DEVOLUTION OF POWERS + FINANCES UPTO LOCAL LEVELS AND CHALLENGES THEREIN
History of Self-Govt.
* Mention of community assemblies in the Vedic texts.
* Around 600 B.C., the territory north of the river Ganga comprising modern day north Bihar and eastern U.P. was under the suzerainty of small republics called Janapadas among which Lichhavis were the most powerful.
* In these Janapadas, the affairs of the State were conducted by an assembly consisting of local chieftains.
* In the post Mauryan times as well, there existed republics of Malavas and the Kshudrakas where decisions were taken by sabhas.
* The Greek Ambassador, Megasthenes, who visited the court of Chandragupta Maurya in 303 B.C. described the City Council which governed Pataliputra comprising six committees with 30 members.
* In the Chola Kingdoms, the village council, together with its sub-committees and wards, played an important part in administration, arbitrated disputes and managed social affairs.
* They were also responsible for revenue collection, assessing individual contribution and negotiating the collective assessment with the Kings representative.
* They had virtual ownership of village waste land, with right of sale, and they were active in irrigation, road building and related work.
* Their transactions, recorded on the walls of village temples, show a vigorous community life and are a permanent memorial to the best practices in early Indian polity.
* The present structure of Local Self Government institutions took shape in 1688 when the British established a Municipal Corporation at Madras which was followed by creation of similar bodies at Bombay and Calcutta (1726).
* Comprising a Mayor and a majority of British-born Councillors, these Corporations were basically units of administration enjoying considerable judicial powers.
* During the next 150 years, municipal bodies were created in several mufasil towns although their functions remained confined to conservancy, road repairs, lighting and a few other sundry items.
* Local governance began as an organisational concept with Ripons resolution in 1882
* Aim Involving intelligent class of public spirited men in management of rural areas under British rule
* In the following years, boards were set up
* 1918 resolution Objective of self govt. is to train people in management of their own local affairs
Distt. Board act of 1922 reconstitution of boards.
* Responsibility of road maintenance, tree planting, hospitals, schools and drainage etc.
Panchayat Raj System
Panchayat Raj act of 1920
* Conceived as local courts and was judicial
* No devolution of finances and responsibilities.
Gandhiji made very strong plea for village republics.
Article 40 DPSP Govt. To take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority which would enable them to function as units of self govt.
Multipurpose Community Development Programme (CDPs) 1952
Aim
* Training and sending development personnel Block Development Officers (BDO) & Extension officers and village level workers (VLWs)
* Supposed to act as agent of change
* Expected to galvanise rural masses by encouragement, demonstration and offer material assistance
But failed to achieve desired results
Evolution of panchayati Raj
1. Balwant Rai Mehta Committee
* Appointed in Jan 1957
* To examine working of CDPs.
* Recommended establishment of scheme of democratic decentralisation
* Recommendations
* 3 Tier Structure
* Village Panchayat members directly elected
Panchayat samiti and zila parishad indirectly elected members
* All planning and development activities to be enstrued to them
* Panchayati Samiti executive body
Zila parishad Advisory, co-ordinating, supervisory body
* Zila Parishad chairman DC
* Genuine transfer of powers to these bodies
* Rajasthan 1st state to establish PR
* Inaugurated on 2nd Oct, 1959 by PM
But in 1960s PRI portrayed as god that failed
Reasons
* Sabotage by state politicians who were not enthusiastic about devolving powers to distt. level or below.
* Apprehension that PRI with real powers may pose a threat to their power and influence
* Dominated by upper caste and landed elements.
1. Ashok Mehta Committee
* Appointed by janta party govt. In Dec. 1977
* Recommendations
* 2 Tier System
* Zila parishad @ Distt. level
* Mandal Panchayat below it
* Mandal Panchayat Group of villages of 15000 to 20000 population
* Distt. should be first point of decentralisation
* Zila parishad should be executive body and made responsible for planning
* Official participation of political parties
* PRIs should have compulsory powers of taxation to mobilise their own financial resources
* Regular audits to check spending of funds
* State govt. Should not supersede PRIs
* Elections by state election commission
* Appointment of Panchayat minister
* SC/ST reservation
No action taken as Janta party govt. Collapsed
But, 3 states Karnataka, WB, and Andhra took steps for implementation
1. GVK Rao Committee
* Report came in 1985
* Emphasized need of integration of panchayati raj system with development programmes and administration
Constitutional Amendments
1. 64th Amendment
* Introduced in 1989 by Rajiv Gandhi govt.
