Personal, socio-economic, organizational and communicational characters of Sarpanchs trained under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan

Introduction

The Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) is a flagship initiative aimed at strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and improving rural governance in India. Launched in 2018, RGSA focuses on empowering grassroots institutions like Panchayats by providing resources, training, and support to enhance their governance capabilities. The program promotes decentralized governance, enabling Panchayats to address local challenges effectively and deliver development initiatives tailored to community needs. RGSA emphasizes capacity building for Panchayat members, particularly Sarpanchs, through comprehensive training in financial management, project planning, and community engagement. It also encourages e-governance, accountability, and inclusive development, ensuring marginalized groups benefit equally. Collaboration with central and state governments, civil society, and academic institutions enhances the program's implementation and outcomes. Evaluation mechanisms under RGSA monitor PRIs' performance, measure developmental impacts, and refine strategies based on feedback. This ensures continuous improvement and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By fostering participatory democracy, promoting devolution of powers, and supporting resource mobilization, RGSA aims to improve governance quality, strengthen rural institutions, and drive inclusive growth across India's villages.

Methodology

In this study, a multistage sampling technique was used to select the district, tahsils, and villages. At the first stage, the Ratnagiri district from the Konkan was selected. In the second stage, Dapoli, Khed, Mandangad, and Chiplun tehsils were selected from the district. The final stage consisted of selecting villages from each selected tehsil. Thus, 120 respondents from 12 villages were selected for the collection of required information. The selection of Ratnagiri district was purposive based on the migration of Banjaras.

Research design

The ex-post-facto research design was adopted for this study since the phenomenon has already started and is continuing. www.extensionjournal.com Ex-post-facto research is the most systematic empirical inquiry, in which the researcher does not have direct control over the independent variables as their manifestation has already occurred or as they are inherent and not manipulatable. Thus, inferences about relations among variables were made without direct intervention from concomitant variation of independent and dependent variables.

Results and Discussion

The findings of the study as well as relevant discussion given below.

3.1

To know the personal, socio-economic, organizational and communicational characteristics of the sarpanchs trained under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) The data in respect of the selected personal, socio-economic and situational profile of the Sarpanchs are presented and discussed in this part.

Age

The information regarding distribution of the Sarpanchs according to their age is given in Table 1 The results suggest that the majority of Sarpanchs belonged to the middle age category. This trend could be attributed to the maturity and heightened interest that middle-aged Sarpanchs typically exhibit in Grampanchayat activities compared to their older counterparts. The similar findings were reported by Murthy (2012) [8] .

Education

The information regarding distribution of the Sarpanchs according to their education is given in Table 2. The data presented in Table 2 shows that less than half (47.50 percent) of the Sarpanchs had 'secondary level education'. Additionally, 21.67 percent had education up to 'higher secondary level', 15.00 percent had education up to 'graduation' and above, 13.33 percent had education up to 'primary school level', and 2.50 percent had education up to 'pre-primary school' level. On average, the education level of Sarpanchs was 5 th to 10 th standard. Therefore, it can be inferred that more than 95.00 percent of the Sarpanchs were learned up to primary to higher secondary level of education. Thus, it can be concluded that the overall all Sarpanchs were literate, likely due to the availability of educational facilities up to the secondary school level at the village level. This formal education has likely enabled them to establish contacts with various private and public agencies to gather information about village development programs and activities. With this educational background, Sarpanchs can comprehend the rules and regulations governing Gram panchayats and effectively address local grievances through informed decision-making. This finding is in concurrence with the finding of Diwan (2007) [2] , Jadhav et al. (2011) [4] , Murthy (2012) [8] .

Annual income

The data pertaining to annual income of the Sarpanchs are studied and data were presented in Table 3. Upon reviewing Table 3, it is noted that the majority, (47.50) percent of the Sarpanchs, had a 'medium' level of annual income ranging from Rs. 99,067/-to Rs. 2,62,549/-Additionally, there was 33.33 percent sarpanch reported as a 'low' annual income, while 19.17 percent reported a 'high' annual income. This indicates that the average annual income of the Sarpanchs was Rs. 180,808/-. This finding was in conformity with the studies of Belli (2008) [1] and Patil (2018) [9] .

