The Hindu : Karnataka News : Are taluk panchayats losing relevance?

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Monday, Dec 20, 2010
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Are taluk panchayats losing relevance?

Rishikesh Bahadur Desai

Bidar: The local bodies were originally meant to train the rural leaders in public administration. However, of the three tiers of these local bodies, the zilla panchayat seems to attract more youth than the taluk panchayats, as evident by the number of nomination papers filed for both zilla and taluk panchayat elections in Bidar district.

While the average number works out to about 10 nominations for each zilla panchayat seat, it is about seven for each taluk panchayat seat.

None of the three major political parties, — the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) — has fielded candidates for 36 of the 118 taluk panchayat seats in the district.

There are at least 18 other seats where candidates have been fielded by only two major parties.

Political leaders say this is because taluk panchayats are fast losing relevance in rural administration.

No work, no funds

“They have been reduced to just being post offices between the zilla panchayat and gram panchayats. They neither have any work nor funds,” said Mahadev Malipatil, former president of the Bhalki Taluk Panchayat.

“Zilla panchayat gets lots of funds and it supervises all development projects in the district. Gram panchayats are the executing agencies for most of the Union and State government schemes. As a result, taluk panchayats have nothing much to do. Young leaders are happy to be members of gram panchayats,” he added.

R.P. Raja, CPI(M) leader, said: “The Government is not interested in empowering the panchayat institutions. That is why it is gradually reducing the powers of each of these local bodies.”

Supervising body

“Looking at the way the taluk panchayats are made to function, some people say that such a body is not needed at all as zilla and gram panchayats can take care of development schemes. But this is not true because there is a strong need for a supervising body to monitor the overall development of a taluk,” said Kashinath Patil, president of Bapu Rural Development Society.

When contacted, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar said, “We have been hearing this for some time now. We are trying to find a solution to the problem. After I took charge, a delegation of taluk panchayat presidents met me and said taluk panchayat should be either empowered or wound up. Since then, we are planning to increase their responsibilities.”

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