The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Beware vested interests, Minister tells panchayats

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Beware vested interests, Minister tells panchayats

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, OCT. 15. There is need for a code of conduct to ensure fair and transparent functioning of the panchayat raj institutions (PRIs), the Union Minister of State for Planning, M.V. Rajasekaran, said today.

"There are powerful vested interests which do not want panchayats to emerge as strong institutions. If you do not guard against these ills, these forces will only gather momentum and obstruct your progress," he told elected heads of panchayats in this district at a seminar on "Panchayat Raj for Effective Governance", organised by the Shanti Ashram here.

The empowerment of the panchayat raj bodies had come to be personality driven. Administrative powers, functions and finances were devolved where a Chief Minister was supportive. If not, the panchayats remained weak.

"Perhaps, it is a battle for political turf and spheres of influence. Unfortunately, so far, this battle has turned out to be an unequal one. Issues of reservation, rotation of seats, social inclusion and concerns of women have still not been settled." Whether panchayat elections should be fought on party or non-party lines remained unresolved.

Money, muscle power

"Increasing use of money and muscle power in panchayat elections is another concern. Polarisation of the village on caste and communal lines is a disturbing development in the context of elections."

The Minister said "genuine democratic decentralisation" could manifest only in sharing powers and responsibilities. While it took place as per expectations in some States, in many others the process was extremely slow and cause for concern. This despite the Constitution putting on the State legislatures the responsibility of creating a vibrant grass roots democracy.

"Gram Sabha, fulcrum of panchayat raj, continues to be weak. Lack of awareness on the part of the Gram Sabha members is one of the reasons," Mr. Rajasekaran said. Some Planning Commission studies pointed to extremely low participation in the Gram Sabhas; neglect of issues concerning Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, and to financial irregularities committed by elected representatives and field level bureaucrats in "collusion".

Tyranny still

"In fact, there is a point of view that the tyranny of bureaucracy has been replaced with the tyranny of the panchayat functionaries," he said. In most of the States, a grievance redress system was missing.

The PRIs would remain weak and prone to "capture" by vested interests if the functionaries were not trained in and sensitised to their role. Under the Ninth and Tenth Plans, the Planning Commission stressed capacity building in the panchayat raj institutions. There were 30-lakh functionaries and training them in a short period would be a mammoth task for the Government. Therefore, non-governmental organisations would have to be involved, the Minister said.

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