Yojana February 2011

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YOJANA February 2011 1

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Ferr 2011 Vo 55

Cef Edtor : Neet Prsd

Edtor : Mnogn R. P

Jont Drector (Prod) : J.K. Cndr

Cover Desgn : Mnj Ds

E-m (Edtor) : [email protected]

: [email protected]

Weste : www.ojn.gov.n

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

Rig Veda

(Crcton) : pdjcr_ [email protected]


C O N T E N T S

FLAGGING THE RUPEE ..............................................................36

Naveen Jindal

NORTH EAST DIARY ...............................................................38

J&K WINDOW

PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS IN J&K .......................... ..................39

Kavita Suri

BEST PRACTICES ....................................................................41

THUMBS UP FOR THIS CASTE PANCHAYAT

Usha Chowdhary

NATURAL RESOURCES AND VILLAGE

INSTITUTIONS: A CRITICAL LINK ................ ........................ ..43

Sushant

SHODH YATRA ..........................................................................47

TIPS FOR RURAL HEALTH.........................................................50

M A Haque

GRASSROOTS LEVEL DEMOCRACY IN INDIA :

AN ASSESSMENT...........................................................................5

Mathew C Kunnumkal

NEEDED-A NEW DEAL FOR PANCHAYATI RAJ ....................10George Mathew

DO YOu KNOW? ......................................................................14

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SANITATION IN

NORTH-EASTERN REGION........................................................15

Agatha Sangma

A PLACE TO CONVERT NOISE TO VOICE ............................ ..20

G Palanithurai

WOMEN IN PANCHAYATS: A REVIEW ...................... ..............24

Atonu Chatterjee

PROTECTION OF RURAL LIVELIHOODS ...............................28

Awanish Somkuwar

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL RESOURCES ...32

N Lalitha


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2 YOJANA February 2011

YE-5/11/5


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T

he year 2009 marked fifty years since Nagaur in Rajasthan saw the

foundations of Panchayati Raj institutions being laid in India. Fifty long years

in which this institution has grown from strength to strength, bringing a largecommunity of hitherto left-out people into the folds of governance. Fifty long years in

which the common Indian from the remotest corner of the country has proved that he

knows what is best for himself, his family and society, and that given a little support,

he can think, decide and act for the collective good of his community. Fifty long years

that have helped us rediscover the collective strength of the people at the grassroots after

we almost lost it under the torturous period of subjugation by the British. Observing

the year 2009-10 as the Year of the Gram Sabha was a reconrmation of this strength

of the people.

The Gram Sabha had been visualized as an institutionalized forum of villagers that would ensure that every

voice in the village was heard, the needs and concerns of every quarter of the society was addressed and that

the elected representatives of the panchayats performed their duties as expected of them. If we look at the last

eighteen years since the 73rd constitutional amendment came through, we nd a lot to be happy about. Regular

and serious panchayat elections, an increasing representation of women and people from other marginalized

sections of the society, many forceful voices rising from the grassroots, forcing the powers that be to sit up and

take note, a host of innovative development initiatives that have come to fruition under the able stewardship of

the people at the grassroots. In fact, in a bold move the India government has also decided to stitch the Gram

Sabhas into the industrial fabric of the country. In bits and pieces at rst and now regularly, the Gram Sabhas

have been given the authority to decide if a particular industrial project should be located in the area where the

Sabha operates. If an industrialist has to set up a project, he has to inform the Sabha, give them an opportunity

to call a meeting, explain the details of the project and ask for their permission to buy land from the area. Onlywhen the Sabha has approved the same can the project go through.

While all the above is true, it is also a fact that the true potential of the Gram Sabha as an instrument of

participatory governance is yet to be realized. The incorporation of the marginalized sections of the society

into active governance is facing multiple hindrances, issues of accountability are yet to be settled, a sense of

ownership and belonging has not yet developed fully. The Gram Sabha is yet to become the powerful organ of

peoples empowerment that it was meant to be.

In the current issue of Yojana, experts in the eld bring to you their views on the issue. q


February 2011 A DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY `10

ISSN-0971-8400

Abot the Isse


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YE-3/11/3


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R A S S R O O T S

D E M O C R A C Y i s

neither a new concept

nor is it an expression

of western political

thought operationalized in Indian

soil. The origin of grassroots

level democracy dates back to

the Vedic Age and has been fairly

well documented in ancient

scriptures such as the Rig Veda,

Aitareya Brahman, Paninis

Astadhyai, Kautilyas Arthasastra,

inscriptions on Asokan Pillars and

the writings of Buddhist and Jain

scholars. The available literature

clearly points to the fact that

republics functioned and elected

representatives participated in

Janpadas (regional bodies) Paura

Sabhas (City Councils) and Gram

Sabhas (Village assemblies) in

ancient India. People in republics

Grassroots Level Democracy in India :

An Assessment

GRaM Sabha

Mathew C Kunnumkal

OVERViEW

The performance

levels of the PRIs

have been directly

proportionate to

levels of transfer

of 3 Fs viz.,

Functions,

Functionaries and

Funds

were funct ioning through a

decision by majority which was

regarded as inviolable and not

to be overridden. Issues which

required more deliberations and

serious thinking were referred

to a special committee elected

from among the members of the

assembly.

Under the British Rule local

self government did not make

much progress. These panchayat

institutions were unable to function

effectively due to organizational

and fiscal maladies. However

with the emergence of Gandhiji

on the political arena, grass root

level democracy slowly started

regaining importance. Gandhijis

advocacy of village democracy

brought the issue to centre stage

and laid the foundations for grass

root level democracy in modern

G

The author is Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad


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India. In his article (Harijan, 26

July, 1942) on Village Swaraj,

Gandhiji had envisaged a village as

a complete Republic, independent

of its neighbor for its vital wants,

yet interdependent, for many

others in which dependence is

a necessity. These views got

reected in the non-justiciable part

of the Constitution in the Directive

Principles of State Policy, as

Article 40.

Soon after Independence, both

the Community DevelopmentProgramme and National Extension

Service were launched to address

rural reconstruction efforts. The

focus of these programmes was

on improving agriculture and rural

development and bringing about

socio economic transformation

among the rural people. The

Balwantrai Committee which wasappointed to study the Community

Development Programme and

National Extension Service stated

that the community needs to be

involved in planning, decision

making and implementation

process. However Panchayat Raj

Institutions (PRIs) across the

country faced resistance from

bureaucracy, lacked capacity and

were often captured by certain

elitist sections of the community.

T h e r e a f t e r A s h o k M e h t a

Committee appointed in 1978

described the post 1959 period

in three phases; a) Ascendancy

1959-64; b) Stagnation -1965-

69; c) Decline - 1969-1977. The

Committee recommended that the

district should be the basic unit for

planning, coordination and resource

allocation and should be supported

by technical expertise. The GVK

Rao Committee (1985) was of the

opinion that PRIs need to play an

important role in rural development

programmes thus building up a

gradual momentum in favour of the

local self government institutions.

In 1986 the Committee for theConcept Paper on Panchayati

Raj Institutions recommended

that these inst i tut ions need

constitutional backing. The gram

sabha was identied as the base

of decentralized democracy and

PRI as units of selfgovernment

promoting peoples participation.

Although this was opposed by

the Sarkaria Commission the late

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi

introduced the 64th Constitutional

amendment bill in 1989. As the

Bill was defeated in the Rajya

Sabha, it was introduced again in

1992 and was passed as the 73rd

Constituted Amendment. This Actis a landmark legislation which

has brought empowerment of the

Panchayat Raj Institutions and

has ensured the transfer of power

from the State to the panchayat

raj institutions to be exercised by

the people.

