Essay on Panchayati Raj Democracy at Grass Roots

The advent of freedom released a number of forces making for radical changes in the rural areas of India. The introduction of Universal suffrage is a revolutionary measure which has placed a powerful weapon in the hands of the traditionally under-privileged sections of our population, i.e., this village dwellers, They have Awakened from the deep sleep of prejudice, illiteracy and degenera­tion. With the addition of another great factor of national re-construction-Panchayati Raj—they have been inspired to develop them­selves as healthy and self-supporting community.”

According to Air. C. S. Prasad, “In a democratic set-up the role of individual is important but where a community has become depressed, it is the corporate efforts of men that alone holds pro­mise for any remarkable progress. The ‘Gram Panchayat’ has, therefore, a special relevance for the Indian situation today in which the individual finds himself reduced to a much too insignificant a phenomenon to go it alone. In the march of prosperity, he has but to make himself a part of some organized medium”. The organized medium can be nothing but the panchayats. These panchayats can effectively deal with the countless problems the village life is beset with.

Panchayati Raj is a three-tier structure of local self-govern­ment at the village, blocks and district levels. However, the States are free to make changes in the structure to suit local conditions. Following is the system of Panchayati Raj in U. P.

Village Sabha—Any village or groups of village with a popula­tion of at least 1,000 persons can have a village Sabha. The per­sons of twenty one or more that 21 years of age can become the members of the village sabha. The chief of Village Sabha is called ‘Gram Pradhan’.

Village Panchayats-—The executive committee of Gram Sabha is called Village Panchayat. It consists of a chairman, a deputy chairman and some elected members off Gram Sabha.

In other States there are Village Panchayats at Village level, Panchayat Samiti at Block level and Zila Parishad at the District level.

Panchayati Raj is the extension of democracy at grass root level. The system is designed originally to serve as instrument to deal with the countless problems the village life is beset with. This institution was conceived for social and economic justice to the rural people, particularly the weaker section. It aims at creating a sense of partnership in the people in the development of Village life.

Some important factions of the panchayats are—

1. Construction and maintenance of approach, roads, minor roads and looking after the drainage facilities.

2. Arrangements for medical relief, primary education, mater­nity and child welfare.

3. Helping the farmers in matters of agriculture including horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, pig-forms etc. in the following way:

(a) Procuring the seeds and manure for them;

(b) Procuring agricultural implements for them;

(c) Arranging for the sale of agricultural products at reasonable rates; and

(d) Establishment of subsidiary and cottage industries.

4. Keeping record of births and deaths and registration of marriages,

5. Arrangements for street lighting and sanitation.

6. Arrangements for the night watchmen for the safety of the villagers.

7. Arrangements for the common grazing grounds and keep­ing wells, tanks and other public places in a clean condition.

8. To make arrangements for reading rooms and libraries.

9. Establishment of co-operative societies and develop a spirit of co-operation among villagers.

Besides the above functions, the village Panchayats are also expected to perform discretionary functions such as planting of trees on road side, cattle breeding, famine relief etc. Complaints against local government officials can also be forwarded by them. They also help in the rehabilitation of freed bonded labour, enforce­ment of ceiling Jaws, distribution of surplus land and implementa­tion of the law relating to minimum wages for agricultural labourers.

The Gram Panchayats have worked near miracles in many fields but there are certain weaknesses of Panchayats too. Firstly, most of the representatives do not have the requisite education and training to look after the varied functions of Panchayats effectively or to shoulder the executive, judicial or social responsibility. Secondly in its present form, a Gram Panchayat extends over an unmanageably large area. Thirdly, the financial resources of the Panchayats arc very inadequate. Fourthly the net-work of govern­ment agencies and functionaries at the sub-divisional and the block-level lack cohesiveness.

Fifthly, the dirty politics has marred the efficient functioning of Panchayats. Panchayats arc the seats of power in villages. They are mostly under the influence of powerful and strong sections of people and only serve their interests. And lastly, the Panchayats have been concentrating to the traditional functions. Many fields like drinking water supply, improvement of communication etc., have altogether been left untouched by the Panchayats.

During the last two and a half years, Mr. Gandhi’s thought process has undergone evolutionary (or shall we say revolutionary?) changes. He wants to switch on from the present bureaucratic planning to democratic and decentralized pattern of planning. There could riot have been better timing for their change than the present year when the general elections are scheduled to be held.

At the grass root level, the Panchayati Raj system is to be rejuvenated, revamped and strengthened. The weaknesses that have crept is have to be removed. While the Constitution devolved this responsibility on the State Governments at the very start, it has been discharged rather perfunctorily. The Panchayats have been treated as appendages of the State Governments and operated as subservient to them. Irregularity in elections, supersession, finan­cial dependence on the State Government, lack of initiative on the part pf the rural leadership have bedeviled the panchayats. There is a vast gap between the millions of people and their elected repre­sentatives in the Parliament and the legislatures in the State Capitals. While the 800 plus million people cannot be expected to participate in the functioning of democracy at the various layers of government, the elected representatives, about 11,000, including the members of Parliament, cannot bridge the gap. There is no stepp­ing stone between the common man, at the lowest rung of the societal ladder, and the elected representatives at the top. All that is there is patronage, power brokers and vested interests. To elimi­nate these elements, there is an inevitable need to overhaul the existing system.

