“The panchayats can do wonderful things to improve the living conditions of the marginalised people,” he noted in his opening remarks at a seminar on ‘Panchayats and human rights' organised by the NHRC here on Friday.
He pointed out that the United Nations had recently declared access to drinking water a fundamental human right.
Mr. Balakrishnan said Kerala had done well on the panchayati raj front. The Green Kerala social reality show hosted by Doordarsan had revealed the wonderful work being done by the local bodies at the grassroots level.
N.R. Madhava Menon, jurist and educator, pointed out that the State was an acknowledged leader in term of experiments and innovations in the field of local governance.
An outstanding example of this was the action taken by the Plachimada panchayat against a multinational company for having depleted its water resources and polluted the sources of drinking water in the panchayat.
“It is remarkable that the panchayat took it up as a human rights issue even against the non-cooperation of the State government and the development advocates in the civil society,” he said.
Professor Menon urged the NHRC to partner with select panchayats in the State for the protection of socio-economic rights. This was particularly important in the context of the Right to Education Act, in the implementation of which the local bodies had an important role.
The NHRC had a responsibility to ensure that the RTE was a successful initiative by making appropriate interventions at the operational level.
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