'Panchayats must give up 'Dilli to Dehat' policy'

New Delhi, June 25 : Panchayats have become instruments of state-level political patronage that nurtures and promotes ''muscle and money raj'', reducing the local bodies to fiefdoms of Sarpanches and Block Development Officers, says Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) should not proceed from ''Dilli to Dehat'' but from ''Dehat to Dilli'' to implement in real sense the perception of village republics as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi, Mr Aiyar said while wrapping up the three-day workshop on ''Writers and Thinkers on Local Governance and Panchayati Raj'' which ended at Vigyan Bhawan here today.

He agreed that there was a ''three-point democratic deficit in the system --- representativeness limited to its arithmetical sense; the deficit in the mandate for PRI despite constitutional sanctions and deficit in an intelligent political realtionship established between different tiers of governance''.

This, he added, had turned the panchayats into instruments of patronage rather than participation.

Mr Aiyar held the state governments responsible for not allowing the panchayats to function as independent entities on the pattern of local self governments. But he did not agree with other participants that the Constitution should be amended to ''impose full-blown Panchayti Raj on recalcitrant states''.

Stating that PRI was a state subject and that there was no point trying to get it transferred to the concurrent list, the Minister said the only alteranative was to convince the states through intensive dialogue, both collectively and bilaterally, on the merits of strengthening and empowering the local bodies -- even if at a tortoise pace.

''We are at the mid-point of Panchayati Raj revolution as Indian states, barring Jharkhand, have nearly 2.5 lakh elected PRIs and along with the urban local bodies, constitute 32 lakh elected represenatives with proportional representation for scheduled and backward castes.'' Of them, 12 lakh are elected women representatives in rural India -- over 40 per cent of all PRI representives -- as against only 33 per cent reservation for them, he added.

The fact was also highlighted by an eminent participant in the workshop, Dr Hafiz Pasha, UNDP Assistant Administrator for Asia and Africa, who said India had an unparalleled intensive and extensive local bodies system in the world which had the potential to bring about gender equality.

He stressed the need for decentralising state powers through the PRIs for effective democratic polity in India. For which, he said, India should proceed towards strengthening district planning and monitoring system by restructuring the governing tiers and improving the ''devolution index'' on the lines of Brazil and other Latin American countries.

Mr Pasha supported another participant, eminent social activist Aruna Roy's contention that Right to Information Act (RTI) should be effectively implemented to bring about tranparency in the PRI functioning, which, in turn, would empower the panchayats to a greater extent

Mr Aiyar, however supported effective devolution of three Fs -- functions, finances and functionaries -- of the PRI by executing the district level planning in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution that gave prominence to local governance. The Minister also agreed with Mr Pasha's observation that empowering the panchayats would mean taking the rural sector along in the progress in other sectors of the country.

Pointing to the current discrepancies in governance, the Minister said although India had been ranked eighth for its number of millionaires, in terms of Human Development Index the country was placed at 127.

This development dilemma, he said , had pushed India to the ''worst agrarian crisis in our history''.

''Since the official agricultural extension system has virtually collapsed, the single ray of hope appears to be collective counselling to farmers and peer group agricultural extension through PRIs and gram sabhas,'' Mr Aiyar added.

Besides, the PRI could be become an available forum for organising the unorganised labour in the countryside.

For this, he advocated creation of a ''separate, autonomous cadre of technical and administrative officials to the service of the PRIs'', but said at the same time that the suggestion was not practical because none of the states were ready to create such a service at the beck and call of PRIs.

Mr Aiyar also supported the effective implementation of the Panchayat Extension Scheduled Area (PESA) Act, for protecting and promoting the tribal interests in nine states.

If PESA act, which is yet to be implemented by the states, is breached, the Naxalites were around the corner to exploit the sentiments of the tribals, Mr Aiyar warned.

Earlier, the Minister announced that the government had decided to bring in legislation to constitute Panchayat Adalats to dispose of cases at the village level and set up an expert committee under noted jurist Upendra Baxi to prepare the draft legislation.

He said he had convened a meeting of chief ministers of the nine tribal-dominated states on July 14 so that these states could be covered under PESA. Before the meeting he would also convene a meeting of experts to discuss the matter, he added.

Besides, he said, the government had launched a project to study the role of women in panchayats and their problems.

UNI