Ratri-sabhas and training sessions followed. Local folk artists were roped in to prepare and sing songs detailing the scheme; cassettes were distributed among auto-drivers and in panchayat buildings, which played them over a month. Now all the panchayat buildings display information on the scheme, along with phone numbers for Rajpal and other officials.

Simultaneously, the authorities conducted BPL verifications and also conducted a detailed study on local requirement and the populace’s priorities. They also determined the job-skills and assessed the numbers of skilled and unskilled workers available.

“By January, when the Centre announced that the scheme would be launched on February 2, the groundwork had been completed and there was a fair amount of awareness among the locals. Half our battle was won then,’’ says Rajpal.

Local Flavours

BUT Rajpal and her team didn’t sit back in anticipation of success. To ensure a large turnout on February 2, the first day of registrations, the collector fell back on local customs: She asked every sarpanch of every village to visit the BPL tribals and invite them for registration after handing over a handful of yellow ricegrains.

“It’s a local custom: When an invitation for a wedding or other joyous occasions is accompanied by yellow ricegrains, it obliges the invitee to attend,” says Rajpal. The effort paid off: 60 per cent of the total registration was done on the first day itself.

On the ground, the administration ordered water and soil conservation works first. This included various repairs of waterbodies, construction of check dams, canal clean-ups et al. All these projects were done at the panchayat level.

... contd.