Aiyar Report on PR to empower Gram Sabhas

Focus on bottom-up development strategy

Venkat Parsa New Delhi : A Mani Shankar Aiyar Report on Panchayati Raj, which comes after a long gap following the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee Report and Ashok Mehta Committee Report, favours strengthening the Gram Sabha and making it the centrepiece of grassroots development. The idea is to make a bottom-up development strategy with focus on grassroots-level development.

Significantly, the Aiyar Report was released on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Constitution 73rd Amendment passed in 1992 but came into effect on April 24, 1993. It was the perfect occasion to take a second look at the panchayat raj institutions which are yet to see decentralization of funds, functions and functionaries.

Rajiv Gandhi was instrumental in translating the Gandhian dream of Gram Swaraj into reality by preparing the 63rd Constitutional Amendment on Panchayats. Atal Behari Vajpayee, as leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, got it defeated in 1989. Again, when P V Narasimha Rao came to power in 1991, pursued the dream of Rajiv Gandhi and pushed through the 73rdConstitution Amendment n 1992, which came into force on April 24, 1993.

The Aiyar Report on Panchayats states, "Gram Sabha, the forum of direct democracy, is the foundation on which the whole edifice of local governance is built. A Every state will need to evolve strategies for massive campaigns to make the Gram Sabha vibrant. Physical presence of voters in the Gram Sabhas will not serve the purpose of participation.

Gram Sabhas can develop into institutions of direct democracy only if there is informed participation of members, who can participate in the decision-making process. Therefore, it would be necessary to enable interested members of the Gram Sabha to gain greater knowledge on panchayati raj." The Gram Sabha meeting should be made mandatory and it should meet as often as possible.

The Panchayat Raj Ministry has recommended four days of mandatory meetings of the Gram Sabhas, on January 26, April 24, August 15 and October 2. The idea is to ensure that the entire village is involved in planning and execution of development strategy at the grassroots level. Among other issues, it deals with women's entry into panchayats, making for inclusive growth with the involvement of the disabled, SCs and STs, OBCs and Minorities.

The panchayats should become the nucleus for economic and social change in the country. It focuses on capacity-building and increasingly involving local bodies in the development process. A The Expert Group headed by former Union Panchayat Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, comprised Prof Thomas Isaac, Peelipose Thomas, Nirmala Buch, M N Roy, Joe Madiath and Dr M V Rao, who is the Director-General of National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad.

Aiyar is uniquely suited for the task, as he was associated with Rajiv Gandhi PMO as Joint Secretary in the drafting of the Constitution Amendment to make Pancahayati Raj effective and went on to become the first Union Panchayati Raj Minister, after the Ministry was carved out.

Panel recommendations

• Panchayats should be allowed to raise their own funds through collection of taxes
• Panchayat heads and members should get training in accounting and auditing, besides governance
• Panchayats should have effective control of employees deputed to them by the State government, through payment of their salaries
• A single ministry should be constituted to look after panchayats and urban local bodies that fall under the Ministry of Panchayat Raj and Ministry of Urban Development
• All ombudsmen should be set up for panchayats in all states

DEO : Report incorrect

New Delhi (PTI): Union Panchayati Raj Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo on Wednesday dismissed as "incorrect" an expert committee report that said panchayati raj institutions had not moved forward over the years and been pushed to the margins in almost all centrally sponsored schemes.

"I am not ready to accept the fact that panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) are stagnant. You cannot generalise it, it could be true for some states but it is incorrect to say that things have not moved across the country. A lot of improvement has taken place and it is visible," he told reporters here. Deo said he has not gone through the report released on Wednesday on the Panchayati Raj Day but his ministry would like to implement the "practical suggestions".

The expert committee headed by senior Congress leader and former panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has regretted that Panchayat Raj Institutions have been pushed to the margins in almost all centrally sponsored schemes, and suggested devolution of powers for efficient delivery. Deo said states likes Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand have to devolve funds and functions to these bodies.

He also hailed a recent Supreme Court ruling that the Vedanta Group's bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha will have to get clearance from the Gram Sabha.