1. References

Satta panchayat Iyakkam is a social organisation from Tamil Nadu, India, established to promote the rule-of-law, anti-corruption, liquor prohibition and good governance.

Standing among the leading NGOs, SPI, Headquartered in Chennai (Satta Panchayat Iyakkam), was started in 2013, originally aimed at being an instrument that brings citizens closer to the Government and good governance. The SPI has a list of objectives that includes empowering citizens, exposing the current corrupt system and proposing new innovative and creative solutions to existing problems.

In a first, SPI runs a call centre which provides instant support to the people of Tamil Nadu to obtain Government services without corruption and bribery. Those interested to know about the Government procedures can also seek clarifications through SPI Call centre. SPI has supported and handled over a lakh calls in the past 3 years. Every Saturday, the members meet for a camp organised by SPI in which retired Government officials and lawyers offer administrative and legal assistance to the deprived to get their job done, overcoming the rusty state bureaucracy. Various retired Government officials and lawyers have volunteered for this camp that is steered by the Treasurer, Srinivasan, a retired Deputy Collector.

Chennai Suburban Railways in spite of being functional for more than a decade, did not have proper toilets and water facility. SPI’s public interest litigation filing brought the Court order to take actions on the matter. SPI’s intervention is solely responsible for fixing the toilets in the Railway stations, making them usable. VAOs (Village Administrative Officers) have huge administrative responsibility in every village. It is their service obligation to stay in the village and serve the people. But a general trend was observed where the VAOs did not stay in the villages, but occasionally visited their offices. SPI filed a PIL and in response, the Chennai High court made mandatory for all VAOs to stay in their respective villages. However this had a lukewarm response, with only a few respecting the judicial order. SPI is continuing its fight till date to fix this issue. SPI has also filed a PIL to enact the "Right to Services Act" which will ensure time bound service delivery from government officials. Most importantly, SPI has been crusading against liquor since its formation, be it through spreading awareness or organizing protests in front of the liquor shops. SPI was responsible for closing of around 15 wine shops which created nuisance to public. 2016 was observed as the Anti-Liquor year.

As said earlier, SPI initiates various events and programs to empower citizens. Model Assemblies being one of their flagship events, simulate Parliament and Assembly. SPI strongly believes in bringing people closer to their rights. “Urimai Kural” is a one of a kind program, where people are trained to know about their rights and be able to file RTI. They also conduct press meets/releases to expose corruption regimes. SPI is a platform for many people to express their valid concerns. SPI members regularly participate in TV shows and debates, so are familiar faces to the Tamil Nadu people. SPI also releases FAQs and simple Understanding Documents for sensitive and important issues to make people aware on the facts and stats.

executives, Senthil Arumugam, Siva Elango, Jai Ganesh are leading SPI’s activities as full timers. SPI has various wings like Research, Technical, Design, Women and Student wings to enable the NGO’s functioning. SPI is very active and has a sound presence in Chennai, Madurai, Nellai, Erode and Villupuram districts. SPI has around 6500 members in 32 districts.

References

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