India lives in its villages is

the oft quoted statement of the

Father of the Nation. In reality

however the people of India were

far distanced from the seat of

power and the Government at

the Centre and in the States.

The greatest strength of grass

root democracy reected through

the Panchayat Raj Institutions

is its proximity to the people.

It is an important step towards

the realization of Gandhijis

dream of vi l lage swaraj .

Grass root level democracy

has a tremendous potential for

establishing a people centred

delivery system which is essential

for sustainable development. The

village assemblies/Gram Sabhas

can emerge as a platform for

expression of peoples needs

and aspirations. This in turnwill help to effectively utilize

the local resources and pave the

way for need based development

which would br ing vi s ible

benefit to the local community.

These institutions also provide

opportunities for the marginalized

and socially excluded groups to

participate in decision making.

Fundamental requirements for

personal advancement such as

access to health care and education

can be better provided by judicious

assessment of needs and allocation

of resources. With the people

being actually involved in decision


7/52


making the scope for corruption

and misuse of resources and

authority get reduced. Close

monitoring and social audit are

possible for taking corrective

action which was not possible in

the erstwhile top down approach

that was in vogue. The vesting of

powers of taxation with the Gram

Panchayats has enabled them to

increase their resource base for

accelerating development. At the

panchayat level, there can be very

imaginative and pragmatic pooling

of resources and convergence of

schemes which will bring larger

good to the community. Micro

level planning which was virtually

absent hitherto enables to translate

peoples aspirations into need

based programmes.

Since the Panchayat Raj

Institutions are still in the earlystages of development they are yet

to overcome several weaknesses

which have not enabled them to

reach their full potential. First and

foremost, the Gram Sabha which

is considered as the life-line of

PRIs by directly reecting peoples

views and voices has to see a much

higher level of participation by the

entire community. There has also

to be much greater involvement

and articulation of the needs of the

entire community particularly the

deprived sections. Secondly there

is considerable discretion vested

in the state Governments. PRIs

falls under the state subject and the

legal language of shall and may

and other connotations has led to

various levels of conformity by the

state Governments. It is seen that

several non obligatory provisions,

like the representation of legislators

and members of parliament in PRIs,

is affecting the true expression of

village democracy. Adequate

training and sustained handholding

efforts are not extended to elected

representatives. Hence there is a

lack of professionalism in handling

administrative, nancial and other

related issues. Devolution of

three Fs Funds, Functions and

Functionaries which is imperative

for effective public service delivery

has not yet taken place in many

states.

The District planning committee

has been constituted. However itsperformance levels needs to be

improved by making the District

Panchayat Chairman as its head

and reducing the role of in charge

Ministers.

The weaknesses which are

highlighted are structural. A greater

amount of political will is essentialto enable these bodies to function

as true democratic institutions.

N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g t h e s e

weaknesses it is very heartening

to note that in many parts of

the country the Panchayat Raj

Inst i tut ions has emerged as

powerful vehicles for social

transformation. Some examples of

best practices are stated below:

1) K a r n a t a k a h a s v e r y

i n n o v a t i v e l y u s e d t h e

Panchayat Raj system to

improve revenue realization

in the power sector. Under the

Participatory Rural Energy

Services in Karnataka, Gram

Panchayat (GP) members

w e r e t r a i n e d t o o f f e r

electricity support services

and transfer best practices for

water farming and electricity

management.

2) Integrated Rural Accessibility

Planning (IRAP) is concerned

with improving access in

rural areas of Orissa (ILO).

IRAP comprises a set of

planning tools for use at Gram

Panchayat level to identifyand prioritize interventions

to improve accessibility. The

process responds to the access

needs of rural people and

interventions to either improve

mobil i ty (roads, t racks,

bridges, transport services) or

bring the services and goods

closer to the people (markets,

schools, health centers, water

supplies).

3) Indira Kranthi Pathakam

(IKP) in Andhra Pradesh has

evolved a strategy for enabling

the Village Organizations in

700 Gram Panchayats in 259


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Mandals to facilitate all the

poor households to secure their

Rights and Entitlements under

MGNREGA fully and also to

ensure that the Employment

G u a r a n t e e S c h e m e

investments are secured to

develop the lands belonging

to the poor. The strategy is to

position a team of Community

Resource Persons in select

Gram Panchayats to provide

grass root level support to

the Village Organisations.

It is expected that these 700

Gram Panchayats will emerge

as EGS Model Villages for

demonstrating a framework

for implementing NREGS in a

manner that all the Rights and

Entitlements guaranteed to the

wage seekers are fullled in

letter and spirit.4) In Uttar Pradesh Mid Day

Meal programme is managed

by the Gram Panchayats.

Information on menu, the

quantity of ingredients needed

for feeding 100 children

and funds received for the

programmes are disseminated

through the Gram Panchayats

through wall writings, etc..

The funds for the programme

are deposited in a separate

account in village fund so that

account of expenditure can

be maintained. Food items

are supplied on a monthly

basis in advance. A committee

has been constituted at gram

panchayat level to supervise

day-to-day cooking at school

level with Gram Pradhan,

and representat ion fromparents. This intervention

has improved the quality and

delivery of the Mid Day Meal

Programme.

5) Understanding the actual

cause of the heavy school drop

outs among tribal children,

Vellamunda Panchayat in

Wayanad district has used its

resources imaginatively to

arrest the drop out rate and

increase retention of children

in the schools. It hired ve

jeeps and launched its own

transport service to ferry

the children to and from the

school and introduced a free

breakfast and noon meal

scheme to retain the children

in the 18 schools within the

panchayat limits as part of six

projects costing Rs.22 lakh

annually.

The decentralized governance

system ushered in through the 73rd

and 74th constitutional amendments

in 1993-94 have not been able to

pick up the required momentum

on account of several challenges

confronting the PRIs. Some of the

challenges are listed below:

1. Constitution of certain types

of Committees not in line with

the spirit of PRIsespecially

for several donor driven

programmes, is moving away

from the objectives enshrined

in the Constitution. Similarly,

the strengths of Self HelpGroups need to be integrated

for improving the capability

of the Panchayats.

2. An organic linkage between

g r a m s a b h a a n d g r a m

panchayat is yet to be forged.

Consequently resolutions

p a s s e d i n G r a m s a b h a

generally do not get reected

in the identified needs of

Gram Panchayat, both in

terms of human resource and

infrastructure development.

3. In many states GPs do not

constitute viable administrative

units due to their geographical

areas and physical distancesfrom potential growth centres

and sheer inaccessibility due

to lack of proper infrastructure

such as roads and connectivity.

Delimitations on the basis

of population distances and

access need to be done in

some States.

4. The higher outlays and number

of programmes require a much

higher level of capability and

professionalism for delivering

the desired results.

5. Physical infrastructure also

needs to be substantially

improved at the Panchayat


9/52


level for data maintenance,

record keeping etc.

Despite these challenges, the

PRIs have been playing a role as

institutions of local governance

in the changing scenario of rural

development. Some of the positive

trends are as follows:

1. P R I s a r e i n c r e a s i n g l y

recognized as the best available

alternative to implement

s e v e r a l d e v e l o p m e n t a l

programs and of late GPs are

made to play a pivotal role in the

planning and implementation

process. Direct funding is

also being made available

for speedy implementation of

programmes.

2. Since various Ministries and

donor agencies have started

adopting the Saturation

approach in developmental

programmes by extending

the delivery to the last man,

PRI institutions have started

to play an enlarged role in

identication, planning and

implementation.

3. Social audits at PRI level

have shown that peoplesp a r t i c i p a t i o n i s b o t h

qualitatively and effectively

resolving local problems.

