LSG Study Notes III- Suggestions and Remarks

110^th Amendment Bill-

1.      Reservation for women should be increased to 50%. Committee said that the expression should be “should not less than half”.

2.      The rotation of seats should take place only after two cycles. E.g. Tamil Nadu and Bihar. Generally, it is after one year.

3.      Reservation of seat for SC and ST was linked to the overall average in the state. It does not serve much purpose. For reservation of SC and ST, they must be linked to state’s average in rural areas for Panchayats and urban average for Municipalities.

4.      Accountability for proxy functionaries. A penal provision shall be made that no person who is not an election functionary can take part in the proceedings and all the persons present in that proceeding shall be held responsible.

India is now the largest representative democracy in the world.

Government is preparing the Land acquisition and rehabilitation Bill, 2011. In this bill, no property in any village can be acquired without the consent of Gram Sabha. But the word used is ‘consultation’. Supreme Court has said consultation is binding.

To what extent, the dream of Rajiv Gandhi for a decentralized and representative democracy has been fulfilled?

He also said that this democracy is necessary for social, economic and political equality which form a holy trinity. All three must go together.

1.      We require a strategy called as 3F strategy.

a.       Functional Self-reliance- Devolution of powers and functions. This devolution must be based on the principle of subsidiarity. Devolution must also be made irreversible. There must be something called “Activity Mapping” meaning that there are three tiers at rural and urban level. It means that you understand the functions and power which have been given to the three tiers separately. Then, finances and functions are divided accordingly. Before giving the powers and functions, we must know who gives them this power. The answer is state government. The state government should consult the panchayats but law is there to this effect.

b.      Fiscal Self-reliance- PRIs are finance starved. The fact is if you give somebody certain powers and responsibilities without any resources, it means you are simply trying to discredit that authority. A sound fiscal devolution is a constitutional obligation under article 243T and 243Y. This constitutional obligation must be properly discharged and it must be monitored by the central government. Only Tied Funds are being given meaning a particular fund can be used only for a particular purpose. Untied funds must be increased. Also, there capacity to tax and generate finances must be increased and strengthened. Matching Grants may also be given. Also, this thing must be clearly reflected in the State Budget and not by a mere Administrative Order. Central Budget is not directly given to the panchayats but via state governments.  This must change and funds must be directly credited to Panchayat’s bank accounts. Also, there must be proper rules as to utilization of this budget meaning thereby a proper check system. They must be given the power to plan, manage and execute. Administration must not come in. There must be a constant Central Monitoring. Recommendations of the Finance Commission are not binding on the state government. So they must be made binding or at least once they are accepted, the state government must sincerely execute it. There must be a standing committee of legislators to monitor the recommendations which have been accepted are being properly implemented or not.

c.       Functionaries Self-reliance- Local Self-governments should be empowered so far as functionaries are concerned. State executive controls everything and they are in way control of the Panchayats. They are in control of the state government. This must change. District Rural Development Authority is constituted by the state government in each state where the collector presides and it is the chief executive body. These bodies must be abolished. This function must be given to the Zila Parishads and administrative officers should be kept away from this. A third cadre in civil services must be created called as local civil services cadre. In this particular cadre, the persons selected will work under the Panchayats. The number of officers should be determined by the PRIs and not the State governments. It is not the job of the administration to supervise the Elected Representatives. A Standing Committee of legislators must be constituted to do the final review and assessment of the work done by the Panchayats.

2.      Entry 5 List II- State can make laws relating to local self-governance.

Suggestions for improving the functioning of Panchayats-

1.      Right to recall must be there.

2.      There should be Lokpal for monitoring the functioning of the Panchayats.

3.      Office of director of the Panchayats should be abolished.

4.      The funds that are given to the Panchayats should be untied.

5.      The Panchayats must have the power to appoint employees and they should have the disciplinary power over them.

6.      They must have the power to decide whether to give land to government and companies or not.

7.      No liquor shop should be open without the consent of the Gram Sabha.

8.      All functions, assets and institutions should be clearly divided between Gram Sabha, District Samitis and Zila Parishads.

