panchayati raj at 75
panchayat is a word which has long term connotation in indian history right from the times of vedas. the self-sufficient, self-sustaining villages with minimal interaction with outside world have been hailed as ideal solution for indian problems and as close to direct democracy as possible. this system of almost autonomous villages persisted through various empires and even the muslim sultanates. so much so that charles metcalfe, governor general in 1835 -36 remarked
“The village communities are little republics, having nearly everything they can want within themselves, and almost independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last where nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down; revolution succeeds to revolution; … but the village community remains the same…. This union of the village communities, each one forming a separate little state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the peoples of India, through all the revolutions and changes which they have suffered, and is in a high degree conducive to their happiness, and to the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom and independence”. (as quoted by Mookerji)
it was discarded only when the british set up a hierarchy of government personnel from top to bottom, including the villages. however, the idea of self-contained villages persisted and gandhi ji wrote about in swaraj calling them village republics. he said, “My idea of village swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is a necessity”.
the modern concept of village panchayat can be attributed in a sense to lord ripon, viceroy, in 1882 when he envisaged local units akin to urban self-governing councils. however this was to be at the tahsil level with two third of elected members.
with the dawn of freedom from the british and drawing up of the new constitution, the panchayati raj found its place therein but, unfortunately, only in directive principles where, along with uniform civil code, universal primary education, it remained an object of veneration but not implementation.
Article 40 states “The state shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.”
though nothing was done at the time, the idea, however, persisted and a number of committees -considered the question. some of these were
· Balwant Rai Mehta Committee which advocated, in 1957, panchayat structure at district, block and village level, elected bodies for five years with some devolution of powers.
· Ashok Mehta Committee which suggested, in 1978, two tier panchayat system at district and block level.
· L M Singhvi Committee which recommended, in 1986, constitutional enshrinement of panchayats and the formation of gram sabhas as the base of decentralised democracy.
in the absence of constitutional provisions, the states were left to their own devices in activating the panchayti raj institutions and, naturally, varied in importance and functioning from state to state. experiments were made, notably in maharashtra and karnataka to devolve powers to the district level panchayats. the members of the vidhan sabhas saw the chairmen of the district panchayats as rivals in approaching and influencing the voters and the experiments were either diluted or withdrawn.
it was with the 73rd amendment to the constitution in 1992 that panchayti raj institutions found a constitutional backing with 29 subjects mentioned for devolution. in order to insure adequate safeguards, elections were made mandatory and the state governments could not suspend them for an indefinite period. the constitution provided for setting up of state election commission to conduct the elections.
the exact devolution of powers was, however, left to the states who passed their own acts.
The main features of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act:
· Establishment of a three-tier structure (Village Panchayat, Block Samiti and Zilla Parishad)
· Regular elections to Panchayats every 5 years.
· Reservations of greater than 1/3rd seats for members and for chairpersons to women.
· Constitution of state finance commissions every five years to recommend measures to improve the finances of Panchayats.
· A State Election Commission has to be constituted in every State and Union Territory (UT), to supervise, direct and control the regular and smooth elections to Panchayats.
· Gram Sabha or village assembly as a deliberative body to decentralise governance has been envisaged as the foundation of the Panchayati Raj System.
· 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.
in 1996 the provisions of panchayti raj was extended to the scheduled areas also, which were earlier left out.
one special feature of the constitutional amendment was to provide for reservation for women to the extent of 33 percent in the panchayati raj institutions at different levels. the normal rules for reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes was followed.
needless to say, this experiment of representative units till the lowest level is an unprecedented experiment in decentralised democracy. as it is there are four tiers viz.
1. Gram Sabha: Gram Sabha is the primary body of the Panchayati Raj system. It is a village assembly consisting of all the registered voters within the area of the panchayat.
2. Three Tier System: village, intermediate and district levels.
3. Election of members and chairperson: The members to all the levels of the Panchayati Raj are elected directly and the chairpersons to the intermediate and the district levels are elected indirectly.
According to information available, in January 2019, there were 630 Zilla Panchayats, 6614 Block Panchayats and 253163 Gram Panchayats in India. There are currently over 3 million elected representatives (of which more than 1 million are women) for panchayats at all levels.
