At a gram sabha held yesterday, one of the issues of contention was regarding the sarpanch and panchayat not being invited for a football tournament. A resolution was proposed that the club should apologise or else the panchayat ground will not be given for club tournaments. One citizen claimed the invitation was given( but no name was mentioned on the invitation card) and he demanded that this point be recorded as a part the proposed resolution.
People need to understand that there are two kinds of minutes of meeting- minutes of discussion and minutes of resolution. The Secretary need not record the minutes of discussion because for a body like the gram sabha, recording every point will be a daunting task for the secretary. Only the resolutions that have been passed need to be recorded. The fault, in this case, lied with the sarpanch who chaired the meeting. He has to put every ammendment for vote- which he didn't. Because of this, one man's claim has been accepted as the voice of the gram sabha. What if someone stood up next and demanded that the secretary note that drugs were sold at the tournament? That would have to be recorded too. Gram sabhas are powerful bodies and therefore require equally responsible people to chair the meetings. Maybe sarpanchs need training in parliamentary procedures before they take up the chair of a gram sabhas.