Complete reliance on community-based organisations can be ineffective; Gram Sabhas should play central role
Tola sabhas are essential for smaller hamlets of Jharkhand but their powers are curtailed by unwieldly legal provisions. Photo: Nityanand Rai This is the second of a two-part series on rural governance in Jharkhand. Read the first part here
In rural Jharkhand, the common narrative is that local governance institutions like the Gram Sabha are either non-functioning or steered by a few elites and middlemen. Even after thirty years of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, also called 73rd CAA, and 25 years of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 or PESA, the roots of local democracy haven’t strengthened the way it was envisioned in these laws.
The 73rd CAA, which laid the foundation for the uniform three-tier Panchayati Raj system in the country, has envisioned a local democratic system to be embedded in the Gram Sabhas.
Furthermore, PESA, which derives its legal origin from article 243M(4)(b) of the 73rd CAA, establishes an even more pertinent role for Gram Sabhas in Schedule V areas. It provides a constitutional framework by which Gram Sabhas in Schedule V areas are entitled to preserve the traditional way of living, protect tribal culture and customary laws, and have a system of tribal self-governance in these areas.
Apart from these, Gram Sabhas also have the power and responsibility to approve the ‘plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development’, identifying beneficiaries for government welfare schemes and ensuring accountability of panchayats to them.
However, observation on the ground reveals that even in the Schedule V areas of Jharkhand, Gram Sabhas hardly perform their duties. Benjamin Lakra (45) and Arjun Lakra (35), both daily wage workers from Deogaon village in Gumla district of the state, complained that they hardly get any work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Likewise, no MGNREGA schemes, such as those for wells and connecting roads, get sanctioned for their village.
Arjun Lakra said:
Despite our attempts to raise our issues in the Gram Sabha, no one listens to us. As a matter of fact, Gram Sabha rarely holds any discussions. All we do in Gram Sabha is sign the register without knowing what is written in it.
Lack of connectivity with the more populous hamlets (tola) where the Gram Sabha meetings are held act as a hindrance for smaller tolas like Chapatoli where the Lakras live.
“There are very few people from our tola who attend the Gram Sabha in Deogaon,” said Benjamin Lakra. “Sometimes Gram Sabhas are held in the Tapkara panchayat office. It becomes too far from our village to attend. In the last Gram Sabha meeting, only five people from Chapatoli were present.” Also, very few Gram Sabha meetings take place, and that too on the order of block development officer, he added.
In Jharkhand, Gram Sabha has largely failed to perform its governance role of allowing people to participate in democratic decision-making processes. In such a situation tola sabha can be an effective tool to fill this governance gap and deepen the democratic processes in decision-making at the local level.
However, the question is, whether tola sabha are a statutory institution in Jharkhand. They aren’t in the normal circumstances but there is a legal provision by which a tola sabha can be treated as a Gram Sabha.
Article 4(c) of PESA mandates every village to have a Gram Sabha, whereas article 4(b) of the Act has the provision for a hamlet to be considered a village if it comprises a community and manages its affairs in accordance with its traditions and customs.
Upon reading articles 4(b) and 4(c) together it is apparent that for PESA, a village is a natural village and not an administrative village. And therefore, a hamlet like Chapatoli acts as a natural village, whereas Deogaon, a revenue village, is an administrative village.
So, if PESA is considered, Chapatoli can have its own Gram Sabha or one can say, the tola sabha of Chapatoli can be considered a Gram Sabha.
However, the Jharkhand government hasn’t yet formed the rules for implementing PESA in the state but certain sections of the Jharkhand Panchayati Raj Act, 2001 are in compliance with PESA.
According to Section 3.3 of JPRA, in the scheduled areas, a Gram Sabha can be formed at the hamlet or tola level if the members of the Gram Sabha want it so. The rule for the formation of a separate Gram Sabha was notified in the Jharkhand Gram Sabha (formation, process & working) Rule, 2003.
This means that a tola sabha or a Gram Sabha at the hamlet level can act as a legal entity in Jharkhand and this seems to be in the spirit of PESA. However, the catch is in the process of recognition of tola sabha as Gram Sabha.
According to Section 4 of the Gram Sabha (formation, process and working) Rule, 2003 of Jharkhand, the district collector is the first and final authority to decide if a Gram Sabha can be formed at the tola level or not.
Giving absolute power to the bureaucracy to decide on this matter is entirely against the spirit of decentralisation and the democratic local governance for which PESA stands for. This has almost made it impossible to get the legal status of Gram Sabhas at the tola level. The formation of new Gram Sabhas will mean more administrative burden for the bureaucracy.
India's bureaucracy is often reluctant to accept the creation of an active body to demand a share of power and accountability from the administration.
Block and district administration often take the help of the women self-help groups (SHG) network for implementation and monitoring of government programs on the ground. Community-based organisations (CBO), with SHGs at the hamlet level as their building block, are often treated as supplementary to Panchayati Raj institutions (PRI) and sometimes even parallel to PRIs.
However, being membership-based organisations and non-statutory bodies, CBOs have their own limitations. They don’t have legal backing to hold the elected representative and bureaucracy accountable for development programs, the way a Gram Sabha has.
Furthermore, with the involvement of the state rural livelihood mission in managing SHG networks and CBOs, these institutions are primarily co-opted by the state bureaucratic machinery at every level.
It’s not a rare incident to see BDOs issuing orders in the name of CBOs to direct them to help achieve the block’s targets. So, in a situation where CBOs are working as an extended hand of the administration, they can’t have the autonomy to assert against the administration to ensure accountability and transparency.
CBOs can help in strengthening local governance and local democracy, but the central role has to be played by the Gram Sabha, which is an autonomous and statutory body that naturally represents the entire population of the village without any exception.
So, it’s important to concentrate the efforts on making the Gram Sabha independent and effective. Making the legal procedure easy and transparent for organising the Gram Sabha at the hamlet level is in accordance with the spirit of PESA. It will help improve Gram Sabha's effectiveness and strengthen tribal self-governance guaranteed under PESA.
Views expressed are the authors’ own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.
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