Currently, the Panchayati Raj system exists in all states except Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, and in all Union Territories except Delhi.
finances have always been the bedrock of implementation of programmes. and the constitutional amendment provided for setting up, at regulated intervals, setting up of state finance commissions to recommend the funds to be placed at the disposal of the panchayats. however, one loophole left was that the recommendations were not mandatory and state governments could play with them, or even forget about them.
the financing of the panchayati raj institutions is the main requirement. while state finance commissions were expected to do the needful, the central finance commissions also took a hand in the exercise and allocated funds for these basic citadels of democracy. the funds are to be allocated on the basis of population and area in the ratio 90: 10. the Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) has recommended grants of Rs 4,36,361 crore from the Union government to local governments for 2021-26. This is an increase of 52 per cent over the corresponding grant of Rs 2,87,436 crore by its predecessor for 2015-20 . the fifteenth finance commission has recommended a grant of rs. 9000 crores for local self-governments. of this the rural areas will receive rs. 60,750 crores. for the year 2020-21.
most of the funds given to panchayats are tied funds meant for specific programmes which the panchayats are expected to implement. an idea of the vastness of these programmes will be evident from the following figures for the year 2008-09 (which has increased manifold since then) –
mnrega 16000 crores
sarva shiksha abhiyan 13100 crores
national rural health mission 11974 crores
mid-day meal 8000 crores
Pradhan mantri sadak yojna 7530 crores
rural drinking water supply 7300 crores
and there are many more.
besides these there are state sector schemes, the outlay varying from state to state at the discretion of the government of the day.
the state finance commissions, in their reports, lay down the principles based on which funds are to be allocated to various districts, and within districts to lower-level panchayats. basically they are based on population and area though some states also take into account tax efforts of the panchayats also.
The Panchayats receive funds from three sources:
· Local body grants, as recommended by the Central Finance Commission
· Funds for implementation of centrally sponsored schemes
· Funds released by the state governments on the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions
the financial resources of the panchayats on their own are limited, especially at the gram panchayat level. .
the financial resources of gram panchayats are
· Taxes collected locally such as on water, place of pilgrimage, local Mandirs (temples), and markets
· A fixed grant from the State Government in proportion to the land revenue and money for works and schemes assigned to the Parishads
· Donations
however, there are no known cases of donation except in exceptional cases where the sarpanch is enlightened and interested in improving the standards in the area. such success stories are many, as indeed they should be considering there are over 250 lakhs of panchayats. these success stories are often circulated to give the impression that all is well. but general atmosphere does not justify such optimism. let us consider some instances.
in gujarat surat district, choryasi tahsil , there is a gram panchayat vankala which has a popultion of 277; olpad tahsil, gram panchayat kasad has 546 persons (persons, not voters); kanthraj has 681, khalipur has 421. in fact, surat district alone has 102 panchayats where population is less than 1000. the cake is take by panchayat called birama in mandvi tahsil which has population of 8 (repeat eight). Surat.xlsx (gujarat.gov.in) http://panchayat.gujarat.gov.in/panchayat/document/ Surat-grampanchayat.pdf
the situation in many other states would not be different. it may, however, be mentioned that in surat district, there is also a panchayat hajira with 16724 population; olpad with 16775; kamrej with 16078; kholvad with 15535. and the variation is self-evident. in madhya pradesh, the towns with a population of over 5000 are classified as nagar panchayats and, for all purposes, treated as urban area organizations.
Major sources of own tax revenue of RLBs are as follows:
· House building tax/Property tax –
· Profession tax –.
· Vehicle tax –.
· Tax on fairs and other entertainments –
· Tax on advertisement.
· Levy on factories in lieu of taxes –
the powers of individual panchayats are derived from the panchayati acts of individual states. Hence, all these taxes are not likely to be assigned to all panchayats in the country. there will be state level variations. Also, even when a panchayat has the power to levy certain tax, in practice, it has been seen that very few RLBs actually implement and enforce taxes. This might be due to local socio-political factors, or the local governments lacking administrative capacity to enforce tax collection.
Major sources of own non-tax revenue of RLBs are as follows:
· Water fee
· Street cleaning fee/ Drainage fee
· Sanitary fee for public latrines
· Fee for the use of panchayat shelter
· User charges for hospitals and schools
· Fee on markets and weekly bazaars
· Birth and death registration fee.
