Panchayat Acts.

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution has greatly empowered the panchayats to take part in decentralized planning from the Gram Sabha level to the Zilla Parishad level.

Gram Sabha

All states have made provision for the establishment of the Gram Sabha in their respective Panchayat Acts. The scope and function of the Gram Sabha differ from state to state, but this is regarded as the primary institution to facilitate direct participation of the local people in the planning and development activities in the area. The Constitution makes it mandatory to establish the Gram Sabha at the village level. The Gram Sabha consists of all persons in the village registered in the electoral rolls. In Orissa, the Panchayati Raj Act provides for the Palli

Sabha at the hamlet level below the Gram Sabha. All the members of the Palli Sabha are to meet at least once a year to prepare a priority list of the works needed to be done in the palli. A very simple plan can be drawn up on the basis of this priority list. A model exercise is shown below:

Although people have a general idea about the various problems they face collectively in the village, these problems must be recorded specifically for a planned solution.

Before planning Planning has three main aspects: a) What to do?, b) Why to do?, c) Who will do?

To get answers to these questions, some relevant data need to be collected about the village.

These data may relate to a) the social situation, b) the employment situation, and c) the resources situation of the village.

a) The Social Situation

1) Total population

2) Male/Female population

3) Caste-wise break-up

4) Age groups

5) Education: literacy according to age group

6) Health: Disease; Age; Duration

b) Employment Situation

1. Dependent on agriculture only- male + female = total

2. Dependent on agriculture and trade

3. Dependent on agriculture and artisan-work

4. Dependent on artisan-work alone

5. Dependent on agriculture and daily-wage

6. Dependent on daily-wage alone

c) Resources Situation

1. Land: Private; Government; Fallow; Forest, etc

2. Water source: Pond; Well; Tube-well; Canal, etc

3. Educational / Health institutions: Anganwadi; Health Centre; Primary school; Adult education centre, etc  After collection of data Suppose we got the following information from the collected data:

1. There is plenty of fallow land available which is not being used for agriculture. 2. There is only one pond which is not adequate for all the villagers.

3. The only tube-well is not able to meet fully the drinking water need of all.

4. Those who have wells do not use the available water fully for growing vegetables.

5. There are regular outbreaks of malaria and dysentery in the village every year.

6. There 134 children of school-going age; but only 32 of them are attending school.

What to do next?

1. Search for the cause of each problem.

2. Make a priority list for the solution of the problems.

3. Find ways for the solution of the problems

While preparing a plan two things must be kept in mind:

 a) permanent assets must be created for the community by the plan

 b) employment and income must be created for the weaker sections of the society by the plan

The proposals sent by the Palli Sabha are considered by the Gram Sabha and sent to the Gram Panchayat for approval. The incomplete projects must receive priority over new proposals while drawing up plan.

According to the statutory provision in most states, it is the responsibility of the Gram Panchayat concerned to ensure that the Gram Sabha meetings are held at least twice a year.

The Gram Panchayat members should inform the date, time and venue of the Gram Sabha meeting to community members well in advance. The meeting is generally convened by the chairperson of the Gram Panchyat known variously as Sarpanch, Pradhan, Mukhiya or President in different states. A Gram Sabha meeting can take place only when the required quorum of 10-20 percent is present.The annual budget, proposals for taxation, and all development-related activities are supposed to be discussed and finalised in the Gram Sabha meeting. Selection of beneficiaries under poverty alleviation programmes through the Gram Sabha has been made mandatory.

Gram Panchayat Under the 73rd Constitution Amendment, it has been left to the states to endow the panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government. However, the states are required to see that the devolution of powers and responsibilities to panchayats contain provisions relating to

a) the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice,

b) the implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice as may be

entrusted to them, including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule.

The Gram Panchayat has also been vested with financial and taxation powers. It shall levy and collect taxes on items specified under the Act. However, the Panchayat Acts passed by different states after the 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992, do not reveal any uniformity in assigning functions to different levels of panchayats.

