I am Thandapani, and I am a differently abled person. I live at K Keeranaur, Dindigul District, with my wife Abirami and two children. I was introduced to Sattamedhai Ambedkar Sangam in 2018, and my wife and I registered ourselves as members. As we were proactively involved in the works of the Sangam, my wife was asked to be the Treasurer of the local unit. In unit meetings, a lot of useful information was shared. In the last few months, the focus of the meetings has been on how to effectively participate in Gram Sabhas. I learnt how to submit petitions demanding basic needs and how to find out how much money was allocated to our panchayat using the E-Gram Swaraj app.

Earlier, whenever we submitted petitions, the routine answer by the officials was ‘finance crunch’, and no development work happened. We never knew about the budget. After learning the E-Gram Swaraj app, I studied the budget allocation to our panchayat. Then submitted petitions for repairing houses, providing drinking water and streetlights, constructing a marriage hall etc. The officials understood that I was submitting petitions with budget details in hand. As a result, without any excuse, old colony houses were repaired. A new marriage hall is being constructed. All these changes are possible as we were taught by Sattamedhai Ambedkar Sangam officials on how to demand accountability from Panchayats with evidence.

– Mrs. Kaleeswari, Field Work Staff, Sattamedhai Ambedkar Sangam