Similar to taxes, not all non-tax revenue sources are available to all panchayats as it depends on the state legislations about panchayats.
as pointed out above, there are success stories, too many to list all of them but here are some typical ones.
in chandrapur panchayat in karnal district of haryana, a scheme known as three pond scheme was adopted to convert the waste water, a scourge for the village, into useable water. It includes physical, chemical and biological processes to remove the contaminants. presently, It caters to waste water management of around 70% households of the village. treated sludge from the ponds can be used for agriculture (manure) as well as other benefits such as a source of biomass for electricity generation. It took almost a year to construct the system using the hired labourers under MGNREGA. Lack of Sufficient Funds was also a hitch in this project, where the Panchayat used its own funds and used five lacs under the Health Sanitation Programme.
in bachoda panchayat of indore district in madhya pradesh, initiative was taken to stop open defecation and instil habit of sanitation. individuals were given the responsibility to police those going for defecation in open while, simultaneously, constructing toilets. penalty was imposed on those violating the norms and even delivery of ration was stopped to persuade them.
Juvvalapalem of West Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh, A unique waste disposable system was developed, wherein every day from household through medium of cycle rickshaw or bullock cart waste used to be collected and was taken to a common place. Over there it was further classified into recyclable and bio degradable and was properly dispose to safeguard the public health. The villager are also provided with mineral water of International standards at a highly subsidized cost i.e. 12 paisa per litre to the public and free to schools and hospitals, in addition to well-maintained protected water supply system.
Mala Grama Panchyath, in kerala, is also into sanitation drive. Attractive dustbins are kept on roadsides for collection of garbage. At school level unique program, which targeted the adolescent girls, were undertaken. Active involvement of Parent Teachers Association (PTA), for implementing school sanitation programme.
Kasu village in arunachal pradesh, with population of 120 mostly Buddhists, located in block (Namsi), Lohi district, realized from benefits of having individual household sanitary latrines in Kaba village. The villagers came forward and involved themselves in sanitation programme like village of Kaba and attained 100% sanitation along with the school maintaining separate toilets for boys and girls properly.
Sanitation programme was launched in Dhalhara GP, Sahid Matangini Block, East Medinipur district, West Bengal, All households in the GP have toilets and people do use it.
everyone realises the need to replicate these success stories, the problem is that the word "replication" means a process of deliberate repeating. Since no two communities are alike and no community is the same at two different points of time, the notion of replicability becomes an ideal rather than something, which can be practiced precisely. This is even more true for India which is very diverse and complex. Therefore, any efforts to replicate any model certainly invite some deviation from the original model.
sometimes the programmes do not carry the real message. for example, in dhalhara panchayat mentioned above, the villagers went in for one pit latrines. it was argued that once they get used to the idea of using toilet and washing hands after that, they will go in for two pit latrines. It has not happened. perhaps the problem was the hurry to get a reward for stopping open defecation. but this strategy does not pay in the long run.
Kerala is reputed to be the best administered panchayti raj state. here are the allocations for the year 2017-18
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BUDGET PROVISION FOR THE YEAR 2017-2018 TO GRAMA PANCHAYATS | |
Category of Funds | Amount in Lakhs |
General Purpose | 91783.93 |
Maintenance -Road | 89575.84 |
Maintenance -Non-Road | 34348.10 |
Development Fund- General | 152016.99 |
Development Fund-SCP | 58266.15 |
Development Fund-TSP | 9998.41 |
World Bank Assistance | 5665.63 |
14th FC Award | 83275.30 |
total allocation is rs. 524930 lakhs. Kerala has 941 Village Panchayats (Grama panchayats), 152 Block Panchayats and 14 District Panchayats. it will be seen that of this allocation, rs. 83,275 lakhs is from the 14th finance commission allocations. further only rs. 91,783 lakhs is for general purpose. rest is tied to various programmes and panchayats do not have flexibility in spending that amount.
in haryana, the fourth state finance commission recommendations, the distribution of funds between gram panchayats, block panchayats and district panchayats was to be in the ratio 75:15:10. assuming that kerala follows a similar distribution proportion, the 941 gram panchayats will receive rs. 3,93,675 lakhs or on an average a gram panchayat will get rs. 418.4 lakhs including both general purpose and tied funds. it is to be considered if the gram panchayat has the capacity to utilise this amount in a year's time.
the problem that many gram panchayats face is how to handle the money which is now available. most of the gram panchayats have only one panchayat secretary, even in kerala, who is unable to meet the requirements of the vast number of projects which are available. these are left to be executed by the departmental personnel on whom the panchayat has no control as they are answerable to their departmental heads..
kerala’s decentralisation shows the provision of substantial untied funds for local prioritisation and local resource allocation to identified priority areas. This was not recommended by any State Finance Commission but was a policy decision taken by the State Government at the beginning of the 9th Five Year Plan. While the State has been able to go beyond what is strictly essential (as per SFC reports) and has been able to consolidate Centrally Sponsored schemes in some cases leading to welcome increase in the untied grants recently, there has unfortunately a drop in the statutory grants which is wholly unwelcome.
