Class 202 — the panchayat, Kudumbashree, and how a Kerala village runs itself. If you live anywhere in Kerala for more than a few months you will meet local government, and it works differently here from almost anywhere else in India. THE STRUCTURE. പഞ്ചായത്ത് (panchayat) — the elected local government of a rural area, and the unit of local life. The ladder: ഗ്രാമപഞ്ചായത്ത് (village) → ബ്ലോക്ക് പഞ്ചായത്ത് (block) → ജില്ലാ പഞ്ചായത്ത് (district), with മുനിസിപ്പാലിറ്റി and കോർപ്പറേഷൻ for towns and cities. Each panchayat is divided into വാർഡുകൾ (wards), each electing a വാർഡ് മെമ്പർ. The head is the പ്രസിഡന്റ്; a municipality has a ചെയർമാൻ, a corporation a മേയർ. The ward member is the person who matters most to you — a neighbour, known by name, findable at home, first contact for the street light, the water supply, the road, a certificate, a scheme, a dispute. So the most useful sentence in the class: ഇവിടുത്തെ വാർഡ് മെമ്പർ ആരാണ്? — Who is the ward member here? Ask it in your first week. THE OFFICES. പഞ്ചായത്ത് ഓഫീസ് (building permissions, birth and death registration, property tax, trade licences) · വില്ലേജ് ഓഫീസ് (land records and certificates) · അക്ഷയ കേന്ദ്രം, the Akshaya centre — common service centres that will fill in your forms and submit applications online for a small fee. If you are lost in Kerala paperwork, this is where you go. Counter vocabulary: അപേക്ഷ application · രേഖകൾ documents · രസീത് receipt · ഒപ്പ് signature. എന്തൊക്കെ രേഖകൾ വേണം? · എത്ര ദിവസമെടുക്കും? · ആരെയാണ് കാണേണ്ടത്? Then the two institutions studied internationally: the ഗ്രാമസഭ (grama sabha), an open ward assembly where any voter may speak, born of the 1996 People’s Plan Campaign that devolved roughly a third of plan funds to local government; and കുടുംബശ്രീ, the women’s neighbourhood network founded in 1998, millions of members strong — one of the largest women’s organisations in the world. Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.