Context: The root of this campaign was the grassroots campaign on PESA and water issues launched by PRIA in

collaboration with Arghyam and four CSO partners during April-June 2013, and the district consultations held

during August –September 2013, as part of the Action Research intervention in Chhattisgarh on water

management issues. As a precursor to the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections held on November 11 and November

19,2013 a political commitment campaign was launched on 24 August 2013,and continued till the second week

of November 2013, in nine districts of the state.

Campaign Focus: The campaign aimed at ensuring that all political parties made a commitment to strengthen

implementation of PESA provisions, especially in relation to the recognition of the rural tribal communities' rights to

control and manage water resources in the Schedule V areas.

Campaign Audience and Coverage: The campaign's primary audience were the representatives and members

of the different political parties. It included: members of political parties, state and district officials, state election

incharge, spokespersons, candidates for the assembly seats, especially in PESA constituencies, government

advisors, sitting MLAs, and all party MLCs. The political parties included national parties like the Bhartiya Janta

Party (BJP), Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), CPM and regional parties like Chhattisgarh Swabhiman

Manch, and the Gondwana Gantantra Party. Further it was also aimed at influencing the officials of the water

related line departments (i.e., PHED, and the Water Resource Department) and the Panchayati Raj Department.

The campaign also focussed on creating awareness and mobilising

support among the PRI members, CSOs, tribal community members

and leaders and media to build a countervailing force for engaging with

the political establishment. It was strategically designed as a two phase

intervention. During Phase 1 of the campaign, nine districts representing

Bilaspur, Raipur, Durg, Bastar and Surguja Division were covered.

During Phase 2 of the campaign the coverage was narrowed to focus

on the 17 VidhanSabha(VS) constituencies of the PESA areas of the

ninedistricts. These included 12 Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats,

which was 40 percent coverage of all ST Vidhan Sabha seats reserved

in Chhattisgarh.

Campaign Partners: The Chhattisgarh Jal Kendrit PESA Jagrukta

Manch (Chhattisgarh Water Centred PESA Awareness Forum)

spearheaded this campaign. The Manch is a forum of tribal leaders,

Facilitating Campaign to InfluencePolitical Parties on PESA and

Decentralised Water Management

practitioner notes

Campaign Overview

elected representatives, NGOs and social activists from 10 districts in Chhattisgarh (majority being under Schedule

V areas) which includes Raipur, Korba, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Surguja, Surajpur, Balrampur, Koriya, Durg and

Balod.

The Campaign had three distinct phases: the preparatory phase, the implementation phase and the follow up

phase.

(a) Campaign Planning

Constitution of the Chhattisgarh Jal Kendrit PESA Jagrukta Manch: The planning of the campaign was

undertaken during August 2013 and included

consultations with CSOs, social activists and PRI members

of 15 districts during the district level consultations held at

Kaker, Rajnandgaon and Surguja between Aug 24-29,

2013. A collaborative campaign strategy was evolved,

wherein the participating NGOs and PRI members agreed

to come together under the Chhattisgarh Jal Kendrit PESA

Jagrukta Manch and run the campaign under the banner

of the Manch.

Formulation of the Citizen's Charter of Demands: The

district consultations provided space to develop a Citizen's

Charter of Demands (Nagrik Mang Patra) on PESA and

water issues. The core committee of the Manch

representatives finalised the same. The Citizen's Charter

lists 10 key demands based on the experiences of tribal

community members, elected representatives and CSOs in

Chhattisgarh on the issues of water and the

implementation of PESA, 1996. The Charter of Demands

was then printed and widely circulated, to cover general

citizens as well as targeted areas.

(b) Campaign Implementation

The intensive campaign was run between September-November 2013.

First Phase Strategy (September 2013)

Engagement with Political Party Representatives: In the first phase of the campaign, the Citizen's Charter

of Demands was shared with key representatives of political parties at the state level and across nine

districts to ensure inclusion of the Citizen's Charter in the election manifestoes of the parties. It included

meeting the representatives of the political parties, explaining the citizen's demands to them and getting

their assurance that the Citizen's Charter of Demands would be included in the manifesto of the party. In

addition a memorandum of demand was prepared by the Manch members and given to key political leaders

at the national and state level.