Also, it has been noticed that restriction of actual flows to PRIs get aggravated every time there is a glitch in the state finances. Thus, even when credited to their Treasury accounts, the panchayats are not able to use the funds because the finance department will not release them. The performance audit shows up some lacunae which have to mostly do with the outmoded accounting and record keeping.
it would be interesting to see how much revenue is generated by the panchayats from within their powers of taxation. to compare it we can take the per capita income for some states. In bihar it is rs 1.20 for the year 2017-18. i comparison haryana has per capita income of rs. 165.60. kerala has rs. 105.80 and karnataka rs. 83.80. the best is goa with rs. 202 while the worst is, probably, uttrakhand with rs 0.40. overall the per capita income for all states (for which data was available ) was rs. 35.90.
it is evident, therefore that the panchayats are reluctant to tax even if they have the powers. the machinery for collection of taxes, even when levied, is almost non-existent. an example will underline the problem. it was reported from punjab that orders were issued to get no dues certificate from panchayats to contest elections. it was found that there was a chulha tax (imposed in 1920 or thereabout, a property tax in essence). everyone had forgotten about it but when the no dues certificate was to be issued, it became important. since the amount was small (rupees seven per annum and never revised), but it was required that the dues be cleared. the last date of filing nominations was 19 December, and about 49,000 prospective candidates filed their nomination papers for the sarpanch elections, and another 1.65 lakh for the panch elections. However, after the scrutiny of nomination papers, only about 28,000 candidates remained in the fray for sarpanch positions, and about one lakh for the panchs.( Punjab panchayat poll process breaks down over a matter of Rs 7 'chulha tax' (theprint.in)) the matter went up to the high court but the tax had to be paid. it is not certain if those not contesting the elections paid up or were asked to.
there is talk of decentralised planning but without expertise it is difficult to plan at the village level. in today's world, isolation is just not possible and every project means coordination with similar bodies and the higher levels. we have the success stories but they are just oasis in the vast desert. most of the panchayats revolve around the personality of the sarpanch who is not available full time for the task. where they manage to do that, the work proceeds smoothly but these are rare cases.
gram sabha is a great idea of residents sitting together and discussing plans about the village they live in. but it is not happening. regular meetings are not held and when held, are mere formality. the fact has to be faced that villagers are far from enlightenment which we take for granted in the cities though even in cities, there is hardly any effort to regularly discuss plans for the locality unless some outsider non-government organization or a well-meaning person intervenes.
some issues which face the growth of decentralised democracy are
(i) autonomy versus dependency
panchayats can play a significant part in deepening of democracy by mobilising local resources and introducing local solutions. however, the degree of success depends upon the extent of administrative and financial devolution. in many states the historical legacy of subservience plays an important role in panchayats getting delayed release of grants, even when ordained by state finance commission. the delay occurs , both at the state level and the district level.
(ii). starvation of funds
in one of the conferences of the chief ministers the following comments were made " Panchayats are starved of finances in virtually all states. This has led to a situation where there has been a constitutionally mandated devolution of powers and responsibilities to the local bodies, but with no real means, financial or statutory, with which to implement the plethora of schemes and programmes devolved. This chicken and egg syndrome has led to panchayati raj and municipality administrations almost everywhere being discredited by mainline developmental administration, leaving elected members disillusioned and frustrated by their very powerlessness and impotence"
(ii) in many states, panchayats have to seek permission to spend even the available funds. there is limit on what they can spend on their own. in kerala the limit is rs. one lakh whereas in madhya pradesh, it is 3 lakhs.
(iii) the collection of taxes at the local level pose problems both in regard to levying and collection of taxes.
