Village
communities have been in existence in India
for over centuries and Panchayats have been
part of these communities since then. During
the time of the Rig Veda (1200 BC), evidence
suggests that self-governing village bodies
called sabhas existed. The passage
of time saw these bodies evolve into Panchayats
(council of five persons). Panchayats were functional
institutions of grassroots governance in almost
every village. The village panchayat or elected
council had large powers, both executive and
judicial.
It was
during British rule that the autonomy of Panchayats
disappeared gradually with the establishment
of local civil and criminal courts, revenue
and police organisations, the increase in communications,
the growth of individualism and the operation
of the Ryotwari (landholder wise) system
as against the Mahalwari (village tenure
system).
During
the clamour for Swaraj or self rule,
leaders of the freedom movement could not
agree on the status and role to be assigned
to the institution of rural local self government.
Gandhi was in favour of village swaraj and
strengthening of the village Panchayat to
the fullest extent. But Dr B R Ambedkar believed
that the village represented regressive India,
a source of oppression. The model state had
to build safeguards against such social oppression
and the only way it could be done was through
the adoption of the parliamentary model of
politics. The drafting of the Constitution
for independent India saw Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs)
placed in the non-justiciable part of the
Constitution, the Directive Principles of
State Policy, as Article 40. The Article read
'the State shall take steps to organise village
Panchayats and endow them with such powers
and authority as may be necessary to enable
them to function as units of self government'.
However, no worthwhile legislation was immediately
enacted either at the national or state level
to implement it.
In
the 40 years since the adoption of the Constitution,
PRIs have travelled from the non-justiciable
part of the Constitution to one where, through
a separate amendment, a whole new status has
been added to their history. This was the 73rd
Amendment and its coming into existence was
the result of an increasing recognition that
the institutional initiatives of the preceding
decade had not delivered, that the extent of
rural poverty was still much too large, and
thus the existing structure of government needed
to be reformed.
The
Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, passed
in 1992 by the Narasimha Rao Government, came
into force on April 24, 1993. It was meant to
provide constitutional sanction to establish
'democracy at the grassroots level as it is
at the state level or national level. Its main
features are as follows:
The Gram Sabha
or village assembly as a deliberative body
to decentralised governance has been envisaged
as the foundation of the Panchayati Raj
System.
A uniform three-tier
structure of Panchayats at village (Gram
Panchayat-GP), intermediate (Panchayati
Samiti-PS) and district (Zilla Parishad
-ZP) levels.
All the seats in
a Panchayat at every level are to be filled
by elections from the respective territorial
constituencies.
Not less than one-third
of the total seats for membership as well
as office of the chairpersons of each tier have
to be reserved for women.
Reservation for weaker
castes and tribes (SCs and STs ) have to
be provided at all levels in proportion
to their population in the Panchayats.
To supervise, direct
and control the regular and smooth elections
to Panchayats, a State Election Commission
has to be constituted in every state and
UT.
The Act has ensured the
constitution of a State Finance Commission
in every state/UT, for every five years,
to suggest measures to strengthen finances
of PRIs.
To promote bottom-up
planning, the District Planning Committee
(DPC) in every district has been accorded
constitutional status.
An indicative list
of 29 items has been given in the Eleventh
Schedule of the Constitution. Panchayats
are expected to play an effective role in
the planning and implementation of works related
to these 29 items.
PRIA
pioneered 'Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions
(PRIs)' programme in 7 states of the country
in early 1995, just after first ever democratic
elections to constitutional Panchayats were
held in most of the states.
PRIA
has campaigned for the proper conduct of Gram
Sabha meetings in 6865 Panchayats in 17 states
of India. The campaign has involved youth, women,
dalits and tribals to participate in the deliberations
and decision making in Gram Sabhas in ways meaningful
to everyone in the community. PRIA has also
assisted in the preparation of micro plans at
the Panchayat level in 685 villages around the
country in an attempt to address and prioritise
the real issues of local people. As a result
of these efforts, most State Governments have
now adopted this "bottom up"approach
and the Gram Sabha is accepted as the forum
for participation, deliberation, planning and
monitoring of local development.
Since
a large percentage of Elected Panchayat Representatives
are entering public offices for the first time,
PRIA has pioneered many innovative approaches
to their capacity building. Over this period,
nearly 120,000 Elected Panchayat Representatives
have been trained by PRIA; of these nearly half
(66514) are women Panchayat leaders; and 17570
Dalit Panchayat representatives have been trained
to perform their responsibilities effectively.
PRIA provides ongoing field support to these
elected representatives through Panchayat Resource
Centres at the Block level in 73 locations.
