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Tamil Nadu
Whether the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution has truly empowered the grass root level democracy or not, the Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Studies of Gandhigram Rural University at Gandhigram in Dindigul district has been striving hard to achieve this. Just half of the world's population is under the democratic governance in the world, of which a mere 30 per cent is truly democratic. "Our democracy is an electoral one. That is why the decentralisation of powers has been initiated to empower it," says Prof and Head G. Palanithurai, Department of Political Science, Gandhigram Rural University and coordinator of the Rajiv Gandhi Chair at the university. A `change maker' at the grass root democracy, Prof. G. Palanithurai talks to R. Ilangovan at length on the inherent need to empower the local body leaders and to make them "responsive, responsible and representative." "What is imperative is to create leaders who should be transformative in character to transform the society. "Shaping a leader is well within the reach. "Leaders today do not lead but want to rule. "At least the new genre of leaders at grass root level should bring an alternate model of leadership to usher in a fresh democratic order," he says. "To realise the spirit of the 73rd Amendment, we in the Rajiv Gandhi Chair have taken multidimensional initiatives such as capacity building exercises for these panchayat leaders." He says that it is incredible that even after the six decade of democratic governance the policy makers are yet to create an institution that will train our elected representatives. Such an institution is essential for governance in the country. "But our representatives are attending programmes in the Kennedy School of Government in the USA, paying in dollars. "In this context of complex socio-economic factors in villages, the elected leaders of local bodies need skill, capacity, capability, commitment and vision and for which training is an imperative one. "We extend handhold support to those who are facing problems in the day-to-day administration in panchayats. "Success stories and struggles in panchayat administration are captured and discussed in detail on various platforms. "We have prepared manuals for officials and leaders for the panchayat administration and management. The professor takes pride in the Chair's pioneering works that have empowered Dalits at grass root level. This is necessary in a democratic country like India, where the rule is by the people and power flows from them. "For the first time in India, Dalits are moving in large numbers towards governance structure. "It is easy for them to become the President of India, an MP or an MLA, but very difficult to become a leader of the panchayati institution. "In our society, social laws are powerful and vibrant, taking precedence over the constitutional laws. "We see this in the districts of Madurai , Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Sivaganga and in certain pockets in Salem, Namakkal and Coimbatore districts. "It is a process from which power moves from the dominant to the oppressed, and from men to women," he says. Prof. Palanithurai is well aware of many of these critical issues and has examined and analysed them from various angles in the course of his studies of these matters. He says that it is always happening in the society whenever a reform is initiated among the social groups. Similarly women also suffer. Men try to be dominant by nominating wife, sister and mother in the local bodies so that they can retain the power. "It is a proxy governance as our society is feudal and gender-biased. "By evolving a micro plan, the government schemes can be integrated with the people's demands. Thus the wastage of public money can be avoided. "We have carried out successfully, micro plan experiments in four districts with the active support of the collectors," he says. Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj is a resource centre for panchayat leaders, researchers, officials and politicians. Acts, rules, reports, government orders, experiences of other States and countries are kept in the resource centre for reference. A help line was also created in the Chair for Panchayat leaders, he says.
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