* Aim to make them more powerful and broad based
* Problem with bill
* Sought to establish direct links with PRIs bypassing states Local govt. is a state subject so against federalism
* Proposal to make PR from state to concurrent list
* Elections under Central election Commission
* Finance by central finance commission
Bill was not passed by Rajya Sabha
1. 73rd Amendment
* Added new part IX to constitution
* Entitled as The Panchayats article 243 to 243O
* Added new 11th schedule Contains 29 functional items
* Features
* Gram Sabha Village assembly consisting of all the registered voters in the area of Panchayat
Act provides for Gram Sabha
* 3-Tier System Panchayat at village, intermediate and distt. level
* Election of members and chairpersons All members to be directly elected by people
Chairperson Indirectly by and from elected members
* Reservation of seats 1/3 for women, SC/ST in proportion to their population
* Duration 5 year term at every level
* State Election Commission To be appointed by governor
* Powers and functions
* Preparation of plans for economic development and social justice
* Implementation of schemes
* Finances State legislature may
* Authorise to levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees
* Assigned to Panchayat taxes, duties, toll and fees levied and collected by state govt.
* Provide for making grants in aid to panchayats from consolidated fund of state
* Provide for constitution of fund for creating all moneys of panchayats
* Finance Commission Governor shall constitute after every 5 years to review financial position of Panchayat
Following recommendation
* Principles that should govern
* Distribution between state and panchayats of net proceeds of taxes, duties, tolls and fees levied by state
* Determination of taxes, duties, tolls and fees that may be assigned to panchayats
* Grant in aid to panchayats from consolidated fund of state
* Measures needed to improve financial positions of panchayats
* Any other matter referred to it by governor in the interests of sound finances of panchayats
1. 74th Amendment
* Added new part IX-A
* Entitled as municipalities provisions from 243 P to 243 ZG
* Added new 12th Schedule
* Provides for municipal corporations for big cities like Delhi, mumbai. Etc.
* Features
* 3 Types of municipalities
* Nagar Panchayat
* Municipal Council
* Municipal Corporation
* Members are called councillors and are elected
* Mayor elected by members from among themselves
* Compulsory functions includes maintenance of hospitals, supplying safe drinking water, electricity, running schools and keeping an account of births and deaths
* Developmental functions include launching of poverty alleviation programmes for the weaker sections
Limitations of amendments
* Ambiguity about functional jurisdiction
* Act doesnt mentions powers and function of gram Sabha
* PRIs function in the grip of state bureaucracy
* No mention of employees of Panchayat and their administrative autonomy
* Power of dissolution of PRIs in state govt. hands
* Meagre resources at disposal of PRIs
Finances of Local Governments
* Financial resources generated by these bodies fall far short of their requirements
* The local bodies are heavily dependent on State Governments for financial inflows, even for routine functions
* Because the proceeds of various buoyant taxes like State Excise, VAT and Motor Vehicles Tax are not available to them as they form part of the Consolidated Fund of the State.
* The major sources of income for local governments like property tax etc. are woefully inadequate to meet their obligations.
* This asymmetry between the taxation power and the responsibility to provide civic amenities necessitates transfer of funds from the State to the local governments either through untied grants or through a share in other State Taxes or as part of various development schemes.
* Finance Commission Governor shall constitute after every 5 years to review financial position of Panchayat
Following recommendation
* Principles that should govern
* Distribution between state and panchayats of net proceeds of taxes, duties, tolls and fees levied by state
* Determination of taxes, duties, tolls and fees that may be assigned to panchayats
* Grant in aid to panchayats from consolidated fund of state
* Measures needed to improve financial positions of panchayats
* Any other matter referred to it by governor in the interests of sound finances of panchayats
* Recommendations of 13th Finance Commission
* To award 2.28% of the relevant divisible pool (2009-14) as a grant to local bodies
* Grant will have two components
* Basic grant = 1.50% of the previous years divisible pool.
* All states will have access to this grant for all the five years
* The performance grant effective from 2011-12will be 0.50% for the year 2011-12 and 1 per cent thereafter, upto 2014-15.
* Only those states which meet the stipulations outlined will have access to the performance grant.
PESA 1996
ArtWhat?
243Mthat nothing in Part IX of the Constitution relating to Panchayat shall apply to Fifth Schedule areas= in the 9 States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.
243(4)BParliament may, by law extend the provisions of this Part to the Scheduled Areas.
* Subsequently done in 1996 Parliament enacted The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (=PESA).
* PESA has been very poorly implemented across the nine States.
PESA: problems?
* Absence of a proper administrative definition of the village that is in consonance with the Act.