With the introduction of the proposed net work of Panchayati Raj system, roughly seven lakhs people at the grass root level would be elected and in one step power would be given to those to whom it belonged. This would be a “giant leap forward” towards re-enforcing the foundations of democracy in the body politic.

On May 15, 1989 the Rajiv Gandhi Government introduced in Parliament the constitutional (64th) Amendment Bill to streng­then Panchayati Raj in the country. The Bill was tabled in Parlia­ment after a heated and intense debate for about two years on how the democracy at the grassroots level can be strengthened.

The main objective of the Bill, according to the Govern­ment, is to decentralize authority and give more power to the people at the village level in particular. When passed by parliament, the Bill will enable the Panchayats to formulate schemes of economic development and social justice. There are in all 5,00,000 villages in the country and each of them will now have a panchayat accountable to the electors directly for a period of five years. The Bill defines a Panchayat as an “institution of self-government for the rural areas or at the intermediate level or at the district level”. The Bill not only defines the institutions to be developed for self-governance but also makes a radical change in the distribution of funds.

The salient features of the Bill in respect of structure, powers and functions etc. of Panchayati Raj will be as follows :

1. The Constitution (sixty-fourth) Amendment Bill, when passed, will require every State to have a 3-tier Panchayati Raj institutions at the village level, intermediate level and district level. Small States, that is States whose populations does not ex­ceed to 20 lakhs, can have a two-tier pattern, omitting the interme­diate Panchayats.

2. Such institutions will have to hold regular and mandatory elections every five years on the basis of universal adult suffrage and under the surveillance of the Election Commissioner. The State government may lay down guidelines for giving representation to members of Parliament, members of State assemblies and others on the Panchayats. But they will not have the right to vote.

3. Reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes and women (30 percent) is a special feature of the reforms.

4. Panchayati Raj Institutions will have the powers, authority and responsibility with respect to specific subjects such as prepara­tion of draft plans for social transformation of the region within their jurisdiction. These plans will be within the frame-work of the State Plans. A list of the functions or areas within the jurisdic­tion of the panchayats is appended as schedule tenth of the consti­tution.

The panchayats will have limited fiscal autonomy to levy, collect and appropriate specified taxes, dudes, fees and tolls, in addition to the funds received through State devolution schemes or grants as determined by the State finance commission,

6. Assured of sound financial principle, the panchayats will utilize resources for productive purposes and maintain accounts for audit as directed by the Comptroller and Accountant General. They have also to execute the plans and carry out the economic reforms, particularly the land reforms, to reduce socio-economic inequali­ties.

7. A State finance commission will be appointed every five years by the governor of the Stale to review the financial posi­tion of the panchayats and make recommendations to the governor as to fiscal matters.

Earlier, funds released by the Centre reached a panchayat through the State Government, District administration (zila parishad) and Block Development Committee (block administration). This took a long time. Under the new scheme envisaged by the Bill, the funds will now go to the gram panchayats straight from the centre through the district magistrate as a distributing agency. Earlier, the State Government, district and block administration could ask a panchayat to give details of its work and expenses. They could also interfere in its work and even dissolve it. Now it is not possi­ble. The district magistrate is just a distributing agency and he cannot interfere in a panchayat’s work; nor can he dissolve it.

According to the Press reports, the Constitution 64^th Amend­ment Bill is unlikely to counter any resistance at the introductory stage in the Parliament as some of the controversial clauses in the original draft have been deleted from the final version.

According to the Press reports, the Panchayati Raj institutions will be planning anti-poverty and employment-generating pro­grammes. One such programme assigned to Panchayats is the newly-instituted Jawahar Rozgar Yojana for which a total alloca­tion of Rs. 2625 crore will be made for the current fiscal year, 1989-90. It will be financed both by the centre and the State Governments in the proportion of 4:1. The centre’s share (Rs. 2100 crore) will however be contributed via the States. Each State will have its share in proportion to the size of the population below the poverty line. The devolution of funds to districts will be determi­ned in terms of the criteria for backwardness. Whether the money will actually reach the Panchayats or not time alone will show.

“Power to the people” is the basic objective of the revolution sought to be achieved. As Mr. Gandhi put it, after the first revolu­tion of political independence this is the second revolution in the country. However, democracy will not take firm roots and will have only stunted growth in a society where ignorance and illiteracy reign supreme. To confer power on such people is tantamount to casting pearls before swine. What should have been done was to educate the people first. With enlightened minds they would be able to do the right thing in the right manner, at the right time and the right place. Otherwise, the powers and the funds given them will be misused or frittered away.