4. Performance of the PRIs is

evaluated both by national

and international agencies

(Google) and they are given

awards, which has led to

increased motivation on part

of PRIs. Due to this, over

the years, one comes across

several performing GPs who

are recognized as BeaconPanchayats and role models

for others. They have been

successful in converging both

human and nancial resources

and have been successful

in promoting social and

economic equity.

To conclude, grass root leveldemocracy has come to stay in

India through the instrumentality

of 73rd and 74th Constitutional

Amendment. While on the one

side of the spectrum there are very

active and strong PR Institutions,

at the other end we have a large

number of PRIs which a re

not in a position to performeffectively. The performance

levels of the PRIs have been

directly proportionate to levels of

transfer of 3 Fs viz., Functions,

Functionaries and Funds. Since

the devolution of the powers and

functions are within the ambit of

the State Government and the Act

does not make it mandatory for

full-edged transfer of powers,

the PRIs have not developed

uniformly across the country.

With the implementation of more

rural development programmes

through the PRIs and increase

in the budgetary outlays (e.g.,

MGNREGA 40,000 crores,

NSAP 3000 crores) the resource

base of the PRIs has increased.

The challenges to translate

these schemes very effectively at

the ground level for the benet

of the common people have also

brought pressure on the PRIs to

play their role more effectively.

The efforts made by institutions

such as the National Institute of

Rural Development and the State

Institutes of Rural Development

and other agencies for capacitydevelopment of the functionaries

is also showing positive results,

in terms of improved delivery by

the PRIs. Increased participation

of women in PR insti tutions

resulting from higher percentages

of reservation is slowly changing

the face of PRIs. More acceptable

and sustainable developmental

trends are emerging through the

interventions of PR Institutions

with more participation of women

elected representatives.

The establishment of Self

Help Groups in many States,

the participation of NGOs and

CBOs working together withthe PR Institutions is a promising

trend which, if guided properly,

can improve the delivery of

governing systems at the grass

root level. q

(E-mail : gemathew@ yahoo.co.in

[email protected])


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O THE people of

India let us ensure

maximum democracy

a n d m a x i m u m

devolution. Let there

be an end to the power brokers.

Let us give power to the people.

These were the words of Prime

Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 15 May1989 when he introduced the

rst ever amendment (64th) to the

Constitution to give constitutional

status to the panchayats. More

than twenty years have passed.

We have amended the constitution

and created the new generation of

panchayati raj. But has power been

devolved to the people? Where do

we stand today?

It is universally accepted that

the parliament or state assemblies

constitute the super structure

of democracy and the local

governments, which are nearer

to the people, are the base. In

Needed-A New Deal for Panchayati Raj

GRaM Sabha

George Mathew

ViEW POiNT

The shortcomings

that the panchayats

face today call for

a new deal. Only

then they can open

a new chapter forthe eight hundred

million people living

in our villages

order to give power to the people,

strong vibrant local governments

(panchayats and municipalities)

are a necessary sine qua non. It

took more than 110 years after the

Ripon resolution (1882) gave the

status of self-government for local

bodies and 84 years after Gandhiji

began to champion the cause of

Gram Swaraj, for panchayats

to get constitutional status on

24 April 1993 through the 73rd

(Constitution) Amendment Act,

thereby becoming the institutions

of self-government.

When the Lok Sabha and Rajya

Sabha passed the two amendments

to the Constitution (73rd and 74th)

on 22 and 23 December 1992,

it was hailed as historic and

beginning of a silent revolution.

By all accounts it was a radical

piece of legislation in form and

content. Where does it stand now

after about 18 years?

T

The author is Director, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi


11/52


To begin with, this period has

not been altogether disappointing.

Given the severe social and political

constraints social inequality, caste

system, patriarchy, feudal setting,

illiteracy, uneven developments within which it had to function,

the new pachayati raj had set in

motion a silent social revolution

that would transform India.

Today elections to the local

self-government institutions every

ve years have become a norm

although in the initial years almost

all the states irrespective of the

party in power had defied the

constitutional provision with all

the power at their command. As

the civil society organizations

took the initiative to fight the

anti-constitutional approach of

the states by ling public interest

litigations (PILs), the judiciary

at different levels effectively

intervened.

Constitutional bodies like the

State Election Commission, State

Finance Commission etc., in all

states are now rmly in place. The

SECs have taken up the panchayat

elections seriously giving a lot

of credibility to the grassroots

level democratic process. In some

states like Bihar, UP, Uttaranchal,Maharashtra and Gujarat, SECs

have gone a step further. Taking

the cue from the Supreme Court

order of May 3, 2002 relating to

the Right to Information of electors

regarding criminal antecedents,

assets and liabili t ies of the

candidates, the State Election

Commissioners have issued orders

in conformity with the Supreme

Court Order. After all, the voters in

the panchayats and municipalities

also have their right to get the

information about the candidates.We have also witnessed a

steady progress as far as the

inclusion of excluded sections

of our population in the decision

making process from village to the

district level is concerned. Women

have got the maximum mileage.

Today more than 10 lakh women

are elected to these bodies every

five years and more than three

times that number are contesting

elections. This is not a mean

achievement in a hierarchical

and male dominated society like

ours. The common refrain that

it is the men folk in the families

who control the women elected

members may be partly true but

studies show that the situation israpidly changing. One-third of all

the panchayats and municipalities

at various levels have women

presidents. As years go by, the

number of women getting elected

from general constituencies is also

increasing. The Scheduled Castes

and Scheduled Tribes are equally

securing their due share in the local

bodies.

As local self-government

bodies have come into existence

throughout the country, their

functioning has come under

scrutiny. A congenial climate for

taking governance to the doorsteps

of the people is slowly being

created. A major achievement of

this process is that patronage and

clientelism are slowly shifting from

traditional castes and families to

political parties and ideologies.

Many states, taking advantage

of the prevailing situation, have

gone for innovative and creative

experiments in local governance,

planning and rural development.

The peoples participation in local

plan in Kerala is an illustrative

case in point.

B y c r e a t i n g a s e p a r a t e

Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the

UPA government has taken the

correct and much needed step. The

Ministry has done exceptionally

well in its rst ve year term to

keep the banner of panchayati raj

aloft. The seven round tables the

ministry organized in 2004, the

activity mapping it initiated, the

charter of demands prepared bythe panchayat representatives for

presenting to the Prime Minister

and President of the Congress

party on 24 April, 2008, and the

documents the Union Minister

signed with 22 Chief Ministers

were very special. All this has

come after a long slumber of 11

years.

However, as a close observer

of the working of panchayats

during this period, I nd serious

shortcomings as well. The fact that

the local government system in this

country, which was inaugurated

with great enthusiasm, is facing

enormous problems and powerful


12/52


enemies are a matter of serious

concern. The intensity of the

negative forces varies from state to

state because panchayat is a state

subject. Many state governments

are riding roughshod over the localgovernment institutions.

A t a d e e p e r l e v e l , t h e

negative forces are feudalism

and patriarchy. So long as these

remain the organizing principles

of rural society, little good can

be expected from self-governing

panchayats. For, they will only

give more power to those who

are already powerful in social

and economic terms. Control

over the instrumentalities of self-

government will further strengthen

their hands. Out groups of one

kind or another, especially the poor

and women, may well come to feel

the weight of oppression more than

before. For them, decentralized

governance could turn out to be acurse rather than a blessing.

A section of our bureaucracy is

not at all happy to see panchayats

emerge as institutions of self-

government. Our administrative

culture is to retain the powers of

the line departments and not to

give power to the people. In 1995,

I conducted a study at Shadnagar inAndhra Pradesh where Jawaharlal

Nehru had inaugurated the rst

panchayat in South India on

October 11, 1959. When I asked the

reason for the failure of panchayati

raj, an old guard said: the ofcials

worked against giving power to

the non-ofcials and especially the

peoples representatives from the

villages. In this, they were hand in

glove with state level politicians

(The Hindu, 7 July 1995). In order

to sabotage the new generation of

panchayats, they create parallel

bodies which have devastating

impact on democratically elected

local bodies.

