In the context of the forthcoming elections in Haryana, which provides a context and an opportunity to raise and demand certain issues around devolution and get their inclusion in the agenda of different political parties, a one-day regional consultation was organised by Sanjha Kadam at Sky Lark Hotel, Panipat, Haryana, 12 September.

The consultation aimed to mobilise demand for devolution through participation of representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and elected representatives of several districts in the state. Mr. Kamleshwar Singh, Manager, PRIA, spoke on devolution, its importance in democracy, its current status in India, challenges in achieving it and citizens’ role in the whole process. The discussion revolved around how the participants can contribute towards demanding devolution and in what ways can the campaign for this could be taken forward. The participants voiced their concerns on issues like non-occurrence of Gram Sabha, no actions being taken on resolutions passed in Gram Sabha, decreasing female sex-ratio, low status of women and their low participation, poor service delivery mechanisms, etc. A number of suggestions were made on the possible ways to raise these concerns collectively. It was suggested to make a people’s agenda, incorporating all the issues, which can then be submitted to different political parties. It was decided to organise media interface at the block level and forming a core committee from among the representatives of the Sanjha Kadam (the association of the CSO representatives) to interface regularly with media persons, political party leaders, MLAs and other stakeholders. Shri. O.P. Kumar, ex-chairperson Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), Dr. Jitendra Prasad, Professor, M.D. University, Rohtak, Gram Panchayat Sarpanch, Panchayat Samiti Mukhiya and Zilla Parishad Adhyaksha and representatives of various CSOs were present at the consultation meeting.