The Madurai District Collector this week honoured the Kodikulam village panchayat with Rs 10 lakh for practising social harmony. A cheque for the amount has been handed over to the village’s Panchayat Chairperson, Vanitha. Collector Aneesh Shekhar has also announced that the development projects in the village will be given priority for the next one year.
In Tamil Nadu, every year since 2012, the Madurai district administration selects a village that does not adhere to untouchability and promotes religious and social amity, and that the panchayat is awarded Rs 10 lakh. According to the plan, there are about eight methods followed for selecting the village and a committee consisting of five people headed by the district collector has been functioning.
Accordingly, the Adi Dravidar and tribal people in the village should be able to freely access the public temple, drinking water well, shops, and hotels. The Adi Dravidar people should not be barred from fetching water from privately owned wells. Other community people in the village should not deny rental houses to the Adi Dravidar people. People from all communities should participate in festivities, sit together and dine. Also, the Adi Dravidar people should be invited to participate in other communities’ festivals. All communities should live in harmony and peace. The principle of abolition of untouchability should be politely adhered to by all people of that village.
The District Superintendent of Police who oversees a village that follows five or more of these rules makes recommendations to the committee headed by the Collector, and including the Project Director of the Rural Development Agency. Kodikulam village in Usilampatti of Madurai district was nominated for this year and it was approved by District Collector Aneesh Shekhar.
At the function, the people proudly said that the “two-tumbler system” had been abolished a hundred years ago in Kodikulam village. According to the system, when people from scheduled castes go to a tea shop, they are served in a separate tumbler meant for Dalits and not in the one used for upper-caste people. This policy is still prevalent in many villages in Tamil Nadu. The Kodikulam village is inhabited by 15 communities and all the people have been living in harmony since long following the steps required to eradicate untouchability, say locals.
District Collector Aneesh Shekhar, while addressing the function, said, “This award is given to the people for their solidarity and their aim is to continue to focus on the elimination of untouchability. Through this award, the residents of Kodikulam have set a benchmark for others to follow.”
He also announced that 100 women in the village will be given a special loan of Rs 20,000 each through women’s self-help groups and issued cheques to the beneficiaries. Furthermore, he added that a report is being prepared on the basic amenities of Kodikulam village and the focus will be on rural development for the next one year, and a separate honour will be awarded for transforming the place into a 100 per cent plastic-free village, and a complete village for water level maintenance in the next 12 months. He also suggested the panchayat administration use the prize money to lay roads, and build Anganwadi in the village.
Residents of Kodikulam also said that in their village, no one is referred to by their caste names. “People of all communities in our village will come in solidarity no matter who gets in trouble. No one will tell anyone to stay away. We have been educating our future generations about the abolition of untouchability,” they said.
Echoing this, Panchayat Chairperson Vanitha said, “We have no caste or religious differences, thus ensuring all sections of the population have equal access to basic facilities, including education and healthcare. We are happy to receive the honour from the Collector. With this amount, we are planning to carry out works including drinking water facilities, road facilities, and school building renovation,” she said.
In the presence of SP, RDO, DSP, and Assistant Director (Panchayats), the Collector handed over the cheque to the Panchayat Chairperson, and then appealed to the people of Kodikulam village to hold on to the goodwill which, he said, should be closely followed by other villagers too, win prizes, and improve the overall situation by raising awareness in areas where caste differences are high and change the identity of Madurai.
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