Karnataka - Mysore   

Defence officers get a glimpse of panchayat raj system

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, FEB. 8. Defence officers from India and abroad familiarised themselves with democratic institutions at the grass roots during their interaction with members and officials of the Mysore Zilla Panchayat here today.

Described as a "socio-political tour" conducted by the National Defence College, New Delhi, for senior Defence officers from India and abroad, the 16-member team will be sensitised to democratic institutions at the grass roots and the policy-making mechanism that exists in the panchayat raj institutions.

The group, led by Major General Rajeshwar Singh, comprised Brigadier Ravi Datt Mehta; Brigadier Rameshwar Roy, who is the group coordinator; Brigadier K.S. Sethi; Brigadier S.N. Shah; Brigadier S.P. Tanwar; Commodore Ramdeep Singh; Air Commodore V.K. Bali; Group Captain K.N. Kumar; Nisha Singh, IAS; S.C. Bajpai, IOFS; Brigadier Moosa Ali Jameel of the Maldivian Army; Colonel Perdit Kumar Tiwari of the Singapore Army, Brigadier Paul Kaelin of the Swiss Air Force; and Commodore T.S.G. Samarasinghe of the Sri Lankan Navy.

Briefing

The chief executive officer of the Mysore Zilla Panchayat, Niranjan, briefed the visitors about the structure and functioning of the local bodies, including zilla panchayats and gram panchayats, and apprised them of the strengths and weakness of the elected body.

Mr. Niranjan highlighted the process of fund raising in the gram panchayats and underlined the fact that the local self-governments and panchayat raj institutions will remain a chimera as long as there is no financial autonomy and devolution of financial powers.

The negative aspects prevailing in the gram panchayats were not glossed over, and the visiting dignitaries were informed that the power equations among the local MPs and MLAs and the elected representatives at the grass roots has not changed much.

There is overlapping of power centres and the local bodies continue to be in the clutches of higher authorities, he said.

In the interaction that followed, the Defence personnel wished to know the kind of training imparted to gram panchayat members and if they were effective at all.

Mr. Niranjan highlighted the training programmes conducted for the elected representatives, while the former president of the Mysore Zilla Panchayat K. Nagaraj explained that public awareness about panchayat raj and gram swaraj is low but things are changing and the public is slowly becoming more assertive and questioning the decisions taken by the local bodies.

Exposure

The six-day socio-political tour has been organised to expose the participants in the course to the ground realities pertaining to civic issues and governance at the local level. The tour includes discussions with top-level decision makers and those at grass roots to broaden the officers' perspectives about the ground realities.

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