KOCHI: The delegates at the ongoing BRICS conference in Kochi on ‘Participatory local budgeting’ have expressed admiration for Mararikulam South Grama Panchayat, which has over 50 per cent representation of women and comprehensive projects for women and children. On the second day of the conference, the delegates visited Alappuzha municipality, Kumarakom, Nudumbassery, Thalikkulam and Mararikulam panchayats.
As many as 21 delegates visited the panchayat to study various pilot projects, including ‘Manasa’ and ‘Balakairali,’ which focus on improving the educational standards and ‘Sthree Souhruda Gramam’ aimed at safety of women. Mararikulam was the first panchayat to start the ‘Sthree Souhruda Gramam’ (Women-friendly village), under the gender budgeting concept. The key factor associated with gender budgeting is that panchayats should act as the model for women safety and gender equality.
Dr R. Jayaprakash, project coordinator of ‘Manasa’ in his brief presentation pointed out that the project identified 147 scholastically backward students from impoverished socio-economic backgrounds and conducted group counselling for them and their parents. “Around 54 percent of students showed an improvement in their performance. The total expenditure of the project was Rs 4.5 lakh, which was solely funded by the panchayat,” he said. The delegates also visited the project sites, including Balakairali and Preethikulangara Government LP School. Swarup Das, one of the BRICS delegates, said that these projects were quite impressive and the model could be adopted nationwide.
