NEW DELHI: The Empowered Sub-Committee of the National Development Council (NDC) on Financial and Administrative Empowerment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) on Monday adopted a roadmap on how to move forward in empowering the PRIs financially and administratively.

"You will see a revolution in the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country in the next three to six months," Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters after the first meeting of the sub-committee here on Monday. Though we know Panchayats is totally a State subject, we want to ensure that the constitutional provisions are implemented in letter and spirit, he said.

The Minister said the sub-committee stressed the need for augmenting the flow of funds to the PRIs and it was suggested to study the possibility of channelling the money through the State Consolidated Fund. The Ministry has already instituted a committee on Feasibility of Rapid Transfer of Funds to Panchayats which that has suggested transfer of funds through the banking systems. "However, we were shocked to notice that many blocks did not have any banks," he pointed out.

Mr. Aiyar said his Ministry was also planning to seek help from the World Bank and the United Nations mechanism, both of whom had shown interest in funding the PR schemes. "Since we need to take permission from the Union Finance Ministry to pursue the matter, we are having talks with the Finance Minister," he said.

The sub-committee agreed to impress upon the States to make functional the District Planning Committees that would implement the schemes and stressed the need to extend the provisions of the Act to the scheduled areas. Highlighting the need for transfer of funds, functions and functionaries, the sub-committee agreed to train the elected Panchayat members in carrying out the functions of the Panchayati Raj system, he said a stipulated percentage of funds from the central schemes should be earmarked for the development of physical infrastructure, training of staff and monitoring mechanism at all levels of Panchayati Raj.

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