In a socially stratied society

like ours, even today in the rural

areas the landlords and upper

caste people control everything.

Except in a couple of states land

reforms have been implemented

on paper. Studies show that if wetake a typical village panchayat

of about 8,000 population, 70 per

cent people have no land, and the

30 per cent control everything

from gram sabha meetings to

panchayats and inuence assembly

and parliament elections including

NREGS implementation. The

gram sevak to BDO and other

officials happily work with theleaders of the 30 per cent village

landowners. In such villages about

15-20 per cent people are the

Scheduled Castes and they do

not own land. In such situations,

elected panchayats function for

name sake. It is the landlords who

get elected as mukhia/sarpanch/

president. If Dalits, courageous

women, people with idealismquestion their actions or when get

elected and try to bring changes

through the panchayats, they are at

the receiving end of the landlords

or upper castes ire. The bloodbath

caused by grassroots democracy

since 1994 is horrendous. Leela

Devi of Madurai, Dhoola Ratnam

of East Godavari, Sukhia Bhai of

Betul, Madhya Pradesh, Murugesan

and Mookan of Melavalavu, Tamil

Nadu and many others have become

martyrs because of their passion to

devolve power to the people. But

the government prefers to sweep

these tragedies under the carpet or

refuse to recognize what it means

for the oppressed when panchayats

are at work.

The power-brokers about whom

Rajiv Gandhi spoke continue to

hold sway. They appear in various

ways as contractors, middlemen,

lobbyists, maa and so on. Theyalways prefer centralised corridors

of power and not decentralization.

The contractors are omnipresent.

The much acclaimed NREGS

which is to be implemented by

panchayats has banned contractors.

But the collusion between ofcials

and contractors has given sizeable

space to the latter.

There are numerous elaborate

mechanisms at Central and State

levels to ensure accountability and

efcient utilisation of public funds.

There are time tested institutional

mechanisms for audit. So also

vigilance committees sponsored

by the government and supported

by civil society organisations.

At another level, India has the

unique distinction of creating a

constitutional forum for direct

democracy - the Gram Sabha - with

special powers for overseeing the

local development and expenditure.

The concept of `social audit has

emerged from these innovative

steps. All these are not working

the way they are expected to.


13/52


The shortcomings that the

panchayats face today call for

a new deal which is the need

of the hour. Only then they can

open a new chapter for the eight

hundred million people living in

our villages.

l This new deal should make

panchayats institutions of

local government as envisaged

by the Constitution.

l It must ensure ways and

means to make panchayats

and municipalities (the district

and below), the third tier of

government in the country.

Thus we can say goodbye to

the Collector Raj and bring in

District Governments.

l It must ensure autonomy

to implement the policies

and programmes to eradicate

poverty in this country at the

earliest but not later than 20

years so that by 2025 poverty

line becomes totally irrelevant

for India.

l

Since we have a federalsystem, the governments and

political parties must show the

political will to give power to

the people at the centre and

state levels; cosmetic actions

will not work.

I feel that the new Ministry

of Panchayati Raj should have

been the Minist ry of Local

Government bringing the urban

and rural under one umbrella.

Now with a powerful Ministry

of Rural Development and two

ministries looking after Urban

Affairs, very little is left for

the Ministry of Panchayati Raj

to do. Moreover, one Cabinet

minister is in charge of the two

ministries since May 2009. A

full time cabinet minister of

Panchayati Raj is a felt need

today because of the enormous

tasks ahead.

I would like to underline the

fact that if we slacken our efforts

to keep the institutions of local

self government at the centre stage

and as a top agenda of the policy

makers and practitioners, the best

chance we got through the 73rd and

74th Amendments will be in peril.Let us move forward with a strong

commitment for decentralized

governance. There is a long way to

travel. q

(E-mail : [email protected])

YE-2/11/2


14/52


DO yOu KNOW?

What is WikiLeaks ?

WikiLeaks is an international

w e b s i t e t h a t p u b l i s h e s

anonymous submissions and

leaks of sensitive governmental,

corporate, organisational or

religious documents. This website

WikiLeaks.org was launched on

4th October 2006. The website

was unveiled and published its

rst document in December 2006,

claiming a database of more than1.2 million documents within

a year of its launch. WikiLeaks

founders are a mix of journalists,

mathematicians, and start-up

company technologists from the

United States, Taiwan, Europe,

Australia and South Africa. Julian

Assange an Australian internet

activist is generally described as

its director. The site was originally

launched as a user-editable wiki,but has progressively moved

towards a more traditional

publication model and no longer

accepts either user comments or

edits. WikiLeaks also develops

and adapts technologies to support

these activities.

Where is WikiLeaks located ?

The WikiLeaks Headquarters

has surprised everybody withi t s ext raordinary loca t ion

and conditions.The Turkey-

based WikiLeaks office was

constructed during the cold war,

and reconstructed by the Pionen

company in 2008. This could be

the most strong and wonderful

ofce thats established in the past

WIKILEAKS

ten years. Though the ofces of

social networking service Facebookand Search engine giant Google

were already in hot discussions

the WikiLeaks Bunker pictures

shows how powerful and unique an

ofce can be.

Some astonishing facts about

Bahnhof AB ofce interior where

WikiLeaks data is safely stored:

l Originally built in cold war

years to survive nuclearattack

l It is buried deep under a granite

mountain

l There is only one entry and

exit

l Generators of German U-Boat

submarines work as a backup

power

l Fish tanks, fountains and plants

are beautifying the ambience

Who are the people behind

WikiLeaks ?

WikiLeaks claim it has a

volunteer group of about 1,400

people, but these numbers have

expanded. The group basically

includes journalists, software

programmers, network engineers,

mathematicians and others.

How does WikiLeaks fnction ?

WikiLeaks has combined high-

end security technologies with

jo urn al ism. Like other media

outlets conducting investigative

journalism, WikiLeaks accepts (but

does not solicit) anonymous sources

of information. When information

comes in, journalists analyse the

material, verify it and write anews piece about it describing its

signicance to society. WikiLeaks

then publishes both the news

story and the original material

in order to enable readers to

analyse the story in the context

of the original source material

themselves. If the main site

wikiLeaks.org is not functional

then WikiLeaks also currently

has 1426 up-to-date sites .

W h a t i s t h e s t a t s o f

Wikileaks ?

The legal status of WikiLeaks

is complex. Assange considers

WikiLeaks a whistleblower

protection intermediary. Rather

than leaking directly to the

press, and fearing exposure and

retribution, whistleblowers canleak to WikiLeaks, which then

leaks to the press for them. Its

servers are located throughout

Europe and are accessible from

any uncensored web connection.

The group has located its

headquarters in Sweden because

it has one of the worlds strongest

shield laws to protect condential

source-journalist relationships.

WikiLeaks has stated that theydo not solicit any information.

However, Assange used his

speech during the Hack In The

Box conference in Malaysia to

ask the crowd of hackers and

security researchers to help nd

documents on its Most Wanted

Leaks of 2009 list.


15/52


ACK OF adequate

sanitation is a pressing

cha l lenge in both

rural and urban India.

Sani ta t ion-re la ted

diseases take a heavy toll of

lives, especially childrens lives,

loss of productivity and income.

Inadequate sanitation leads toindignity of open defecation

especially for women and young

girls.

Despite the fact that India has

impressive development indictors

like growth of over 8%, a dynamic

industry and a vibrant democratic

governance system, one third of

its population has to still bear the

shame of defecating in the open.

