Man Singh: The illiterate who paved the way for literacy

Not being literate, one of the first things he did on becoming a sarpanch three decades ago was to construct a school at Dhani Mo habbatpur in Hisar district. Since then, Man Singh, 65, has been winning panchayat elections -from village panch to block samiti member -for the past four decades. He was first elected as a panch in 1972. “I could not study because there was no school in my village, so I focused on it. I gave money to construct a room in the school from my own pocket before engaging others for the same project,“ says Singh. He went on to make a panchayat ghar, a dispensary and do some water works.

An outgoing chairman of the block-level panchayat samiti, Singh was planning to contest the polls for zilla parishad, the highest panchayat body , this time. But the new law stating that a Dalit has to be class 8 pass to be able to contest polls, has put an end to his dreams.

“People of the village still have faith in me. What is my fault if am not literate?“ asks Singh, who has been sarpanch thrice. His village was even honoured with Nirmal Gram Puraskar a few years ago.“If the government was really serious about implementing the new norm of educational qualification, then it should have given at least ten years to prepare for this new model,“ he says. Commenting on the new norms, he says: “It's like you ask a newlywed couple to get separated from the joint family .Certainly , it would be difficult for the bride to manage the affairs of the family because she doesn't have any experience. Likewise, the younger lot (which has educational qualifications) doesn't have experience to handle panchayat affairs.“

But how does he manage panchayat work without being literate? “Running panchayats is not an easy task these days. It's not just getting construction work done. Anti-social elements once tried to encroach upon the cremation ground. You need to be politically sharp and diplomatic to curb such elements,“ says Singh, who comes from a farmer's family, and has worked as a labourer and a driver.

There are 3,300 voters in the village. Barely 200 of them are from Man Singh's own community.Yet, he continues to win elections on the basis of his work. But that may not count for much with the rules this time.