FROM GRAMA SABHA TO STATE HALL: REIMAGINING THE AGENCY OF THE PANCHAYAT IN THE PLACHIMADA STRUGGLE

Abstract

The mobilisation of the Adivasis and Dalits demanding the closure of the bottling unit, against the massive extraction and desertification of a locality in Palakkad district in Kerala is known as the Plachimada struggle. Though the agitation was spearheaded by the Adivasis, over a while, the mobilisation garnered the support of civil society organisations, local, national and international. The agitation against the Primitive Accumulation of capital and the Dispossession of the marginalized sections by the HCBPL plant began in late 2000. It continued even after the shutdown of the plant in 2005. The agitation continues even today in a modified manner. The paper examines the role played by the local self-government in the Plachimada struggle. The commencement of the plant and how the extraction of water was facilitated by the Panchayat, on behalf of the State. The people’s mobilization forced Panchayat to retrace its position. It later argued for the water rights of the people and filed cases against the Company as well as the State. Panchayat was forced to raise questions, which emerged as Counter-Narratives about the feasibility of the prevailing development discourse. The paper aims to trace the evolution of the position of the Panchayat from the commencement of the bottling unit to today in shaping the course of development pracisis in Kerala.