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Panchayati Raj Act in Punjab from Oct 2
Tribune News Service

Punjab Congress Committee president H.S. Hanspal, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, chairman of the political training department of the Congress Mani Shankar Aiyar, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Faridkot MP Jagmeet Singh Brar at a state-level convention on Panchayati Raj organised by the District Congress Committee, Ludhiana, on Sunday. — A Tribune photograph

Ludhiana, August 3
Punjab is likely to implement the Panchayati Raj Act from October 2 this year. In the first phase the panchayats would be empowered to oversee and monitor the functioning of primary schools, primary health centres, veterinary hospitals, the Social Welfare Department and the supply of drinking water. The panchayat would be authorised to appoint and remove the teachers, doctors and other officials of these departments.

Announcing this here today, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said that he would seek the consent of AICC president Ms Sonia Gandhi so that she herself announced its formal implementation in Punjab on that day. Addressing a state-level convention on Panchayati Raj here today, the Chief Minister said, the Congress had special stakes in the Panchayati Raj since it had been conceptualised by late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, who wanted total empowerment of the rural people.

He declared that although the Panchayati Raj Act envisaged giving power to panchayats over 29 subjects. But in the beginning Punjab would start with five things only. It would be implemented in next four years. The village panchayats will oversee and supervise the functioning of primary schools, primary health centres, veterinary hospitals, social welfare department and supply of drinking water. He said, the funds will not be any problem and the government would provide sufficient funds to the panchayats for proper and effective functioning.

Putting up a strong case for the implementation of Panchayati Raj, Capt Amarinder said, it was necessary to ensure proper development in the villages. He pointed out, there were several government officials who were not prepared to go to the villages. He observed, in case the panchayats were empowered it would not happen. He disclosed, it was the seriousness of the government on Panchayati Raj Act, which made it to hold elections to various local bodies, including corporations, Zila Parishads and Panchayats within one year. He hinted that the government was contemplating holding elections to the cooperative societies also.

He revealed that the drop-out rate in primary schools in Punjab was 34 per cent. He blamed the teachers for this, who were not prepared to go to the schools. He said, there was massive absenteeism in rural schools and the teachers would hire people to perform duties for them. Similar was the case with the doctors as none of them wanted to go to the rural areas. “They only want jobs, but do not want to serve”, he said, while adding that once the panchayats are empowered and the employees were made responsible and answerable to panchayats this would stop.

Referring to his anti corruption drive, he said, notwithstanding the criticism of the NDA and its partners in the “Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha” the campaign against corruption was to continue. Without naming Mr Parkash Singh Badal, he said, “he may not be having Rs 3500 crore, he may be having only Rs 3400 crore only but it will not go unaccounted”. He said, the government was steadily working as it had to follow the procedures of different countries.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included the Pradesh Congress Committee President, Mr H.S. Hanspal, Chairman Political Training Department of the Congress, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Local Bodies Minister, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Irrigation Minister, Gurchet Singh Bhullar, Social Welfare Minister, Chaudhry Santokh Singh, Patiala MP, Mrs Perneet Kaur, Faridkot MP, Mr Jagmeet Brar and others.

Panchayati Raj envisages devolution of
powers, says Aiyar
Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 3
Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, MP and Chairman of the Political Training Department of the Congress, said here today that the Panchayati Raj Act envisaged devolution of power to the grassroots level with authority and responsibility so that each village acted as a “functional republic”.

In an interview to The Tribune here today, Mr Aiyar disclosed that late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had felt that the “development and social welfare” had not reached the desired level in the existing system. Mr Aiyar said, Mr Gandhi would feel that handing over the responsibility of total development to the collector (at the district level) and the BDO at the (block level) was not going to help. So it was necessary that the people should themselves plan and execute development programmes. Hence the Panchayati Raj Act was introduced.

Mr Aiyar pointed out, it was Mahatma Gandhi who had observed, only a month before independence, that “Puran Swaraj was possible only with the gram swaraj”. Because at that time most of the country’s population lived in rural areas. Even now 70 per cent of the total population was living in villages, he said.

He said, the focus of the Panchayati Raj Act remained on three Fs, “functions, functionaries and finances”. He elaborated, functions meant the powers to be vested in the panchayats. He pointed out, “unless and until the panchayats had the power to appoint or remove a person, say a teacher or a doctor, these would be toothless...it is like sending someone to war without providing him the weapons”. Functionaries are the officials who should be responsible and answerable to the panchayats for effective development. And last but not the least, it was the finances which would ultimately determine the success of a panchayat.

He said, Rajiv Gandhi believed that development should not flow from Delhi or Chandigarh, but it should grow from the grassroots. That is why the Panchayati Raj Act did not simply envisage decentralisation, but “devolution of powers”. It envisages handing over the power to the representatives of the people so that each village in the country functions as a functional republic. Under this system, the panchayats would be the basic units of governance, he said.

About the reservations, he said, act provides for reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the women. However, it would be the discretion of the state governments to decide whether it wanted to rotate the reservation or fix particular seats, like the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, for reserved candidates for a fixed period of time.

Mr Aiyar said, the Political Training Department of AICC deals with ideological and topical issues. It holds regular conventions and programmes to train the party leadership and cadre on different issues across the country. He said, the department had so far organised 38 training programmes on Panchayati Raj and today’s was the last in the series. He said, he would be submitting an overall report to Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, who is herself taking keen interest on the issue.