Panchayats & Participatory Futures: Local Self-Governance & Water in Aluru

Course Brief

Abstract

How does a Gram Panchayat—the fundamental unit of democratic self-governance, and closest to the people—plan, build, maintain and sustain infrastructures of and for its public? In this course we will explore this question in the context of water infrastructures within the Aluru gram panchayat area. We will do this through intense, collaborative and in-situ making.

We have been mapping the public water infrastructures of Aluru Panchayat in close collaboration with the members of the Village Water and Sanitation Committee. It includes the various check-dams of Sowparnika Lift Irrigation Scheme, the water tanks and pipelines of Jal Jivan Mission, public open wells and rainwater harvesting ponds, ponds constructed via the MNREGA schemes, etc. Key provocations that emerged are:

1. What are and could be the static and dynamic forms of information linked to water systems that could support ongoing practices of local self-governance of water?

2. In what ways static & dynamic information can be added to, annotated and analysed by the local communities and stakeholders across departments?

3. What forms a public dashboard could take to help local communities and stakeholders across departments navigate and negotiate with their different matters of concerns of water governance?

We invite you to respond to these provocations through a scaffolded learning over a three-day, 30 hours make-a-thon. You will be facilitated to work in teams to firstly engage with participatory mapping to gather layers of rich information about public water infrastructures of Aluru. Following which you will explore the possibilities of a diverse set of stakeholders and community members to engage with such information through mocking up public speculative dashboards. Engaging the diverse communities of the place with the mock-ups, in digital, physical, spatial forms, will make visible for us the historic, current and possible practices of local self-governance of public water infrastructure.

Key words

Rural Public Infrastructure, Gram Panchayat System, Local Self-Governance, Mapping, Making Visible, Water Infrastructure, Water Governance, Speculative Making.

Objective of the course

Since 2023, we have been working in the Kundapura regions, with seven Gram Panchayats—Aluru, Chitturu, Iduru Kunjadi, Keradi, Hakladi, Hemmadi, and Vandse—with the focus of setting a ground to shift from welfare model to care-based model of local self-governance. Through a place-based, practice-driven approach, we have learned much about how a gram panchayat works. We believe that a world of possibilities exist for systems to support the ongoing practices of decision making and local self-governance at this most fundamental level. We have structured this course, as a part of a larger series, with a central objective of learning how a gram panchayat works: how are decisions made and how does participatory self-governance comes to be in practice?

In this offering we ground this intent in the specific context of how water as a public commons and its infrastructure is governed within Aluru Panchayat. Water as a public commons, encompasses infrastructures for not only irrigation and domestic usage, but also for fishing and feeding of other lifeforms, both domesticated and wild. How are these infrastructures planned, built and maintained? Who is involved in the decision making and at what stages? We will explore these questions through intense, collaborative and speculative making of public dashboards. The key objectives driving the learning in the course are:

• Understand what constitutes public water infrastructure in rural areas and the role of the gram panchayat and its various actors in planning, building and maintaining the infrastructure.

• Engage with collaborative mapping and speculative making as an approach to learn about both, local self-governance of public water infrastructure and the role of systems that support local participatory decision making.

Learning Outcomes

• Learning to map with multiple media, the water infrastructures within a panchayat area to gather and organise public information connecting the infrastructure to the panchayat related processes of water governance.

• Learning to collaboratively make speculative information dashboards as learning artifacts to engage with a diverse set of stakeholders and members of the public.

• Reflecting through the mapping and making process to understand the nuances of water governance within a Panchayat and the role of systems supporting local participatory decision making.

What you bring?

This course does not require any prior training or technical background. What matters most is your orientation:

• Curiosity to learn about participatory local self-governance and the role of public information.

• Willingness to making artifacts and working with multiple forms of media: writing, sketching, photography, sound, video, mapping, etc.

• Willingness to walk, map, listen, observe and learn collectively while working long hours in groups in a make-a-thon format.

• Openness to sharing the artifacts made and the learning reflections with the public of the place inviting critique and co-learning.

• Learners who have a background in public policy, creative practices across media, open street mapping, information and database work, or any related practices are encouraged to apply to this course.

What will you make?

At the end of the make-a-thon you will be making a specific digital-physical-spatial form of a public information dashboard about the water infrastructures of Aluru Panchayat. While some of the information will be gathered from the place and other secondary sources, some will be speculative. The visualisation of the information will be oriented to evoke a diverse set of stakeholders of the place to share nuances of how the water infrastructure is governed in practice, thereby making visible the nuances practices of local self-governance. The making will be in group and will be facilitated through a series of scaffolding sessions and resources.

Beyond the make-a-thon, there will be a possibility for you to continue to work in collaboration with the Aluru Panchayat and Living Labs Institute towards realising your idea to support participatory local self-governance practices.

Learning modes

The primary mode of learning will be making, structured as a in-place make-a-thon. Making will happen in groups, and in response to specific provocations mentioned in the brief, which will be fleshed out through the following specific learning modes:

• Walking, drawing, sketching, mapping and annotating physically, in place.

• Guided Conversations with key collaborators from the Village Water and Sanitation Committee, Aluru Panchayat elected members, members of the public, engineers of irrigation department, etc.

• Learning cases of speculative dashboards and critical making.

• Public engagement via exhibition.

Course Fee

The course is free of facilitation & material costs.

The costs of accommodation and food, local transport, and travel to and fro Venue has to be covered by the learners.

Costs to be covered by learners

1. Accommodation & Food: For this course, we are organising accommodation for four nights along with breakfast and dinner at the Namma Bhoomi Campus near Kundapura. This will also be the place of making and working in-between field visits. Once the learners are short-listed, we will make the booking at the campus. Namma Bhoomi charges ~750 INR per head per day on a twin sharing basis. This amount has to be paid by the learner directly to Namma Bhoomi on check-out.

2. Local Transport: There will be costs of local transport using shared autos, which will be organised. The cost will be about 500 INR per learner per day.

3. Travel to and fro Venue: Learners need to organise their own travel either by bus or train to Kundapura. They should reach the Venue by noon on 8th of March. Departure is post 7 pm on the 11th of March.

4. Cost of any equipment or other specific materials relevant to Learner’s practice. We recommend the learners to carry any specialised equipments or materials with them to Kundapura.