{"id":52012,"date":"2019-09-09T19:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T13:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=52012"},"modified":"2019-09-09T16:41:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T11:11:30","slug":"7-pm-throttled-at-the-grass-roots-9th-september-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-throttled-at-the-grass-roots-9th-september-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | Throttled at the grass roots | 9th September, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong>: &nbsp;Local\ngovernments in India remain hamstrung and ineffective. What is the problem with\nIndia\u2019s way of devolution of power and possible solutions to strengthen local\ngovernment in India?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\nis devolution of power?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Devolution is one of the most\nfundamental changes to the way decisions are made for local areas and how\npublic services are funded. Devolution is the transfer of power from a central\ngovernment to local authorities. It usually occurs through conventional statutes\nrather than through a change in a country\u2019s&nbsp;constitution. In India, the\n73rd and 74th constitutional amendment acts devolved a range of powers and\nresponsibilities and made them accountable to the people for their\nimplementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Importance\nof Devolution:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It\nis important because it ensures that decisions are made closer to the local\npeople, communities and businesses they affect. <\/li><li>Devolution\nwill provide greater freedoms and flexibilities at a local level, meaning\npanchayats\/municipalities can work more effectively to improve public services\nfor their area.<\/li><li>The\nresult will be more effective, better targeted public services, greater growth\nand stronger partnerships between public, private and community leaders in\nlocal areas.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\n73<sup>rd<\/sup> and 74<sup>th<\/sup> Constitutional Amendment Act:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>73rd\nand 74th Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December, 1992.\nThrough these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and\nurban India. <\/li><li>The\nActs came into force as the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April\n24, 1993 and the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993. <\/li><li>These\namendments added two new parts to the Constitution, namely, 73rd Amendment\nadded Part IX titled \u201cThe Panchayats\u201d and 74th Amendment added Part IXA titled\n\u201cThe Municipalities\u201d. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Features of the Panchayati Raj Act:<\/strong> The Act has\nfive main features: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>a\n3-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all States having population of over 20\nlakh<\/li><li>Panchayat\nelections regularly every 5 years<\/li><li>reservation\nof seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women (not less than\none-third of seats)<\/li><li>appointment\nof State Finance Commission to make recommendations as regards the financial\npowers of the Panchayats<\/li><li>constitution\nof District Planning Committees to prepare development plans for the district\nas a whole.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the Panchayats have been endowed\nwith such powers and authority as may be necessary to function as institutions\nof self-government and social justice. Providing real functional autonomy at\nthe village level is at the core of the amendment Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nProvisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Enactment\nof \u201cThe Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act,\n1996\u201d (PESA) was a step taken by the government of India to provide for the\nextension of the provisions of the Part-IX of the Constitution relating to the\nPanchayats to the Fifth Schedule Areas with certain modifications as provided\nunder Article 243M(4)(b) of the Constitution. <\/li><li>This\nlegislation has not only extended the development, planning and audit functions\nto the Gram Sabha in the Fifth Schedule Areas but has also endowed it with the\nmanagement and control of natural resources and adjudication of justice in\naccordance with traditions and customs.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Issues with the\npanchayati raj system in India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Although\nthe political decentralization can be clearly seen in the regular Panchayat\nelections with good participation of people, the administrative and fiscal\ndecentralization have remained rather limited. The State Governments have\nfailed to give up their control on matters of local administration and finance.<\/li><li><strong>Inadequate\nfinance: <\/strong>The\ninadequacy of funds has also stood in the way of successful working of the\nPanchayati Raj. <\/li><li>The\nPanchayati Raj bodies have limited powers in respect of imposing cesses and\ntaxes. They have very little funds doled out to them by the State Government. <\/li><li>Further,\nthey are generally reluctant to raise necessary funds due to the fear of losing\npopularity with the masses. As a result, they only have limited functional\nautonomy.<\/li><li>Recommendations\nof State Finance Commissions (SFCs) are generally not taken seriously.<\/li><li><strong>Lack of cordial\nrelation between officials and people: <\/strong>Introduction of the Panchayati Raj aimed\nat securing effective participation of the people. But in reality this hardly\nhappens since the key administrative and technical positions are manned by the\ngovernment officials. Generally there is lack of proper cooperation and\ncoordination between the people and the officials like Block Development\nOfficers, the District Officers etc. Again the officers fail to discharge the\ndevelopment duties more efficiently and sincerely.