junaid Kaippani, member of Wayanad District Panchayat from the Vellamunda division, focuses on answering queries from the public.
Though the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act was enacted in 1994, most members of the public are not aware of details like the duties and responsibilities of a local administrative body member and incentives provided by a grama panchayat to citizens, said Mr. Kaippani, who is also the welfare standing committee chairman of the district panchayat. “I have been providing such useful information in each of my series, lasting two to three minutes, to the public, including local body members,” he said.
As many as 21,900 local administrative body members are elected every five years to grama panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities, and corporations, but most of them do not have a clear-cut idea of their duties and responsibilities, he said. “When I was elected a year ago, I was also faced with such issues. Later, I learned that many an elected member was facing such issues, and it inspired me to launch the programme,” Mr. Kaippani said.
A postgraduate in commerce and psychology, he said he had completed a course in “Decentralisation and Local Body Administration” offered jointly by KILA and Sree Narayana Guru Open University for interested local administrative body members, and it helped him begin the web series.
“I gathered useful tips for the public after referring books and court orders regarding issues I would like to discuss in the episodes in the coming days,” Mr. Kaippani said, adding that the programme, launched around nine months ago, was nearing 200 episodes.