The challenge that India, with its

large population, size & different

hydro-geological regions faces in

the area of sanitation is unique and

unparalleled in the world. The

Towards Sustainable Sanitation in

North-Eastern Region

RuRal SaNiTaTiON

Agatha Sangma

OVERViEW

The secret of

the phenomenal

success in Sikkim

has been the top

priority given by

the political andadministrative

leadership of the

state

Department of Drinking Water

and Sanitation, Ministry of Rural

Development, Government of

India has taken on this enormous

challenge by pledging to provide

sanitation facilities in all rural areas

through its agship programme

Total Sanitation Campaign

(TSC). TSC has been successfulin changing the rural sanitation

coverage from a mere 21% as per

2001 Census to 67% of households

in the current year with over 22,618

PRIs becoming open defecation

free Nirmal Grams.

TSC has resul ted in the

construction of 7.07 Crore

Individual Household Latrines

(IHHL), 10.33 lakh school toilets,

3,47,077 Anganwadi Toilets,

19,509 community sani tary

complexes with a total project

outlay of Rs. 17,885 Crore. The

Department has set the target to

L

The author is Minister of State, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt of india


16/52


provide universal toilet coverage

in rural areas by 2015.

Recognizing the enormous

economic, health and social

benets that sustainable sanitation

brings to the rural communities

TSC is being implemented in all

the eight North Eastern Indian

states of Arunachal Pradesh,

Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,

Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and

Tripura. While overall the North

Eastern region scores fairly well

on the rural sanitation map as

compared to other states there arewide variations in the sanitation

coverage.

S i k k i m h a s m a d e t h e

commendable ach i evement

of becoming the first Open

Defecation Free Nirmal State of

India. The secret of the phenomenal

success in Sikkim has been the top

priority given by the political and

administrative leadership of the

state and decentralized mechanism

of implementation by active

involvement of local governance

State-wise percentage physical performance is given below

S.N. State IHHL-

BPL%

IHHL

APL%

IHHL

TOTAL%

San.

Comp%

School

Toilets%

Toilets for

Anganwadi%

1 Arunachal Pradesh 36.77 59.53 39.88 18.55 97.16 87.57

2 Assam 39.79 20.96 33.32 9.95 92.41 62.64

3 Manipur 13.24 28.84 17.29 55.7 73.51 75.1

4 Meghalaya 33.83 49.7 38.33 25.17 33.12 21.83

5 Mizoram 66.38 88.86 70.3 87.86 100 59.11

6 Nagaland 39.03 19.32 36.11 64.73 61.74 61.37

7 Sikkim 100 100 100 100 100 100

8 Tripura 94.32 80.96 90.7 71.68 67.2 91.55

46.60 32.28 42.15 69.17 79.18 68.24

Case Stdy of Bal PanchayatYong Sanitation Champions

An Ideal Example of Grassroot Democracy and Eqity

under BAC WOK Sikkip, Sikkim

Rights come with responsibilities. BAC Sikkip launched the concept

of Bal Panchayat in the month of February 2010 in 12 Schools. Settingan example before the adult members of the Gram Panchayat (village

council), children of schools under BAC Sikkip are running a parallel

self-government body, asserting their right to education, health,

entertainment and leisure.

The village children have constituted the Bal Panchayat through a

general election under the supervision of school authorities. Besides

the President, the Bal Panchayat has ministers for education, health,

environment, cultural affairs, sports, etc. These ministers are charged

with the responsibilities of ensuring the well-being of the children

by bringing to the notice of the elders and authorities concerned, the

specic problems and needs of the children.

A Self Help Drive was organised by the Block Administrative Centre

for moving towards better toilets and better hygiene at Sanganath

Secondary School, one of the remotest Gram Panchayat Unit. In the

construction drive of the toilets, material component was used from

the fund provided by the Government and the labour component

was covered totally through participatory mode by school students,

teachers, community, Panchayat and Block Ofcials. This ultimately

built a sense of ownership of the asset created in their area which wasmissing earlier.

systems, local communities,

Womens Self Help Groups and

Youth Groups. Having obtained

the Nirmal State status Sikkim

is now planning to take up next

generation sanitation activities


17/52


like Menstrual Hygiene and Solid

& Liquid Waste Management

(SLWM). The Government of

Sikkim is collaborating with Indian

Green Services, an NGO to take up

a pilot project on Solid & Liquid

Waste Management (SLWM).

Tripura i s another s ta te

which has made commendable

achievement in achieving over

90% sanitation coverage. TSC is

implemented as a comprehensive

concept, which includes waste

disposal, food hygiene, personal,

domestic as well as environmental

hygiene.

In Manipur, while coverage of

school sanitation is good, progress

in IHHL coverage has been rather

slow. The major concern in the state

is that owing to the hilly terrain

the leach pit toilets are difcult

to construct and Ecosanitation

is proposed to be promoted in

the state under Mahatma Gandhi

National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme.

In Meghalaya there has been

intensive campaigning on access

and usage of toilets under TSC

in all the 7 Districts. TSC is

implemented through the District

Water and Sanitation Mission

and Village Water and Sanitation

Committee. The state has been

able to upscale the TSC by building

effective partnerships with Water

and Sanitation Programme-South

Asia. The state has made therecommendation that to scale up

TSC , population figures from

2011 census and revised BPL

figures need to be considered

for assessing progress on TSC,

integration of sanitation with

other development programmes

through convergence with other

departments like Education and

Health.

In Mizoram, TSC was initiated

in 2002 and is being implemented

in all the districts. Efforts are

being made to convert the dry

pit latrines to pour ush latrines.

While sanitation coverage received

attention in the state, a hygiene

behavior such as hand washing

was not focused upon. The unique

feature of the state is that TSC

is implemented with support

from local NGOs particularly

for d ra inage c l ean ing andmaintenance.

Nagaland has initiated TSC

only in 2005 and currently the

Campaign is being implemented

in 9 out of 11 districts in the

State. IEC activities in the state

have been intensied to accelerate

sanitation coverage The State

suggested nurturing strong social

capital, increase the involvement

of women for behavior change &

IEC and initiating Campaigns on

sanitation with the involvement

of local leaders and MLAs and

making a clear time-frame for

achieving TSC goals.

The overall progress in TSC

in Arunachal Pradesh has been

slow. Major challenges in the state

are remoteness of habitations,

difcult mountain terrain beyond

the reach of road connectivity and

low income of people. Moreover,

transition from wiping with straws

and cloth to use of safe sanitation

Sccess Story of Total Sanitation Campaign

Implementation in Soth Tripra

Rural Sanitary Marts have been set up and managed by women

SHGS in all the 11 blocks of the district for production of sanitary

materials like squatting plates, mosaic pan/siphon etc. A number of

smaller production units/ manufacturing centers at Gram Panchayat

level and ward/para level have been set up for ensuring 100 percent

achievement in time.

Rajibnagar and Ratanmani, two Gram Panchayats of Satchand

Block and West Jalefa and Bankul Mahamani GPs jointly under

Satcand and Rupaicharri block achieved full coverage of sanitation.

The 1st three GPs in the District making 100% coverage of targeted

families were also awarded by the Chief Minister. Awards consisted

of additional allocation of development fund to the block as well as

to the Gram Panchayats. This really acted on the morale and boostedthe enthusiasm of the implementing agencies of RD programmes in

the District.


18/52


and washing with water requires

time. So far, 16 Gram Panchayats

(GPs) in the state have won the

Nirmal Gram Panchayat award

and continue to maintain the NGP

status without any slippages. Thestate has proposed introduction

of special package to popularize

Ecosanitation models in selected

districts, State, and incentive

for APL families also, as the gap

between Above Poverty Line

(APL) and Below Poverty Line

(BPL) families in Arunachal

Pradesh are marginal.