Wide dissemination of the Citizen's Charter of Demands: In addition, about 6000 copies of the Citizen's

Charter of Demands was shared with panchayat members, tribal leaders and tribal community members of

the nine districts so as to engage them in building pressure on political parties. The distribution strategy

included undertaking individual discussions, holding village level meetings in identified panchayats with the

2

Facilitating Campaignto Influence Political Parties on PESA and Decentralised Water Management

Participatory Research in Asia

Campaign Design

3

tribal community, their leaders and PRI members and sharing and discussing the Citizen's Charter and the

need for and ways to engage with political party representatives. To ensure wider outreach the Citizen's

Charter of Demands was also circulated via the local newspaper vendors.

Engagement with Media: An essential component of the campaign was engagement with the state and

district media to enhance the outreach of

the campaign, and build sustained pressure

on the political parties as well as the water

and Panchayati Raj related departments. In

addition to individually sharing and briefing

the district and state level media (both print

and electronic) about the political

commitment campaign, structured

interaction was also planned through press

conferences. In all two press conferences

were organised at the district level at Korba

and Rajnandgaon District and one press

conference at the state level.

Second Phase Strategy (October-November 2013)

In the second phase, after the political parties had

declared their list of candidates, the Forum members

facilitated dialogue and interaction with the potential

candidates in 17 selected Vidhan Sabha constituencies

on the issues listed in the Citizen's Charter of

Demands. Five panchayats were identified in each

constituency and from each selected panchayata few

panchayat elected representatives and tribal citizen

leaders were mobilised to engage with their Vidhan

Sabha constituency candidates on the Citizen's Charter

of Demands in the five divisions of Surguja, Bilaspur,

Raipur, Durg and Bastar Divisions.

(c) Post Campaign

Post the State Assembly elections, the manifestoe of the political parties, especially those of the BJP,

Congress and the Third Front were analysed at the state level to study the inclusion of PESA and tribal

communities control over water resources. The analyses and findings were also shared with the local media.

Further information sharing and discussion with the Forum members is underway and efforts are being

made to continue engagement with the elected political representatives of these 17 Vidhan Sabha

constituencies on the issue of ensuring the community's control over and management of water resources.

Making PESA implementation and rights over water management an election issue: The wide

dissemination of about 6000 copies of the Citizen's Charter of Demands in 13 districts helped to create

awareness among the diverse groups on the key campaign message and include it as an important

election issue. Nearly 20 media news items related to the political campaign and the Citizen's Charter of

Demand shave been published in various media at different locations. An environment to press for the

effective implementation of PESA and to recognise the rights of the rural tribal communities to control and

manage water resources in Schedule V areas thus was craeted.

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Practitioner Notes

Key Outcome of the Campaign

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decentralised water management: Of the total 986 candidates contesting elections for all 90 constituencies

of the legislative assembly, around 100 political leaders/contesting candidates, across party lines, were

contacted and sensitised during the various activities of the political campaign in the 17 constituencies of

Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. In a number of constituencies, especially in Surguja District, the

contesting candidates gave an assurance that they would work on the demands made in the Citizen's

Charter of Demands if they win the election.

Inclusion of campaign demand in party election manifesto: The Chhattisgarh Sanyukt Morcha (an alliance

of 6 political parties) has clearly mentioned in its manifesto that it will ensure the proper implementation of

PESA and will provide safe drinking water. The BJP has also mentioned in their election manifesto that they

will enhance the powers of the excluded community over the Jal, Jangal and Jamin (water, forest and land)

and will strengthen the PRI system.

Get the campaign message, target group, coverage, and timing right: For this a clear and planned

strategy is required. For example in Phase 2 of the current campaign focus on 17 constituencies helped to

structure the campaign activity.

Use diverse and innovative influence tools to get your campaign message heard and addressed: Influence tools in the political campaign case included the Citizen's Charter of Demands, signed

memorandums, media, press conferences, individual meetings, delegations of platform members etc.

Apply pressure at each level and use all influence spaces: To make an impact, it helps to create pressure

from all sides and at each level. For example to influence the manifesto building process, pressure was

applied at all levels with the political party-district, state and national. Use all spaces, including the online

space, to get your message across.

Use media strategically: The media play a vital role in creating awareness and raising issues so the media

needs to be involved strategically. At the time of preparing for the campaign, there should be a separate

media strategy for their involvement.

Sensitisation and assurance of political party candidates on the issues of PESA implementation and

Supported by :

Participatory Research in Asia

PRIA is an International Centre for Learning and Promotion of Participation and Democratic Governance

AuthorMr Mahesh Dhandole is Sr. Programme Officer at PRIA.

© PRIA, March 2014

This publication has been brought out under the PRIA programme titled “Action Research on Implementation of Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA), 1996 in Chhattisgarh (with special focus on water).”

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