the Minister of Human
Resource Development Shri Arjun Singh to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The terms of reference of the GOM included, inter-alia, rationalization of CSS Policy in
accordance with the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. The GoM had met on 24th
August, 2005 and as per its directions, 22 key Central Ministries are carrying out an Activity
Mapping exercise delineating what is to be done at the Central, State and Panchayat levels
in respect of functional areas of the Ministries and the Centrally Sponsored Schemes being
handled by them.
Empowered Sub-Committee on Financial and Administrative Empowerment of
Panchayati Raj Institutions
An Empowered Sub-Committee on Financial and Administrative Empowerment of
Panchayati Raj Institutions under the Chairmanship of Minister for Rural Development
was set up in March 2003 by the Planning Commission, in pursuance of a decision taken
in the National Development Council. The members of the Committee are Deputy Chairman,
Planning Commission, Minister of Finance and Company Affairs, Minister of Social Justice
& Empowerment, Minister of Tribal Affairs and Chief Ministers of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. The Terms of Reference of the
Sub-Committee include, inter alia, working out the modalities for strengthening the financial
domain of the PRIs through transfer of resources from the Centre and State Governments;
assessing the capacity of the PRIs to raise revenues and other resources and to develop an
action plan in this regard; analyzing the capability of PRIs at different levels to absorb the
financial allocation made to the PRIs under different schemes; and to develop a framework
to ensure fiscal discipline and financial accountability at different levels of PRIs. The
Empowered Sub-Committee held two meetings before it was reconstituted on 14th September
2005, with the Union Minister of Panchayati Raj as the Chairperson and the Union Minister of
Rural Development added as a member of the Sub-Committee. The reconstituted Committee
has held two meetings on 12.6.2006 and 13.9.2006.
Planning at the Grassroots level
The Government had appointed an Expert Group under the chairmanship of Shri
V. Ramachandran to recommend concrete steps for making planning at grass roots level
a reality, since planning for economic development and social justice is a mandated function
of Panchayats and other local governments bodies in the Constitution. The Group has
submitted its report. It has suggested a practical action programme for local level planning in
the Eleventh Plan which is to start in April 2007. It has also suggested in detail the manner in
which national programmes of importance in education, health, employment, poverty alleviation,
housing and rural infrastructure could achieve their objectives better if centrality is given to
Panchayats in working out details and in implementation. Based on the recommendations of the
Expert Group, the Planning Commission has sent out guidelines to all State Governments/UT
Administrations, for preparation of District Plans and their incorporation into the Annual Plans
of States for 2006-07 onwards. The ultimate objective of this exercise is to make integrated local
level planning for area development a reality by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan.
Electronic tagging and transfer of funds to Panchayats
One of the goals set by the Government in the NCMP was to ensure that the funds going
to the Panchayats are neither delayed nor diverted. In pursuance of this goal, a Committee
in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj went into this issue in detail and submitted its report in
May, 2005. Recommendations of this Committee are being put in to operation for transfer
of 12th Finance Commission grants to PRIs from Consolidated Fund of the States to the
Panchayats at the three levels.
Empowerment of Gram Sabhas
Schedule XI of the Constitution provides for the devolution of powers to Gram Panchayats
and Panchayati Raj Institutions with regard to subjects that have a bearing on economic
development and social justice in rural areas. A joint programme of action was chalked out
at the seven Round Tables held during July to December, 2004 between the Union Ministry
of Panchayati Raj and State Ministers of Panchayati Raj to ensure that on the basis of Activity
Mapping, Panchayats at various levels are empowered by devolution of funds, functions and
functionaries to enable them to emerge as institutions of self-government. Efforts are also
being made to institutionalize social audit measures through Gram Sabhas so that Gram
Panchayats are to take responsibility for the Village Community as a whole.
Implementation of the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas)
Act, 1996 (PESA)
On the basis of the recommendations of a Committee of Experts known as the Bhuria
Committee, the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA)was
passed and came into effect on 24th December, 1996. This law extends Panchayati Raj
to Fifth Schedule areas only. The law applies to the following nine States which have
Fifth Schedule Areas viz., Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.
The matter was discussed in the Third Round Table of Panchayati Raj Ministers in
September, 2004 where State Ministers agreed to enforce the provisions of PESA
and also to undertake wider consultations with other Govt. departments so as to
harmonize the provisions of laws concerned with the aims and objectives of PESA.
Progress in this regard is being continually reviewed. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj
has also entrusted to Indian law Institute, the formulation of appropriate amendments
in the Central laws concerned with a view to assist the State Govts. to carry out a similar
exercise. The first report has been received from the Indian law Institute and has been
circulated to the State Govt. concerned for comments. Action is also being taken to
harmonise the relevant Central legislations, policies and schemes with the provisions
of PESA. All the major central legislations are being examined with the help of Ministry
of Law and Justice to identify their conflicting provisions with PESA, if any, and to
introduce desired changes therein. Some of the important legislations being examined
are the following;
i) The Land Acquisition Act, 1894
ii) Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957
iii) The Indian Forest Act, 1927
iv) The Forest Conservation Act, 1980
v) The Indian Registration Act.
Central Policies and CSSs/Central Schemes pertaining to wastelands, water resources
and extraction of minerals from lands in Schedule V Areas are also the focus of the
harmonization exercise at the Central level. The National Policy on Resettlement and
Rehabilitation of Project Affected Persons, 2003, National Water Policy, 2002, National
Minerals Policy, 2003, National Forest Policy, 1988, Wild Life Conservation Strategy
2002 and National Draft Environment Policy, 2004 are also being examined. A National
level meet of Secretaries of Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs of all PESA States was
convened by the Ministry on 14th July, 2006 at New Delhi to give a further push to the
process of implementation of the provisions of PESA in letter and spirit.