In Assam Kaccha toilets

are a major challenge. Efforts are

underway to convert Kaccha

toilets into safe ones. Provision

of sani ta t ion fac i l i t i es for

Anganwadis is also problematic

due to space constraints and their

location in private buildings. In

four districts of Assam there are

Village Council Development

Committee (VCDC) instead of

the PRI and in 2 hilly Districts

there is a Member of Autonomous

Council making it difficult to

implement TSC.

Policy/implementation isses

Recognizing that the North

East States, particularly the poor

performing ones have specific

issues that need special attention

to upscale TSC, the Government of

India has taken several initiatives.

Some of the policy initiatives

and the issues of concern for

sanitation promotion in North

Eastern region are :

1. As per policy of Govt. of

India, 10% funds are allocated

for North Eastern States. In

the current financial year,TSC allocation is Rs. 1580

cr. of which Rs. 158 Crore is

reserved for NE states.

2. An additional incentive of

Rs 2000 is given by Central

Government to BPL for

IHHL in the North East

and Hilly states (as against

Rs. 1500 in other cases) whilethe state and beneficiary

contributions remain the

same i .e . Rs. 700/- and

Rs. 300/- respectively.

3. Additional incentive is given

by Cent ra l Government

for construction of school

toilets (38,500/-for Hilly and

Difcult Areas as against Rs.35,000/- in other cases). and

for construction of Anganwadi

toilets (Rs. 10,000/--for Hilly

and Difcult Areas as against

Rs. 8,000/- in other cases).

4. Sus ta inab le technolog y

options in sanitation keeping

in view the special geo-

phys ica l fea ture of the

North Eas t region need

to be cons idered whi le

implementing sani ta t ion

projects in these sta tes .

Many of the states have

suggested initiating pilot

projects of technologies like

Ecosanitation particularly

in those hilly areas where

leach pit toilets are difcult

to construct.

5. The G.O.I. has set up several

institutions like WSSO, Block

Resource Centres (BRC),State Water and Sanitation

Mission (SWSM), District

Water Sanitation, Health

Committees (DWHSC) and

increased the number of Key

Resource Centre (KRC) which

would be providing support to

states to undertake capacity

building and IEC activities

to accelerate sani ta t ion

promotion and address the

challenges being faced in

sanitation promotion.

6. Many states are also prone to

disasters, particularly oods

in Assam which impact

the sanitation facilities in

these areas. Technologies

and response mechanism to

address these needs to be

focused upon.

7. For those North Eastern states

where toilet coverage has

almost reached a peak, viz.

Sikkim, Tripura there is a need

for developing a post Nirmal

State policy which should

include capacity building on

next generation sanitation

activit ies l ike Solid and

Liquid Waste Management,

Ecosanitation, Menstrual

H y g i e n e M a n a g e m e n t

etc. q



19/52


Gandhis Vision of Democracy :His Will and last Testament

Every panchayat of ve adult men or women being villagers or village-minded shall form a unit. Two such

contiguous panchayats shall form a working party under a leader elected from among themselves. When there

are one hundred such panchayats, the fty rst grade leaders shall elect from among themselves a second-grade

leader and so on, the rst-grade leaders meanwhile working under the second-grade leader. Parallel groupsof two

1hundred panchayats shall continue to be formed till they cover the whole of India, each succeeding

group of panchayats electing a second-grade leader after the manner of the rst. All second-grade leaders

shall serve jointly for the whole of India and severally for their respective areas.

The second-grade leaders may elect, when ever they deem necessary, from among themselves a chief who

will, during pleasure, regulate and command all the groups.(As the nal formation of provinces or districts

is still in a state of ux, no attempt has been made to divide this group of servants into provincial or district

councils and jurisdiction over the whole of India has been vested in the group or groups that may have been

formed at any given time. It should be noted that this body of servants derive their authority or power from

service ungrudgingly and wisely done to their master, the whole of India.)2

1. Every worker shall be a habitual wearer of khadi made from self-spun yarn or certied by the A. I. S.A. and must be a teetotaller. If a Hindu, he must have abjured untouchability in any shape or form in his

own person or in his family and must be a believer in the ideal of inter-communal unity, equal respect

and regard for all religions and equality of opportunity and status for all irrespective of race, creed or

sex.

2. He shall come in personal contact with every villager within his jurisdiction.

3. He shall enrol and train workers from amongst the villagers and keep a register of all these.

4. He shall keep a record of his work from day to day.

5. He shall organize the villages so as to make them self contained and self-supporting through their

agriculture and handicrafts.

6. He shall educate the village folk in sanitation and hygiene and take all measures for prevention of illhealth and disease among them.

7. He shall organize the education of the village folk from birth to death along the lines of Nayee Talim, in

accordance with the policy laid down by the Hindustani Talimi Sangh.

8. He shall see that those whose names are missing on the statutory voters, roll are duly entered therein.

9. He shall encourage those who have not yet acquired the legal qualication, to acquire it for getting the

right of franchise.

10. For the above purposes and others to be added from time to time, he shall train and t himself in accordance

with the rules laid down by the Sangh for the due performance of duty.

The Sangh shall afliate the following autonomous bodies:

1. A.I.S.A.

2. A.I.V.I.A.

3. Hindustani Talimi Sangh

4. Harijan Sevak Sangh

5. Goseva Sangh

FINANCE

The Sangh shall raise nances for the fullment of its mission from among the villagers and others,

special stress being laid on collection of poor mans pice.


20/52


R A M S A B H A i s

equiva lent to Lok

S a b h a a n d R a j y a

Sabha as long as it

is able to exercise

the powers conferred on it by

the Act of Panchayati Raj. It

is a constitutional body with

tremendous potential. Yet, evenafter fifteen years of its existence,

we do not find substantial impact

of Gram Sabha in the rural polity,

society and development. It does

not mean that Gram Sabha has

sunk into oblivion. It does exist

and is certainly functioning.

But it is not functioning in the

way it was expected to. Hence,

time and again we are faced

with the question as to why this

institution is falling short of

expectation.

L o c a l b o d i e s p r o v i d e

opportunity to people to work for

A Place to Convert Noise to Voice

GRaM Sabha

G Palanithurai

OPiNiON

To make GramSabha more

effective, the wholePanchayati Rajsystem has to be

strengthened. TheGram Panchayat

should be

empowered enoughto be able to carryout the decisions

taken by theGram Sabha

the welfare of their communities,

thereby participating in the

process of governance and

d e v e l o p m e n t . T h e y h e l p

change the character of the

democracy from representative

to participatory. Through the

institution of the Gram Sabha,

the centre is connected to thecommunity at the grassroots ,

which is essential for making

governance meaningful. The Gram

Sabha is a powerful instrument to

achieve social equality and to

convert the noise of the people

to voice of the people. It is an

instrument that can make it

possible to eliminate powerbrokers from the development

space, provide opportunity to the

poor to claim their entitlements,

ensure accountable governance

at the state and central levels

and achieve growth that is truly

G

The author is Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies,Department of Political Science andDevelopment Administration, Gandhigram Rural University, Tamil Nadu


21/52


inclusive. It needs to be analyzed

how effectively the Gram Sabha

has enacted these roles during the

past fifteen years.

Backdrop

The India society and polity

are unique and paradoxical to

many of the established notions

of democracy , gove rnance

and administration. Ours is a

hierarchical society based on the

caste system; it is patriarchal in

nature and feudal in character.

Societies normally witnesses ahigh level of conict based on

caste, religion, region, culture and

language, which are antithetical

to representative democracy. Yet,

despite such immense diversity,

our democracy is active and

vibrant- at least quantitatively,

if not qualitatively. Qualitatively

there is a lot to be desired.

