VOICE of the VOICELESS:

“Our greatest inheritance is our democracy and the freedom of expression it gives us. Indeed, often those who are loud are better organized, better funded, and better served by the system. If the media only purveys their viewpoint, who will speak for the silent majorities?
One organization that does work for the upliftment of the silent majority is Pratham.”
- Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India - At the CNN IBN Indian of the Year 2009 award function.
Speech is God's gift to mankind. Through speech a human being conveys his thoughts, sentiments and feeling to others. Freedom of speech and expression is thus a birth right. Article 19(1)(a) of Indian Constitution legitimizes the right to freedom of speech and expression of all Indian Citizens.
However as our honorable PM rightly pointed out there is a vast majority which is “silent”. Children comprise of a large portion of the “silent” majority. No one listens to them as they do not comprise of a lucrative vote bank.
11 year old Murli, living in Yazali village in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh is one of the members of this “silent” majority. Not only due as to the lack of muscle or money power, but also because he is speech impaired.



Murli came to meet the project facilitator of Bal Panchayat[1] with his grandmother. He did not go to school but expressed a desire to run for the elections in the village. In the election process the candidates were supposed to campaign and convince the voters to vote for them. We were extremely apprehensive about Murli’s participation because we were not sure if he could campaign and convince the other children. If he was selected to be a part of the Bal Panchayat how would he participate in the meetings? These were the questions which bothered us, but Murli kept smiling at us, his conviction was rock solid.
It was an uphill task for Murli, he did not have the edge over his friends due to his inability to speak and impress his vote bank. The Bal Panchayat elections were coming close, Murli’s competitors used speech and songs to impress the vote bank. Murli religiously went to each and every house of the village with the Pratham facilitator and used her as his voice. He appealed to every child to cast a vote in his favour. He had developed a unique way of talking to them and they understood him.
The Election Day had finally arrived. When Murli came to the polling booth, he had a serene look with a warm smile. While his competitors waited for the results anxiously, Murli was extremely composed.
Bal Panchayat* (children’s village council) aims at operationalizing the child’s right to Participation. Modelled on the same spirit as the Gram Panchayat, a Bal Panchayat is a form of council for the children by the children. It works as an open forum enabling children to express their opinion about any issues or concerns and be listened to. Bal Panchayat also give children the opportunity to debate and collectively try to find solutions to their problems. The project is currently operational across 60 villages in Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh.





The moment of triumph was when Murli stood 2nd in the elections beating 8 of his competitors. 72 children of the 200 voters had chosen Murli as their leader. He was born silent, was supposed to be a part of the “silent” majority, but he chose not to be. He is committed to raising his voice on the issues related to out of school children through the Bal Panchayat.
As part of the Yazali Bal Panchayat, Murli now regularly sits with his fellow members to collectively find solutions to the problems faced by the children of their village: poor access to quality education, child labour, lack of basic sanitary facilities and clean water generating health problems are the key issues that the Bal Panchayat has identified.
Immediately after the elections, the children have initiated action for the school development. They decided to make the list of all the children who are either out of school or don’t attend school regularly and handed the list to the village’s Sarpanch, the school headmaster and appealed for their support in ensuring that every child is in school in Yazali. The 10 members have also written a letter to the school headmaster to oppose the transfer of a teacher from their school.
Murli (second from right) with grandmother, friends and Yazali Bal Panchayat President (first from left) after the elections.
Murli has never been to school but he smiles brightly when we ask him if he would want to, eagerly looking at his grandmother for approval. If he chooses to, Murli will join our nearby Pratham shelter next year and will be given the opportunity to learn the basics of reading and writing, which for him means the ability to fully communicate with others and engaging with the outside world. In the meantime, he will be referred to a speech therapist in Bapatla to assess whether his impairment can be improved.

Murli is a representative of the vast “silent majority” which is unrepresented and unnoticed. No one could have imagined an out of school speech impaired Murli to become a leader of the village. Today he is the hero of Yazali and is committed to being the change. He is indeed the voice of the voiceless.

*Bal Panchayat (children’s village council) aims at operationalizing the child’s right to Participation. Modelled on the same spirit as the Gram Panchayat, a Bal Panchayat is a form of council for the children by the children. It works as an open forum enabling children to express their opinion about any issues or concerns and be listened to. Bal Panchayat also give children the opportunity to debate and collectively try to find solutions to their problems. The project is currently operational across 60 villages in Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh.

By Uma Subramanian and Antonia Achache - Mumbai