Jagratha samithis to be reconstituted

To monitor cases related to domestic abuse and dowry at the grassroot-level

Minister for Local Self Governments M.V.Govindan on Monday inaugurated the Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat's activities ahead of the declaration of the ‘Sampoorna Jagratha district’ to be made on August 15.

As part of this, jagratha samithis will be reconstituted at the district, panchayat and ward levels to monitor cases related to domestic abuse and dowry at the grass root-level.

District Panchayat president D.Suresh Kumar presided over the function, while Womens’ Commission member E.M.Radha was the chief guest.

The district panchayat will organise wide-ranging campaigns against dowry. The grama panchayat leadership will head the jagratha samithis, with the supervisors of the Integrated Child Development Services and Kudumbashree facilitators, who constantly interact with the local population being part of the committees.

Monitoring committees will be formed at the district panchayat division-level, with each committee monitoring the activities in 50 grama panchayat wards.

The respective district panchayat division members, police officials, retired judicial officials and others will be members of the monitoring committee.

Pre-marriage counselling will be provided to all brides and grooms, and contact numbers of the jagratha samithis will be shared for them to contact in case of any issues.

Calendar prepared

The district panchayat has prepared a calendar of activities to be taken up in the coming days. A training session on jagratha samithis and their purpose will be provided for the district panchayat members as well as the samithi members on July 30. Jagratha samithis will be formed at the ward level on August 1. Meeting of the ICDS supervisors and Kudumbashree members will be held at the block level on August 2. Grama panchayat-level samithis will be formed on August 5 and training provided to them on August 7.

The district panchayat division-level monitoring committees will be formed on August 10. The jagratha samithis in all the 1,299 panchayat wards in the district will be held at the same time on August 12 at 3 p.m.