Over a period of t ime since

independence all responsibilities

of the society have been taken

over by the government through

its departments and the street

bureaucracy . Yet they have not

been able to satisfy even the

basic needs of the people. The

governance process distanced

common men and women from

the government. This was noted

by former Prime Minister Rajiv

Gandhi in Parliament when he

said, A wide chasm separated

the largest body of the electorate

from a small member of its elected

representatives. This gap has

been occupied by the power

brokers, the middlemen and vested

interests. with the passage

of these bills the panchayats

would emerge as a rm building

block of administration anddevelopment.. as an instrument

in the consolidation of democracy

at the grassroots. (Rajiv Gandhi,

1989) The quality of democracy,

development, governance and

administration substantially relate

to the quality of participation of

people in the process of politics,

governance and development.It was to make this qualitative

difference to our democracy that

we attempted to design a vibrant

rural body that would make

the process of development

participatory at the grassroots

level. Though the prescribed

process was devolutionary, the

ultimate aim was to achievea vibrant, strong and active

participatory democracy in India

through a process of functional

evolution of the newly created

local bodies. It was expected that

by making the rural local bodies

more vibrant, the top heavy-

bottom weak model of democracy

would change into bottom strong

and thereby top strong model of

democracy. The foundation of

this evolutionary process was to

rest upon the Gram Sabha.

Design of Gram Sabha

The successful execut ion

of any work depends on the

precision of the instrument being

used. Thus the design of the Gram

Sabha is crucial to the success of

scheme of panchayati raj. Even

before the 73rd constitutional

amendment came, there wereseveral participatory decision

making bodies at the grassroots in

many communities for example,

the Oor Sabhas functioning in the

villages of Tamil Nadu. They are

traditional institutions with limited

functions at the community level,

and are acceptable to the local

communities. These institutionsare headed by traditional leaders

who are sometimes elected. They

have an unwritten conventional

framework of rules. In the Oor

Sabha, the ultimate authority

lies with its stakeholders. They

are answerable to themselves

and rely on their own resources.

Every stakeholder knows the role

of the Oor Sabha. They have

extreme role clarity. No external

agency is involved either in

their decision making or in the

implementation of the decisions.

If an evaluation is made on their

functional efficacy and efficiency,

one would f ind them to be

excellent in terms of attendance,

participation, decision making

and implementation of decisions.

How and why this traditional

institution performs well and

why is a constitutional body not

able to perform as traditional

institutions? This is the point one

has to analyse.


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Conception and Operation

In order to achieve participatory

governance at grassroots level,

Article 243 A of part 1X of the

constitution of India places the Gram

Sabha at the centre of Panchayati

Raj by giving constitutional

recognition to it. The Gram Sabha

is an age old institution. But it

was not democratic and inclusive

at all times and places. Yet, it held

the promise of effectiveness,

vibrancy, responsiveness and

accountability and was therefore

incorporated in the constitution

and also in the panchayati raj Acts

of states. The state governments

have operationalised the provisions

of panchayati raj, and the Gram

Sabhas have come into being.

Their performance in different

states is being evaluated and

they are being brought out in the

form of reports and monographs.

From the reports one can broadly

classify that there are ve types of

functions and twenty one matters

or subjects earmarked for Gram

Sabha transactions. But in terms

of effectiveness, there is still a lot

to be desired.

Without going into details

of how and where the Gram

Sabha has measured less that was

expected of it, a comparison with

the Oor Sabha indicates faulty

or weak design as one possible

reason for the less than expected

performance. The traditional

Oor Sabha deal with about eleven

subjects, and they have been

functioning well. They have their

own records, people have more

faith in them than on the Gram

Sabha. The rules, regulations,

func t i ons , implementa t i onmechanisms of the Oor Sabha

vary from village to village, and

are based on the specic needs

and priorities of its own people

with no interference of any sort

from any outside agency. The

constitutional Gram Sabha is

however, a prototype, and the

same across the state. It does

not take into account the specic

needs to people coming under

it. Since the character, culture,

practices, needs vary from place

to place within a state or even

within a district, a grassroots level

institution should be able to take

these variations into account. So

designing of the institution is of

utmost importance. Normally one

cannot expect that every one in

a community will participate in

the Gram Sabha meeting. Those

who can spare time and those

who are really the beneciariesof the decisions would normally

participate. If this happens one can

be satised. But if neither people

with leisure nor the beneciaries

participate, it obviously indicates

something wrong in the designing

of the institutions. Further the

decisions taken in the institutions

that is the Gram Sabha - have tobe carried out or implemented by

the concerned agencies otherwise

the decision has no meaning. But

in many of the states, neither the

panchayats have the resources to

fulll the demands of the people

nor have the line departments

worked towards implementing the

same. As a result, the decisions

In Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, a large number of community

organisations are functioning effectively and looking after some of

the community affairs, mostly water bodies. These organisations

take care of water tanks, ponds and ooranies with the corpus fund.

Repair of water tanks by Public Works Department usually takes a

long time, resulting in wastage of water. To overcome this problem

the community organisations use the corpus money to carry out

the repairs. Each organisation has a general council. The leader of

the general council manages the corpus. The district administration

does not disturb the functioning of these traditional councils as they

are doing useful work for the community. In many of the places

these councils are very vibrant and democratic, and they work

with the constitutional panchayats and carry out effectively the

development works. On the contrary in many places these councils

are undemocratic and do not get along with the constitutional

panchayats.


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taken by the Gram Sabha do not

get implemented and it has beenreduced to a place for collecting

petit ions from the members.

Neither the office bearers nor

the members perceive the Gram

Sabha as an institution that can

help them in any way. To make

Gram Sabha more effective, the

whole Panchayati Raj system has

to be strengthened. The GramPanchayat should be empowered

enough in every way to be able

to carry out the decisions taken

by the Gram Sabha. At least the

panchayat leader should have the

power, authority and effectiveness

to get the government departments

to meet the genuine demands of

the people and help solve their

problems.

Conclsion

l To make Gram Sabha more

effective, one has to consider

the following options:

l P r i m a r i l y w h a t c o u l d

be achieved at the village

panchayat level should be

given as powers to Gram

Sabha;

l What ever Gram Sabha decides

within the framework of

powers conferred on it have

to be executed and for this

resource base has to be created

at panchayat level;

l Role clarity is very important.

The powers given to Gram

Sabha should be known to the

people without ambiguity;

l Mobilization of people for

Gram Sabha has to be done

more effectively

l The chairperson of Gram

Sabha should create interest

for the members so that they

attend meetings regularly.

Opportunity should to be

given to all segments of the

society. Patient hearing of

the voices of the people is

essential.

l The chairperson should take

pains to respond to the voices

of the people;

l It should have flexibility

of operation. The whole

organization and conduct

of meeting of Gram Sabha

should be left to the people

and it should not be driven

from the above;

l Gram Sabha should have some

value addition like makingit an information Sabha, a

discourse Sabha, a debating

Sabha and so on. One has to

think creatively to make Gram

Sabha more active, vibrant

and interesting. q


Nallukottai is a Gram Panchayat in Sivaganga district. It is

one of the best Gram Panchayats and has bagged several

awards for successful implementation of development schemes.

The traditional panchayat leader here is also the leader

of the Gram Panchayat. They have two Gram Sabhas. One is the

Gram Sabha of the Panchayat and the other is the Oorsabha of thecommunity. Both are functioning very well. When a question was

raised to the community leader regarding the role of the two sabhas,

his reply was that the Gram Sabha, created through the Panchayat

Act was tied up with ofcials. The Oorsabha on the other hand

was tied up with community. The Gram Sabha gets directions from

the Collector through the Gram Panchayat whereas the Oorsabha

is convened periodically according to the peoples convenience.

