A Notice That Says 'Tomorrow': Two Drafts, One Deadline
A clerk drafts a Hindi notice and its English version for a Gram Sabha meeting on water supply. The Hindi draft reads: 'सूचना: सभी ग्रामवासियों को सूचित किया जाता है कि कल पंचायत भवन में जल आपूर्ति के संबंध में बैठक होगी। बैठक में उपस्थित होना अनिवार्य है। जो सदस्य नहीं आयेंगे उनका नाम सूची से हटा दिया जायेगा।' The English draft reads: 'All villagers are informed that a meeting regarding water supply will be held in the Panchayat Bhawan tomorrow which all members must attend and the names of absent members will be removed from the list.' The notice is to be pasted on the wall on 12 June for a meeting on 13 June at 11 a.m., and it is signed by the Mukhiya. You are asked to clear both drafts before they go up.
1. Identify the defects in the Hindi draft, naming the rule or problem involved in each, and correct them.
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Take them in order of seriousness.
'कल' (ambiguity of time). A written notice pasted on a wall may be read on any day. 'कल' has no fixed reference; the reader cannot know which day is meant. Replace with the date and time: 'दिनांक 13 जून, 2024 को पूर्वाह्न 11:00 बजे'.
'जो सदस्य नहीं आयेंगे' (spelling and agreement). The standard form is 'आएँगे', with the anusvara and the correct vowel sign. 'सदस्य' is used here without the notice ever defining membership, while the opening line addresses 'ग्रामवासी'; the two categories must not be mixed.
'हटा दिया जायेगा' (wrong form, and beyond power). The correct passive is 'हटा दिया जाएगा'. More importantly, a Mukhiya cannot remove an elected member by a wall notice; removal requires the procedure laid down in the Act. Delete the threat.
'सूचित किया जाता है' (acceptable). This formal passive is fine and can stay; the point is that the defects above make the notice unusable, not that the register is wrong.
2. Rewrite the English sentence so that it is unambiguous and formal, and explain what was wrong with the original.
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The original crams three ideas into one sentence and then attaches the relative clause 'which all members must attend' to the nearest noun, 'Panchayat Bhawan'. Grammatically the building is what members must attend. That is a misplaced relative clause, and in a public notice it produces a laugh or a dispute rather than compliance.
A clean version: 'All villagers are hereby informed that a meeting on water supply will be held in the Panchayat Bhawan on 13 June 2024 at 11:00 a.m. All ward members are required to attend. The meeting will be presided over by the Mukhiya.'
What changed and why: the date and time replace 'tomorrow'; the relative clause is removed by splitting into separate sentences; 'villagers' and 'ward members' are kept distinct because they are different audiences with different obligations; 'hereby informed' marks the formal register expected of a statutory notice; and the empty threat is dropped. One idea per sentence is the rule to state in the office style note.
3. The Mukhiya insists the last line about removing absent members' names must stay 'to make people come'. How do you advise him, and what is the right way to secure attendance?
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Advise that the line should go, and give the reason in terms he can use.
A notice that threatens a consequence the signatory cannot impose is worse than no threat. If the panchayat cannot remove a member for one absence, the line is a false statement in an official document; if a member later challenges it, the panchayat loses the argument and the notice loses credibility on every other point. Removal of an elected member is a statutory matter, decided on defined grounds after a defined procedure, not by a wall poster.
What actually secures attendance is narrower and duller: a date, a time, a venue, an agenda that names the water supply problem, and a line saying what the Sabha will decide - for example, sanctioning the repair of a hand pump or approving a ward-wise water plan. Send the notice through the ward members and the sahayak so it reaches households, and announce it at the local chaupal.
What you can lawfully say is that the meeting will be held with the members present and the decisions recorded - which is true, and is pressure enough.