<\/li><li><strong>Disillusionment\non structural-functional front: <\/strong>The performance of Panchayati Raj\nInstitutions has been vitiated by political cum caste factionalism. Corruption,\ninefficiency, scant regard for procedures, political interference in day to day\nadministration, parochial loyalties, motivated actions, power concentration\ninstead of true service mentality- all these have stood in the way of the\nsuccess of Panchayati Raj. Furthermore, the power to supercede the local bodies\non the part of the State Government clearly violates the spirit of democratic\ndecentralisation.<\/li><li><strong>Administrative\nProblem: <\/strong>The\nPanchayati Raj bodies experience several administrative problems. They are the\ntendency towards politicization of the local administration, lack of\nco-ordination between the popular and bureaucratic elements, lack of proper\nincentives and promotion opportunities for administrative personnel and\napathetic attitude of the government servants towards development programmes\netc.<\/li><li>Powers\ngiven to the State Election Commissions also vary from State to State. They\nshould have been given powers to deal with all matter relating to Panchayat\nelections namely, delimitation of constituencies, rotation of reserved seats in\nPanchayats, finalization of electoral rolls, etc.<\/li><li>Gram\nSabhas have not been empowered and strengthened to ensure greater people\u2019s\nparticipation and transparency in functioning of Panchayats as envisaged in the\nPanchayat Act.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Solutions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Decentralisation\nAnd Panchayati Raj:<\/strong>\n<\/li><li>Transfer\nof the three Fs functions, funds and functionaries to the PRIs, commensurate\nwith the responsibilities assigned to them. \u0095 <\/li><li>Empower\nthe gram sabhas, which are the foundation of the panchayati raj system. \u0095 <\/li><li>Give\ngreater attention to training and capacity building of the gram sabha members. \u0095 <\/li><li>Notify\nthe division of functional responsibilities between the three tiers of the\npanchayati raj system on the basis of activity mapping. <\/li><li><strong>Institutional\nAnd Administrative Reforms:<\/strong><\/li><li>Enhance\nthe productivity of the civil service through rightsizing of government.\nIdentify the surplus staff, set up an effective redeployment plan and devise a\nliberal system for exit. \u0095<\/li><li>Ensure\nopenness and transparency in the functioning of government. Press for the\nadoption of Right to Information legislation across the country. Subject\ndepartments with extensive public dealing to social audit at periodic\nintervals. \u0095 <\/li><li>Ensure\naccountability of public servants for their actions. \u0095 <\/li><li>Persuade\nthe States to institute mechanisms for providing security of tenure to civil\nservants and discouraging their frequent and arbitrary transfers. \u0095 <\/li><li>Speed\nup reforms that will speed up the judicial process. This has to be done\nthrough:&nbsp; <\/li><li>Empowering\nthe presiding officers of the courts to exercise better control over their case\nlists or List of Businesses.<\/li><li>Bringing\nthe counsel-client relationship and counsel feepayment system under some\nprincipled regulation<\/li><li>Providing\ngreater finality to the adjudicatory processes <\/li><li>Moving\nfrom a two appeal system to a single appeal system<\/li><li><strong>Financial\nDevolution:<\/strong><\/li><li>Local\ngovernments should be allowed to raise their own funds through collection of\ntax.<\/li><li>The\nconnection between tax payment and higher accountability&nbsp;is well\nestablished. The people participation will be automatically be huge and the\nlocal government would work since it would directly held accountable.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:\n<\/strong>Mahatma\nGandhi was among the first and most important leaders to advocate for\nPanchayati Raj. His vision of a village panchayat was a small self-sufficient\nrepublic with individual freedom, opportunities for all, and full participation\nof the people. While the idea seemed revolutionary at the time, it was Gandhi\u2019s\nendorsement of it that perhaps explains why the PRI system was partially\naccepted by the makers of our constitution. PRIs were mentioned in Article 40\nonly as a&nbsp;Directive Principle of State Policy&nbsp;in 1950. It stated that\nsteps shall be taken to organise village panchayats, and endow them with the\npowers and authority necessary for them to act as units of self-government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The time has come to move from political\nrepresentation to power devolution. There is a need for the state political\nleadership to accept the importance of PRIs, and devolve power to them as\nmandated in the Constitution of India. Building the capacities of the PRIs not\nas mere implementers of the projects but as planners and evaluators would help\nstrengthen the institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is also a need for elected local\nleaders to come together with their constituents, and demand more control and\nautonomy as enshrined to them by the Constitution of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/throttled-at-the-grass-roots\/article29369019.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/throttled-at-the-grass-roots\/article29369019.ece<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: &nbsp;Local governments in India remain hamstrung and ineffective. What is the problem with India\u2019s way of devolution of power and possible solutions to strengthen local government in India? What is devolution of power? Devolution is one of the most fundamental changes to the way decisions are made for local areas and how public services&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-throttled-at-the-grass-roots-9th-september-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | Throttled at the grass roots | 9th September, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704914596},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}