(iv) have the panchayats overcome the reluctance of women to come forward or the men to accept them as equals (or even superior). it is doubtful. in madhya pradesh there was an instance where women were elected because seats were reserved for them. when the time for swearing in came, they were absent. instead the panchayat secretary swore in their husbands deputing for them. (www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/aug/05/). the phenomenon of sarpanch pati is well known.
(v) the gram sabha is the primary unit consisting of all registered voters in the area.there is a provision to lay down how often it will meet. but it does not happen. government of madhya pradesh had to issue an order to the panchayat secretaries that meeting must be held on the independence day and republic day. whether even that happens is not clear but the attendance in these meetings, when held, is limited. normally the law provides for four meetings in a year but it is seldom adhered to.
it boils down to this. the whole programme of decentralisation is top down exercise. actually no programme is likely to succeed unless it is demand driven. what should have preceded decentralisation was educating the populace of their democratic right to order their lives. the village republic which gandhi talked about does not happen in vacuum. there has to be atmosphere for it. some would even venture to say that the process of periodical voting was thrust on people. recall that in the first two elections, people came to vote with bands and music. they considered it to be festival organized by the government. they showed their appreciation. they had absolutely no idea about the policies of the contestants and the top leader of the party said openly that people will vote even for the lamp post, if it was a candidate. in this context it will be of interesting to read the news "niti ayog Instructions have been given to every gram panchayat in the country to hold gram sabha meeting." :( https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangaluru/ )
the same trend has continued and the creation of three tier decentralised democracy has followed the same flawed logic. here is something given to you by the masters and believe that it is for your good. the persistent caste system was further sanctified by allocating seats. it was not a solution for separatism. it just strengthened it. it is why most of the panchayats are lethargic about collection of taxes, about execution of projects. in the absence of any genuine interest on the part of the citizens, the bureaucracy and the vested interests rule the roost. some have even called it decentralisation of corruption. the sarpanch has got the best four wheeler in the area. the presence of teacher in the local school has not improved because no one is interested, not the teacher, not the panch, nor the students.
it is far too late to withdraw the universal voting system and the same applies for reservations also. we have to live with it but probably the system can be improved by having indirect elections instead of direct elections. the villages choose their representatives who then choose the representatives at the block level and the district level. a system of recall can also be introduced to make the representatives at the block and district level listen to the local population. simultaneously the term of the block and district panchayat can be reduced to three years to make them more accountable to the electorate. (the periodicity of four years – elections on third sunday of may every fourth year - was recommended by krishak kalyan ayog, madhya pradesh, in 1989 – before the constitutional amendments).
if you really come down to it, the three-tier system is not workable. the village is too small a unit to have planning, to have personnel to execute the projects, to supervise the departmental personnel, to impose taxes and to collect them. those who have potential to pay are the ones who decide what to tax and others do not have the capacity to pay. there is no agency which can enforce the collection of taxes, even if levied.
the solution, perhaps, lies in having a two tier panchayat system at the district level and the development block level. in the block, there are always, or used to be, four or five extension officers, sufficiently qualified and who could manage things. if they did not succeed, it was because they had no say in formulating projects. they just had the mandate to follow the dictates handed down. but the potential was there and will again be there if proper system and methods are invoked. alternately a lower level of panchayat samiti consisting of 20 to 25 villages may also be considered.
one of the blocks, mentioned earlier, was the rivalry between the members of the vidhan sabha and the local zila panchayat chairman. in a typical example, madhya pradesh resolved the problem by having zila sarkars in which a nominated minister was made in charge of the district plans and projects. effectively shutting out the zila panchayat president and the district planning council.
another modus operendii was to twist the procedures by the powers that be by instituting so called area development funds placed at the disposal of the members of vidhan sabha or the members of parliament. it created two centres of patronage. in such a situation, conflict is inevitable. one must reform by doing away with the area development funds and allow the panchayats at both the district and block level have all the projects under them. only this will ensure proper utilisation of the funds and ensure progress always subject to the proviso that the citizens are enlightened and coached in the democratic values as they should be.
in the present-day scenario, with fast communication systems and instant transmission of news, orders and even money, the time is ripe for proper decentralisation of administration, of planning, of implementation of projects. it would, however, need a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that the intentions are also put into practice without being bogged down by pre conceived notions of "know all" administrators and "well-meaning but self-centered" leaders. together we can march on to a new bright future.
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