The State Panchayat Acts stipulate the frequency for holding the gram panchayat meetings as well as the quorum requirement for the conduct of such meetings. The plan proposed by the gram sabha will be discussed and approved by the members of the gram panchayat in these meetings before being sent to the Panchayat Samiti. As mentioned earlier, two aspects of the plan must be ensured during such discussions:

a) creation of assets for the community,

b) generation of employment for the weaker sections.

Panchyat Samiti

The Panchayat Samiti(PS) is the elected body at the block level. The structure, powers and functions of these bodies are almost similar in all states in the country. It consists of members elected from the constituencies and MLAs from the area.

The Panchayat Samiti can constitute standing committees to plan and implement programmes in general administration, education, agriculture, communication, cooperation, etc.

The Panchayat Samiti carries out these important functions with the help of a secretariat of government officers, headed by the Block Development Officer, appointed by the government.

The action plans, along with the budgets, prepared by the gram panchayats, are sent to the Panchayat Samiti. After receiving the plans from all the gram panchayats under it, the Panchayat Samiti scrutinizes them in its meeting. The engineer of the Block is asked to provide technical sanction to the plans and budgets after detailed examination. The standardised designs and budgets are then sent to the Zilla Parishad.

A similar procedure is followed in case of the various development and poverty-alleviation schemes. Based on the recommendations of the Gram Sabha, the Gram Panchayat prepares a list of beneficiaries for various pension schemes, housing schemes, etc., and sends the list to the Panchayat Samiti. ThePanchayat Samiti is also expected to supervise the development works undertaken by the gram panchayats and service delivery in the block area.

Zilla Parishad The Zilla Parishad (ZP) is to control, coordinate and guide the gram panchayats and panchayat samitis within the district, coordinate and consolidate the plans sent by the panchayat samitis, coordinate the demands for grants for special purposes received from the panchayat samitis of the district, and exercise such other powers as entrusted to it by the state government.

The main function of the Zilla Parishad is to coordinate and approve plans and projects of lower levels of elected governments. With an endorsement from the Gram Sabha, the Gram Panchayats forward their action plans to the ZP through the PS. The CEO of ZP and other officers under him examine the action plans and check them against funds available in the different schemes. Since there are almost no free funds available in the system, action plans are matched with the schemes available.

The main role in planning has to be performed by the Panchayat at the district level. Various high level committees have recommended the district as the most suitable unit for systematic planning below the state level. The people are familiar with and used to the district as a key administrative unit. In terms of area and population, it is large enough to make it viable to formulate a cohesive development plan. Reasonable administrative and technical capabilities are available at this level. Planning units have been installed in every district which can provide professional expertise in local level planning.The district panchayat, i. e, the Zilla Parishad, will have primarily the planning and coordinating role, while the intermediate level panchayats, i.e, the panchayat samitis, will be primarily the implementing agencies. The gram panchayats will, in a limited way, be involved in programme implementation. Also, the zilla parishad will be responsible for the implementation of programmes whose area of benefits cuts across the boundaries of the intermediate level panchayats. On the other hand, the Panchayat Samiti and the Gram Panchayat will have the same relationship in plan formulation.

CONCLUSION

In this unit you have learnt a brief history of Panchayati Raj in India since the Vedic period.

You saw how it declined during the Mogul and British periods in spite of attempts made by the British to set up local-self government in the country. Even after Independence, Panchayati Raj institutions were not given proper constitutional status until the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1992.

Since then, three-tier structures with regular elections have been made mandatory. This structure provides a convenient mechanism for the formulation and implementation of plans at the local levels. Such plans can take initial shape at the level of the Gram Sabha before going all the way up to the level of the Zilla Prishad to reflect the needs of the area and match the resources available to fulfil those needs. You have seen the simple way in which people at the Gram Sabha level can be associated with planning.