Panchayati Raj Institutions and Participative Democracy
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This article is based on Panchayats as instruments of social and economic progress
published in The Hindu Business Line on 24/04/2020. It evaluates the functioning of the
panchayat raj institution on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day.
The National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated every year on April 24. The Panchayati Raj
Institutions play a major role in the socio and economic development of people at the
grassroot level.
Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) as units of local government have been in existence in
India for a long time, in one form or another. However, it was only in 1992, on the
recommendations of the LM Singhvi Committee (1986), that it was granted constitutional
status as the third level of India’s federal democracy through the 73rd Amendment Act.
The primary objective of establishing the third tier of the government (PRI) is to increase
democratic participation, to better articulate local needs and priorities, and to ensure
a more efficient use of local resources along with greater accountability and
transparency.
However, this tier of the government is marred by many problems that need to be sorted
out.
Significance of Panchayati Raj Institution
Promote Democratic Representation
The PRI system generally consists of three level: Gram Panchayat at the village
level, Block Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti at the intermediate level and Zilla
Panchayat at the district level
This scheme of the PRI system increases cooperation among people, democratic
participation and decentralization.
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Effective and Efficient Planning
The 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country have been entrusted to
provide basic services in the villages and plan for local economic development.
The Gram Sabha (GS) discusses the development work plans of the GP called
Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and the elected representatives
execute the plans. Formulation of GPDP improves efficiency of public services.
Ensures Good Governance
‘Consensus oriented’ and ‘Participation’ are two important pillars of Good
Governance and the PRI helps in ensuring both these pillars.
For example, GS is a channel to include the less privileged section of society and
ensure their participation in the village level governance wherein they can
advocate their developmental aspirations.
This bottom-up approach is meant to reflect the needs of various stakeholders
Gram sabha
Gram Sabha is a body consisting of all persons whose names are included in the
electoral rolls for the Panchayat at the village level. The term is defined in the
Constitution of India under Article 243(b).
The Constitution mentions that Gram Sabha exercises such powers and performs
such functions at the village level as the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide.
All eligible voters of the village can participate in the Gram Sabha.
The decisions taken by the Gram Sabha cannot be annulled by any other body except
itself.
Challenges With the PRI System
Lack of Effective Devolution
Local government is a state subject in the Constitution, and consequently, the
devolution of power and authority to panchayats has been left to the discretion
of states.
Some of the important subjects like fuel and fodder, non-conventional energy
sources, rural electrification including distribution of electricity, non-formal
education, small scale industries including food processing industries, technical
training, and vocational education have not been devolved in certain states.
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Insufficient Grants/Funds
Despite the constitutional empowerment, the local bodies face problems of
inadequate finance to carry out various activities assigned to them.
Transfers made through the State Finance Commissions are also meagre in
most States.
In most of the states, most of the GPs are found reluctant to raise their own
source of revenue (OSR). Only a few GPs are able to generate OSR in the form of
tax or non-tax revenue by renting shops, house tax and clean water fee.
Issue of Sarpanch Pati
On the Panchayati Raj Day in 2015, the Prime Minister called for an end to
‘Sarpanch Pati culture’. But it is still very much prevalent in the society, mainly
due to gender biases, women illiteracy and patriarchal society.
Infrastructural Challenges
Some of the GPs do not have their own building and they share space with
schools, anganwadi centre and other places. Some have their own building but
without basic facilities like toilets, drinking water, and electricity connection.
While GPs have internet connections, they are not functional in many cases. For
any data entry purposes, panchayat officials have to visit Block Development
offices which delay the work.
Lack of Support Staff
The Standing Committee on Rural Development (Chair: Dr. P Venugopal) in July
2018 observed that there is severe lack of support staff and personnel in
panchayats, such as secretary, junior engineers, computer operators, and data
entry operators. This affects their functioning and delivery of services by them.
Lack of Convergence of Various Government Programmes
There is a clear lack of convergence of various development programmes of the
Centre and state governments.
For example, roads in two different patches are constructed utilising two
different sources of funding (e.g. Fourteenth Finance Commission and MPLAD),
but it is difficult to find one large activity with funding from multiple sources.
Different guidelines by different departments are cited as a major constraint for
lack of convergence of activities.
Steps to be taken
The recommendations of the 6 th report of the 2 nd Administrative Reform Commission
(ARC) can be implemented for a better and effective functioning of the Panchayati Raj
institutions.
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Genuine fiscal federalism i.e. fiscal autonomy accompanied by fiscal accountability
can provide a long term solution.
The 2 nd ARC had recommended that there should be a clear-cut demarcation of
functions of each tier of the government.
nd
The 2 ARC also recommended that state Governments should encourage local
bodies to outsource specific functions to public or private agencies, as may be
appropriate, through enabling guidelines and support
The Comprehensive and holistic training requires expertise and resources from
various subject matter specific training institutes.
This can be best achieved by ‘networking’ of institutions concerned with various
subjects such as financial management, rural development, disaster
management and general management.
Audit committees may be constituted by the State Governments at the district level
to exercise oversight of the integrity of financial information, adequacy of internal
controls, compliance with the applicable laws and ethical conduct of all persons
involved in local bodies.
Some Positive Steps Taken By Finance Commissions
In the context, the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) has substantially increased
the grants to the local bodies for the period year 2015-16 to 2019-20
The grants provided are intended to be used to support and strengthen the delivery of
important basic public services.
Also, the 15th Finance Commission has further increased the grants in its interim
report for year 2020-21 for rural and urban bodies.
Conclusion
The governments should make adequate efforts to devolve funds, functions, and
functionaries to panchayats, so that they can effectively plan economic development and
social justice schemes. An empowered PRI is the foundation to an ideal ‘Gram Swaraj’ as
advocated by Mahatma Gandhi.
e-GramSwaraj- A Simplified Work Based Accounting Application for Panchayati Raj.
To strengthen e-Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) across the country, Ministry
of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has launched eGramSwaraj, a user friendly web-based portal.
eGramSwaraj aims to bring in better transparency in decentralised planning, progress
reporting and work-based accounting.
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Drishti Mains Question
Discuss how an empowered Panchayati Raj institution is a major intervention to
facilitate good governance.
Watch Video At:
https://youtu.be/HNbga0PWu2A
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This editorial is based on “Safe return: On migrant worker distress” which was published
in The Hindu on 27/04/2020.
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