Maharashtra: Village unanimously resolves to ban loudspeakers for religious usage, sets precedent

The largest Gram Panchayat in Mudkhed taluka in the Barad village has a population of 10,000 people including all castes and religions. There are 8 Hindu temples, 1 mosque, 2 Buddhist monasteries and 1 Jain temple in the village -- none of them with a loudspeaker.

Nanded: With the political atmosphere in the state blazing with the issue of loudspeakers at religious places these days, this one village in the Nanded district stands apart with no loudspeakers allowed at religious places for the past five years. The village named Barad has no loudspeakers installed at any of the religious places it encompasses. The Gram Panchayat here had passed a unanimous resolution banning loudspeakers in the village on January 30, 2017. This resolution was approved by people of all castes and religions, and therefore none of the villagers, have heard the sound of any sorts of religious prayers or announcements on the loudspeaker over the last 5 years.

The largest Gram Panchayat in Mudkhed taluka in the Barad village has a population of 10,000 people including all castes and religions. There are 8 Hindu temples, 1 mosque, 2 Buddhist monasteries and 1 Jain temple in the village -- none of them with a loudspeaker. In addition to these, the village authorities have also banned the usage of loudspeakers in religious, political, and cultural events in the village.

In 2017, the loudspeakers had become an issue of religious disputes in the village. But unlike the escalation that the communal disputes today are facing, the same issues here were let off with a peaceful solution with consensus to it. The villagers from all castes and religions in the village came together to figure a solution out and reached the conclusion that it is in everyone's best interest to ban the usage of loudspeakers in the village entirely. All villagers, eight from young students to old people have experienced the solace this ban brought. With no communal or religious issues having surfaced here over the past 5 years, the village has been in peace because of the ban.

With the loudspeaker dispute and its repercussions spreading like a wildfire in the country, the approach that this village adopted to solve the problem can prove to be a game-changer.