The reorganization of panchayats, after the 73rd constitutional amendment came into force in 1995, has completely changed the nature of local governance in India. The amendment created the basis for establishment of formally democratic institutions for local governance. The most important change has been that all the members of the panchayat are elected from the village. Before 1995, a number of members in the panchayat used to be nominated by the state government. An important feature of the post-1995 panchayats is also the reservation of seats for the socially marginalized sections and women.
In Malawada village there is an eight-member panchayat; of these three seats are reserved for women. Malan has a sixteen-member panchayat, of these five are reserved for women. Women have often been found to be inactive in the panchayats, however, there are reasons to believe that the minimum compulsory participation of women will be a vehicle for greater mobilization of women to participate more actively. Nevertheless, attendance at the general body meetings (gram sabha) of the panchayats in Malawada and Malan is still generally low, and dominated by men.2
An important issue of debate in the context of institutions of local governance has been the financial devolution and autonomy of these institutions. The panchayats in Gujarat have been entrusted with collection of several taxes. The Malawada panchayat earns nearly 50 percent of its income from local sources - collection of taxes, sale of wood from trees on the common land, and sale of fishing rights in the ponds.
Malan is a large village and the panchayat has access to more resources. Nearly half of its revenue is raised through taxes and about 30 percent through donations. The panchayat also has under its control 130 acres of pasture land and auctions timber and firewood from this land to generate additional revenue.
The panchayat in Malan has undertaken several tasks related to building infrastructure in the village: 5 000 ft. of concrete road, four rooms in the village school, four creches, a primary health centre, public bathrooms and toilets, and a tubewell. In addition, the panchayat has focussed on providing drinking water supplies in the village. A water tank was constructed and the main water supply pipes have been installed. The panchayat provides water connections to individual houses on the condition that the applicants bear the cost of the delivery pipe from the main pipe and arrange drainage facilities. In 1998, about 17 percent of all households had water taps in their houses. Apart from the connections to the houses, the panchayat has installed public taps in most localities from where households not having private taps can take water.
The evidence on functioning of new institutions of local governance in different parts of India has indicated vast potential of using these institutions to generate local resources. The findings from the study villages broadly support this body of evidence. The panchayats have undertaken several activities for village development. These activities can be strenghtened by further devolution of resources and powers to these institutions. In particular, the panchayats have shown exemplary performance in several states in respect to implementation of rural development programmes.
Effectiveness of these programmes has been found to be markedly better in States where panchayats were involved in these programmes3.
An important rural development programme that is yet completely outside the regulation of the panchayats in Gujarat is the Indira Awas Yojana, the largest housing scheme for the poor in India. The construction of houses under Indira Awas Yojana had been carried out in both villages through contractors and the block-level bureaucracy. Field work showed that some of the houses had been allotted to the families that already had houses and these families had in turn rented out the allotted houses to the homeless. A clearly better track record by panchayats as implementors of rural development schemes in different States of India would indicate that panchayats in Gujarat should have greater involvement in overseeing the work done under schemes like Indira Awas Yojana.
Endnotes:
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1 |
Prepared by Vikas Rawal while a Young Professional with SDAR/FAO. |
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2 |
It may be useful to mention that in West Bengal, a state where panchayats have been known to have done exemplary work for over two decades now, a recent legislation made it mandatory for the panchayats to ensure that the gram sabha meetings are attended by at least fifty percent of the population. |
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3 |
Examples of successful interventions by panchayati in irrigation development are cited in, V. Rawal, "Public Interventions by Pancharati Raj Ïnstitutions: A Case Study of a Gram Panchayat in West Bengal", 1997. "Panchayati Raj Institutions have been involved with almost all of the developmental activities of the state at the village, block and district levels....the role of the panchayat is generally to identify the right beneficiaries, make people aware of the opportunities available to hem, and ensure that the benefits actually reach their proper destination." |