Twelth Finance Commission Grants
The Twelfth Finance Commission (TFC) has recommended grants amounting to Rs. 20,000
crores payable during the period 2005-10 to augment the Consolidated Funds of the States
to supplement the resources of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Finance Commission
has also recommended the inter-se allocation amongst States, based on certain factors and
weights assigned by the TFC. The allocation amongst various Panchayati Raj Institutions
at all the three levels would be made by the States. The grants are to be released in two
equal instalments in July and January each year. Given the much higher quantum of grants
and large number of Panchayats, as per the TFC guidelines, a Monitoring Committee has
been formed in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj with Secretary (Panchayati Raj) as its
Chairperson, to monitor the mode of release of local body grants to Panchayats and to bring
out the points for intervention by Government of India in Ministries of Panchayati Raj and
Finance to ensure smooth and uninterrupted flow of funds to PRIs. This Committee has met
on 2nd September, 2005, 28th October, 2005, 21st February, and 7th August, 2006 and
deliberated on ways and means to ensure that all the State Governments provide the details
on allocation and release of funds to the Ministry of Finance so that all instalments are
released to them as soon as they are due. The Ministry had also organized a Video Conference
on 7th December, 2005 in which Finance Secretaries and Secretaries of Panchayat and Rural
Development Departments of various States were invited to showcase a software developed
by the NIC Unit of the Ministry, which can be utilized for allocation release of grants to
Panchayats, through banking channels, without delay or diversion. 14 States have agreed
to adopt the software.
Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan
The Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan – a movement to strengthen the elected
women of PRIs has been initiated under the aegis of the Ministry of Panchayati
Raj with the objective to set up a state level organization of Elected Women
Representative of PRIs. So, far, conferences of elected women representatives,
activists, NGOs, eminent personalities have been held in Udaipur (Rajasthan) on
24th & 25th April, 2006, Patiala (Punjab) on 17th & 18th July, 2006, Manipur on
4th & 5th October, 2006 and in Goa on 19th October, 2006. Such conferences will
be held in other states also.
Panchayat Yuva Shakti Abhiyan
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj & Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports had jointly
launched a nation wide campaign called the Panchayat Yuva Shakti Abhiyan to
synergize with youth and grass root leaders to strengthen the grass root democracy
in Panchayati Raj Institutions.
To involve youth in the functioning of the Panchayats, Youth in Panchayats Campaign
was launched on the initiative of the Hon’ble Minister on his visit to Sriperambadur on
8th Feb. 2006. The campaign envisages provision of platform for interaction and sensitization
of youth in Panchayati Raj democracy by bringing together the organizations, institutions
committed to work in the field of youth development and training.
Besides, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, with which we are coordinating, has
an initiative to organize a series of PYSA. The first of these events was held at
Faridabad on 18-19 June 2006 and second at Ludhiana in September, 2006.
Rural Business Hubs
Rural Business Hub is a concept introduced by Hon’ble Prime Minister and actively
pursued by Ministry of Panchayati Raj aiming at the extension of fruits of economic
prosperity to the rural areas of the country. It works on the platform of 4 Ps i.e. Public-
Private-Panchayat Partnership and has been conceived as a very flexible programme with
implementation models open to imagination but also meeting the following essential criteria:
must be actively facilitated by the Panchayati Raj institutions; must be a business activity;
must be carried out in Rural areas; should create productive livelihood and incomes, and
should generate employment. So far more than 50 MOUs have been signed by various
States for Bio-diesel, Power distribution Bio-mass & Agro-food processing etc.
(b)&(c): States and parts of States covered by the Sixth Schedule are not subject to
the provision of Part IX of the Constitution. Thus, in the North-East, Meghalaya,
Nagaland, Mizoram and parts of Manipur, Tripura and Assam are exempted from
Panchayati Raj. In the other States/areas of the North-East, devolution of powers
to the Panchayati Raj Institutions is a continuous on-going process as in other parts
of the country. Panchayati Raj being a State subject, no directions can be issued by
the Union Government for devolving powers to the Panchayats. However, as the
Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been mandated to oversee the implementation of Part
IX of the Constitution, efforts are being made to persuade the State Governments to
effectively devolve functions, finances and functionaries to the Panchayats, bearing
in mind the provisions of the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. Towards this end,
the Minister of Panchayati Raj has so far undertaken Panchayati Raj tours in the North-
Eastern Region to Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur to interact with the
elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions in these States and to pursue
greater empowerment of the PRIs with the State Governments. At the end of these
visits, a Joint Statement of Conclusions has been signed by the Minister of Panchayati
Raj and the Chief Minister of the State concerned, laying down a clear road map for further
empowerment of the PRIs. The texts of these Statements may be found in Volume II of the
Report on “The State of the Panchayats†laid on the table of the House on 23 November
2006. Visits to the remaining States of the North East are also proposed to be undertaken
during the current year.
(d) : No, Sir, not to the knowledge of the Government of India. The National Common
Minimum Programme stipulates that funds earmarked for Panchayati Raj Institutions
shall be channeled to them “without delay or diversionâ€. The Ministry of Panchayati
Raj would welcome any information or any alleged diversion.
(e) : Not applicable.