* All States, without exception, have continued with their earlier revenue definitions of the village. Thereby, not only does a village at times consist of 1012 scattered hamlets, but several revenue villages are clubbed together to form a Gram Panchayat.
* Success of PESA hinges crucially on the effective functioning of the Gram Sabha.
* Today, even in tribal areas, there is no automaticity to the functioning of the Gram Sabha and there is a large measure of exclusion of women.
* The LWE districts extend across significant parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, leading to the term, The Red Corridor.
* While the senior leadership of the party is mostly drawn from non-tribal communities, much of the rank and file comes from local villages and has built on their grievances emanating from the non-implementation of PESA
Schedule Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (Recognition of forest rights) Act, 2006
* Called as forest rights act
* Concerns the rights of forest dwelling communities to land and other resources
* 2009 Environment ministry issued order that consent of gram sabhas mandatory for projects seeking diversion of forest lands for non-forest purposes
* Feb 2013 Govt. exempted linear projects like roads, canals, pipelines, optical fibres, transmission lines from 2009 rule
Ecological Impacts caused by linear projects
* Habitat loss and fragmentation
* Spread of invasive alien species
* Fires
* Animal mortality due to electrocution and road accidents
* Disruption of animal corridors elephants getting killed by trains in Orissa
* Increased developmental and hunting pressures
* Increase in pollution and other disturbances
Social Impacts
* Insensitive development in tribal areas
* Encroachments and land- grabbing along roads
* Changes in local communities due to entry of large workforce from other regions
* Increase in tourism
* Garbage
Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana
* Centrally Sponsored Scheme
* Started 2006-07
* Implemented by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for the non-BRGF (Backward Regions Grant Fund) districts.
* Scheme focuses on providing financial assistance to the States/UTs For
* Training & Capacity Building of elected representatives (ERs) and
* Functionaries of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)
* So that they can perform the functions devolved upon them and the schemes entrusted to them effectively, besides a small component for infrastructure development.
* Under the Infrastructure Development component, assistance is provided for Satellite based training infrastructure for Distance Learning for the ERs and Functionaries of the PRIs and
* Hilly States and States in the North Eastern Region - for capital expenditure on establishment of Panchayat Resource Centers/ Panchayat Bhawans at Block/Gram Panchayat levels
Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA)
* Centrally Sponsored Scheme
* To strengthen Panchayati Raj.
* Approved on 07.03.2013
* Goals
* to enhance capacities and effectiveness of Panchayats and the Gram Sabhas;
* Enable democratic decision-making and accountability in Panchayats and promote peoples participation;
* Strengthen the institutional structure for knowledge creation and capacity building of Panchayats;
* Promote devolution of powers and responsibilities to Panchayats according to the spirit of the Constitution and PESA Act;
* Strengthen Gram Sabhas to function effectively as the basic forum of peoples participation, transparency and accountability within the Panchayat system;
* Create and strengthen democratic local self-government in areas where Panchayats do not exist;
* Strengthen the constitutionally mandated framework on which Panchayats are founded.
Challenges
* bad Panchayat Raj is perhaps worse than no Panchayat Raj,
* Panchayat Raj must not deteriorate into sarpanch raj.
* PRIs be structured legally and administratively to function as collegiate bodies, with all elected members being involved in preparing programmes,
* key decisions being taken by the Panchayat as a whole and not at the whim and fancy of the President
* implementation being under the effective supervision of the Panchayat members concerned and not just the sarpanch
* functioning of PRIs depends upon the functionaries and their level ofeducation, awareness and political disposition and above all commitment to public service
* we can take pride in the fact that elections to these local bodies have widened the base ofour constitutional polity
* Roughly about 3.6 million directly elected representatives, and no less than 1 million women members,
* Has made it as one of the biggest ever experiments attempted in our country in the direction of deepening of democracy and empowerment at the grassroots level
* With increased amount of funds and transfer of functions to them, the question of accountability of these institutions needs to be accorded.
* improvement of accountability along with the need for capacity building in their functioning has also become all the more critical
* Instead of viewing local consent as impeding development, it needs to be seen as a legitimate avenue for collective bargaining and peaceful action
* Preferable to violent protest by forest people
* Gram Sabha consent can ensure that citizens are truly made partners in development and its benefits actually flow to the poorest Inclusive growth
Pushpender Singh
Good will contribution, dont need prize.
References
* Mrunal.Org
* IGNOU Notes
* Laxmikanth polity book
* The Hindu
* Indian Express
* Frontline
* 2nd ARC report
* 13th Finance commission report
* Yojana