Agenda is decided by the people. No supervision from above. No

observer. No rigid rules. No paper work. Oorsabha is need

based. Whatever is decided here gets implemented whereas the

decisions of Gram Sabha are often not implemented. The Oorsabha

of the community is vested with powers with all flexibility.

The Gram Sabha of the Gram Panchayat does not have power, yet

it has got rigidity. This was the observation of the leader of the

traditional panchayat, who also happened to be the chairman of the

Oorsabha in this village.


24/52


N N O D O M I N I

1993 saw history in

the making. After a

protracted exercise, in

the summer of 1993

(24th April 1993) Presidential

assent was accorded to the 73rd

constitutional amendment bill

which inter alia ensured theentry of women into rural local

self governing units i .e. the

panchayats, both as members

and as functionaries. This was

considered a gigantic step towards

empowerment of women. The 73rd

constitutional amendment spelt a

sea change in the arena of womens

representation in PRI. It brought in

a total departure from the erstwhile

system of token nomination or

co-option of one or two women

in panchayats as advised by B.

R. Mehta Committee (1957) and

Ashok Mehta Committee (1978).

Women in Panchayats: A Review

GRaM Sabha

Atonu Chatterjee

OPiNiON

Gradual genderingof local democracy

is opening up a

new vista in the

rural areas. Women

are increasingly

getting a chance to

shape grassrootslevel politics which

previously was

controlled by local

power cliques

Further, it also partially complied

with the recommendation of the

Committee on the status of Women

which, way back in 1974 mentioned

that earnest efforts should be taken

for establishment of statutory

womens panchayats at the village

level with autonomy and resources

of their own for the managementand administration of welfare

and development programmes for

women and children, as a transition

measure, to break through the

traditional attitudes that inhibit

most women from articulating their

problems and participating actively

in the existing local bodies (as

cited in India Panchyati Raj Report

2001).

This step was recently followed

up by another signicant decision.

On June 4, 2009 the President in

her speech in the joint session of

Parliament, wished to have more

A

The author is a member of the West Bengal Civil Service, currently posted as GM, WBIDC. He is also a Guest Facultyat the Rural Development and Management Department of Kalyani University.


25/52


seats reserved for women in the

panchayats so that the multiple

deprivations of class, caste and

gender suffered by women can be

tackled head on ! The Government

took up the cue. Similar demandsin Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal

Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh

added strength to the concept. On

August 27, 2009 the Indian cabinet

approved a proposal for enhancing

the reservation of directly elected

seats for women from one third to

fty percent in all the tiers through

an amendment of Article 243(D)

(3) of the Constitution. Article 243

D(3) enumerates that Not less than

one third (including the number of

seats reserved for women belonging

to the Scheduled Castes and the

Scheduled Tribes) of the total

number of seats to be filled by

direct election in every panchayat

shall be reserved for women and

such seats may be allotted byrotation to different constituencies

in a panchayat. Along with this,

rotational reservation of at least

one third of the total number of

ofces of Chairpersons at all levels

of panchayat was ensured through

Article 243D(4). The proposed

amendment seeks to replace this

phrase of not less than one third

with the words not less than

half.

Once this move is implemented,

the number of women members

will go up to 4.4 million from the

present three million. As per the

ofcial version this provision will

apply to the total number of seats

filled by direct election, offices

of chairpersons and seats and

offices of chairpersons reserved

for scheduled castes and scheduled

tribes. Nagaland, Meghalaya,

Mizoram, hill areas of Manipur andtribal areas of Assam and Tripura

will remain outside the ambit of the

amendment.

On 30th March 2010, the

Government of West Bengal

principally agreed to put this

arrangement into practice during

the next panchayat general election

of the state scheduled in 2013,

while Rajasthan, Kerala and

Gujrat have already implemented

it during their panchayat general

election of 2010. Tripura went a

step further. It not only amended

its own panchayat act to this

effect, but also brought its urban

local bodies within this ambit

through Tripura Muncipal (fourth

amendment) bill.

Performance of women in PRIs

General Observations

l Despite several stumbling

blocks women PRI members

have generally performed

well throughout the country.

Several surveys indicate this.

The Ministry of Panchayati

Raj of the Government of

India has also conducted one,

with by far the largest sample

size. Culling the observations

from all the sources certain

common points emerge-

l Participation of women in

the Gram Sabha meetings

increases when the Prodhan

is a woman. This corroborates

the general perception that

polit ical communication

improves when the citizen and

the leader are of the same sex.

(The Impact of Reservation in

the Panchayati Raj- Evidence

from a nationwide randomized

experiment-Raghobendra

Chattopadhyay & Esther

Dao-Nov-2003.)

l Since women panchayat

representatives consistently

demand for adequate supply

of drinking water, housing and

social welfare programmes,

expenditure on these counts

are relatively higher in women

headed panchayats.

l Women headed panchayats

score brownie points in

construction of roads, upkeep

of drinking water facilities

and administering governmentloan schemes. However

their performance is not as

effective in ensuring irrigation

avenues.

l Women headed panchayats

generally take more interests

in negotiating social evils like

child marriage, indiscriminate

sale of liquor, witch-hunting

and such other problems.

Problems

Certain major hindrances can

also be identified in the path

of functioning of the women

members and funct ionaries .

(Empowerment of Women: Waiting

for Godot?-Atonu Chatterjee &


26/52


Apurba Mukhopadhyay in Indian

Political thought and Movements-

edited by H.Bhattacharyya et al.

K.P.Bagchi& Company 2007)

l Dual responsibility: Women

traditionally burdened withdomestic work face difculties

in balancing the ofcial work

with their home.

l Lack of security: Sometimes

due to lack of security women

members fail to visit remote

areas in odd hours or attend

meetings in far away places.

Gradual criminalization ofpolitics also is arresting their

participation.

l Lack of information and

knowledge about government

programmes especially for

women and child development

poses problems. Again limited

exposure to formal education

breeds information gap anddependency on second hand

knowledge. Consequently

political lineage determines

the distribution of benets of

different schemes.

l Communication problem

hinders performanceas most of

the correspondences,, rules and

regulations are in English.

l Due to lack of exposure and

experience women members

face difficulty in asserting

themselves. The fact that

majority of women enter

politics through reservation

and kinship arrangement only

accentuates this problem.

Owing to rotational policy

women can scarcely continue their

relationship with politics. There

are three points to be noted in this

kind of rotational reservation. First

a very small percentage of firsttime women members/ pradhans

get elected for the second / third

time. The following table amply

claries this.

Secondly, as all these seats were

previously held by male members,

they often manage to x these up

in favour of one of their women

relatives. Hence we nd that mostwomen representatives scarcely

had previous experience of being

associated with political or social

organizations and majority of

them got elected to the seats to

which their family members were

previously elected. Thus we nd

that 41.7% of the female prodhans

and 41.8% of the female ward

members drew their motivation

for contesting panchayat election

from their spouse. The Community

groups like Mahila Mondals, Self-

Help Groups motivated 23.3%

of women to take a plunge and

political parties come a poor third

motivating only 6.9% of the women

representatives and that too only in

the states of West Bengal, Sikkim,Tripura and Kerala.

Thirdly, women candidates are

scarcely nominated from unreserved

seats. In rural local bodies only

10.8% of the women get elected

from unreserved seats. For male

contestants however this gure is49%. (Study on Elected Women

Representatives in Panchayati

Raj Institutions - Ministry of

Panchayati Raj, Government of

India,2008)

Thus this rotational aspect

of reservation begets a short-

term gain mindset, leading to

a lack of accountability among

the PRI members. Women who

have got in simply through family

connections are also not effective in

asserting themselves and bringing

about meaningful change. The

process also entails a huge wastage

of resources on the part of state

governments as with every election

they have to start the process o

Yojana February 2011

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