Its high time the panchayati raj institutions in India reviewed their actual role in spelling out developmental processes
UNTIL the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution, the
sustainability of the panchayat institutions themselves were
shaky. Whenever it was felt that the panchayats were not
falling in line, the state governments simply dissolved them or
clipped their wings. By making elections mandatory and preventing state governments from superseding these institutions, the 1993 Act has made the institutions sustainable. The
debate now is, whether the panchayats promote sustainable
development.
The Act confers considerable powers to the panchayats at
different levels, including powers to prepare and implement
plans for economic development and social justice; implementation of schemes entrusted to them by the state and the
Centre, and exercise of powers as delegated in subjects listed in
the 11th Schedule. The 11th Schedule includes subjects like
maintenance of community assets, forestry, fuel and fodder,
fisheries, animal husbandry, water management, watershed
development, drinking
water, agriculture, agriculture extension, land
improvement, soil conservation, food processing industries, distribution of electricity, non -conventional energy
sources, health and sanitation, and so on. The panchayat system, thus, may play a
crucial role in pursuing goals
of sustainable development.
In spite of ostentatious
claims of decentralisation,
the panchayati raj (PR) institutions play very limited
roles in planning and determining economic development. It has to work within the context of centralised planning. Estimates show that currently,
only about 40 per cent of the plan funds of the Centre and the
states can be characterised as district schemes. Only between
six to 14 per cent by, different estimates, are at the discretion
of the PR institutions. This is then divided between the three-
tiers, the lions share remaining with the district-level body.
The major tasks of the PRs, therefore, will be implementation of the projects conceived at the central and state levels.
There have been past cases (in Kerala in 1979, for example),
where politicians further empowered the state government to
cancel any resolution, decisions or actions by a district body if
in their opinion those were in excess or abuse of the powers
conferred to these local bodies. Indeed, even a private company's proposal for setting up a highly polluting major industry
cannot be contested by the PRs because, the matter is not within their powers.
And within their limited spheres of decisionmaking, PRs
face severe problems. Although the items in the 11th Schedule
have been more or less duplicated in the state Acts, the exact
powers of the PRs in regulating their uses are still unclear. In
fact, whether the panchayats will be able to change the existing
arrangement if they find current practices unsustainable,
remains undefined.
Local level officials think that the existing regulations
should not be endorsed by the PRs. The higher ups often opine
that the PRs have overriding powers with respect to the 11th
Schedule subjects. The proposed Forest Act, drafted after the
73rd Amendment was passed, coolly empowers the Forest
Department to lease out the community land to commercial
companies.
At times, all villagers, or all taluka residents may not use a
particular resource and all
may not be equally interested
in its sustainable use.
Participatory development
models like special projects
for women in fisheries, usually relied on small groups of
actual users for encouraging
sustainable use. Now these
groups will be subsumed to
the broader PR bodies. Quite
possibly, the latter may
appropriate a good share of
the benefits, leaving the actual workers with a pittance
and inadequate incentives.
The local people usually
rely more on qualitative information rather than the technocratic mode, which is largely reductionist. Involvement of the
latter is likely to stimulate systemic thinking, a congenial climate for sustainable development efforts.
Now, new or modified institutions have just emerged,
which, alongwith administrators,. extension agents and legal
experts, are differently interpreting each new Act clause by
clause. Opposing interpretations will be contested in different
contexts, and time will tell the real extent of functions and
powers of the panchayats. Today, local interests find a much
better climate for bargaining. In the final analysis, however,
the feasibility of any Act lies in the equation between the
power structure and the power struggle.
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