9.      The records of the Panchayats must be transparent and must be regularly audited.

10.  The tax base of Panchayats should be increased.

Haryana has issued an initiative that all funds and grants must be given directly to the Panchayat’s Bank Accounts. They must have executive power for giving administrative approval without any financial limit. District Development Agency is to be presided by the President of Zila Parishad.

Constitutional Amendment:

·         Restructuring of Legislative Councils in the States- Teachers and Graduate Constituencies should be abolished and in its place 2/3 members should be elected from Panchayats (1/3 directly, 1/3 by legislative assembly).

·         No participation of MLA and MP in any local body meeting at the Block and District Level.

·         Dissolution of power should be made mandatory and not discretionary.

·         Panchayats must be made responsible and accountable to Gram Sabhas.

·         Where there are large Panchayats, for the effective representation, Ward Sabhas should be created.

·         There must be certain mandatory functions of the Gram Sabha.

·         Zila Parishads be abolished and District Councils be established which must represent Panchayats and Municipalities together. They will be represented by the members from Panchayats and Municipalities in proportion to the rural and urban population in that area. District Collector may be the Chairman but he will have veto power.

·         Seats for the SCs and STs should be for two consecutive terms. The reason being they can have necessary opportunity of nursing the constituency.

·         Reservation will be provided in those constituencies only for SC, ST and OBC where there is population is 5% or more.

·         Women Reservation should be increased to 50%.

·         There must be accountability for proxy functionaries.

Other Suggestions:

Reservation for SC and ST should be related to the population in that Panachayat Area (Article 243D and Article 243T).

The Panchayat system should not be used to instutionalize discrimination.

For SC and ST, merely giving them reservation is not enough. People who have get elected work for their own benefit and not for the community. There should be Grievance Redressal Committees in all the areas where the SC and ST population is in sufficient numbers.

In Scheduled Areas, Panchayats have been given wide powers. Both, Forest Conservation Act and PESA have different purpose. This dichotomy must be immediately addressed.

No property of the Scheduled Tribe Area should be acquired by the government without the consent of the Panchayats.

In Chattisgarh and Jharkhand, majority population is ST. But since they are not Schedule V states, the Panchayats are being organized normally.

SC court has interpreted that elections can be postponed in very exceptional circumstances. Therefore, there should not be any interposition of exceptional circumstances.

State Government can dissolve Panchayats. This must be taken care of. In the elections, a lot of malpractices are going on. The State Election Commission must act in consonance with the National Commission.

There must be sufficient Audit. State Audit is generally done but this must be done in collaboration with CAG. The Social Audit must be strengthened.

E-Governance must be encouraged and Appraisal Report must be prepared by the Planning Commission every year. Also, Parallel bodies and programs must be dissolved.

NGOs get funds from state, centre and foreign countries and they are working in parallel to the Panchayats.

MP and MLA are also part of the Panchayats. This practice must be completely eliminated.

Problems with Panchayats-

1.      They should take responsibility to help people to help themselves in order to solve their local problems.

2.      To facilitate local solution to developmental problems by bringing together all the relevant factors.

3.      Focus on developmental and non-developmental factors together.

4.      Improve service delivery and involve people in all services. For this, Panchayats must publish Citizen’s Charter. What a person can accept from a particular authority, it must be written down; this is what Citizen’s Charter is. The charter must also talk about quality of services and the timeframe.

5.      They should give special importance to governance especially in the area of entitlements and Redressal of grievances.

6.      All stakeholders must be consulted periodically for any service.

7.      Try to improve quality and quantity of participation in Gram Sabha and other forums.

8.      Concentrate more on generating local resources like mobilization through taxes, user charges, contributions, voluntary work, and infrastructure. 

9.      Transparency must be ensured.

10.  Special effort must be made to bring the excluded within the mainstream.

11.  Introduce participatory, monetary and audit systems.

Don’ts for the Panchayats-

1.      Do not always look up to the state governments. Try solving problems on your own.

2.      The Panchayats should not follow state culture, behaviour and practice. (Indifference, arrogance, postponement, corruption)

Empowerment means capacity to take decisions for the day to day life and capacity to take decisions for future life.