Number of training received

The data pertaining to number of training received by the sarpanchs are studied and data were presented in Table 4. The data in Table 4 about number of trainings received by Sarpanchs revealed that majority (70.00 percent) of the www.extensionjournal.com Sarpanchs had received 'two and more trainings', while 30.00 percent of them received 'one training'. The findings were similar with the studies of Gurjar (2002) [3] and Yadav et al. (2002) [13] .

Use of social media

The data pertaining to use of social media by the Sarpanchs are presented in Table 5. The findings were similar with the studies of Rana and Singh (2014) [11] .

Resource availability

The data with regards to resource availability of the Sarpanchs were presented in Table 7. The newly directly elected Sarpanchs under study are having sufficient resources available with their own. Which helps in transparent governance in Gram Panchayat.

Change proneness

The data pertaining to change proneness of the Sarpanchs were presented in Table 8. The data presented in Table 8 shows the percentage distribution of Sarpanchs according to their change proneness. Out of total Sarpanchs majority had 'high' change proneness (77.50 percent) and 'low' change proneness 13.33 percent followed by 09.17 percent had 'medium' change proneness. Thus, it can be concluded that most of the Sarpanchs had 'high' change proneness followed by low change proneness.

Attitude towards RGSA

Attitudes are learned, emotional predispositions to react consistently, favourab or unfavourable, towards a person's objects, situation or ideas. Keeping this in view, attitude of the Sarpanchs towards RGSA was studied and data are presented in Table 9. [7] , Shamagat (2008) [12] .

Cosmopoliteness

The data pertaining to cosmopoliteness of the Sarpanchs are presented in Table 10. An overview of the Table 10 indicates that majority of the Sarpanchs (78.34 percent) had 'medium' level of cosmopoliteness, followed by 18.33 percent of the Sarpanchs 'low' cosmopoliteness and there is only 03.33 percent sarpanch falls under 'high' cosmopoliteness. The findings were similar with the studies of Kanase (2012) [5] and Patil (2018) [9] .

Organizational participation

The data pertaining to organizational participation of the Sarpanchs are presented in Table 11. It is observed from Table 11 that majority (46.67 percent) of the trained Sarpanchs were having their organizational participation up to 'medium' level; followed by 28.33 percent had 'low' and 25.00 percent having 'high' level of organizational participation respectively. The average score of organizational participation score was 4.63. The findings were similar with the studies of Prakash (2004) [10] and Belli (2008) [1] .

Interest in public work

The data pertaining to interest in public work of the Sarpanchs were presented in Table 12.

Tenure of work

The data pertaining tenure of work of the Sarpanchs were presented in Table 13. It was seen from Table 13 that majority of (70.83 percent) of the Sarpanchs had '2 to 3 years' work tenure, while 10.83 percent had 'up to 1 year' 18.34 percent had '4 and above years' tenure of work respectively. The average score of tenure of work of the Sarpanchs was 2.54years. The findings were similar with the studies of Diwan (2007) [2] and Kujur (2008) [6] .

Conclusion

The findings indicate that the profile of sarpanchs trained under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, the majority (72.50 percent) of the respondents was in the 'middle' age group, the majority (47.50 percent) of the respondents were completed their 'secondary' level of education, the majority (47.50 percent) of the sarpanchs had medium level of annual income, the majority (70.00 percent) of the sarpanchs completed two or more trainings in their tenure, the majority (60.00 percent) of of sarpanchs had medium use of social media, the majority (67.50 percent) of sarpanchs had medium level of resource availability, the majority (77.50 www.extensionjournal.com percent) of trained sarpanchs had high change proneness, the majority (61.7 percent) of respondents reported a 'medium' income, the majority (66.67 percent) of sarpanchs had a favourable attitude towards RGSA, the majority (78.34 percent) of respondents had a 'medium' level of cosmopoliteness, nearly half (46.67 percent) of the sarpanchs had medium organizational participation, (55.00 percent) of the sarpanchs had interest in public work and (70.87 percent) of the sarpanchs had 2 to 3 years or medium level of tenure of work.

References

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4. Rana R, Singh N. The use of social networking in academics: benefit and opportunity. International Journal of Science and Research. 2014;3(6):1336-1339.