Celebrating Panchayati Raj Day: Odisha Needs To Enact A Single, Consolidated Law

It’s National Panchayati Raj Day today, when we celebrate the 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992, which came into force with effect from April 24, 1993.

It sets us thinking and acting for ‘participatory democracy’, the quintessence of strong Panchayats. Genuine democracy implies a bottom-up pattern of power sharing, not a top-down one.

73RD AMENDMENT & ODISHA

The 73rd Constitution Amendment is a revolutionary step towards the decentralization of power and system of governance. The said amendment provided for planning and development of local resources by the Panchayats, periodic elections to these bodies and reservation of seats for women and SCs and STs at all levels.

As per this amendment, the basic feature of the new Panchayat Raj would be devolution of political power in the hands of people and to enable them to participate in the developmental schemes meant for the villages. However, practical experience with regard to the promised empowerment and autonomy of Panchayats is not at all visible or significant.

Following the enactment of 73rd Amendment, almost every state government of the country repealed their respective Panchayat laws which were outdated, and replaced them by a single, comprehensive and consolidated Panchayat law in an effort to comply with the said amendment. However, Odisha stands out as an exception to this general trend.

Instead of a single and consolidated law, Odisha still maintains three Panchayat Acts made at different points of time — Orissa Gram Panchyat Act 1964, Panchayat Samiti Act 1959 and Zilla Parishad Act 1991. All three Panchayat laws of Odisha are marked by one common feature, that is concentration of all real powers – be it in respect of taxation, finance and administration – in the hands of bureaucrats of the State Government at different levels, so as to keep every level of Panchayat under their control.

Besides, the texts of these laws are too bulky and laid out in a complex and cumbersome style which renders them unintelligible and unfriendly to the general readers. No elected member of a Panchayat – be it Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti or Gram Panchayat – can comfortably decipher and interpret its provisions.

Thus, the first and foremost task of every votary of Panchayati Raj in Odisha should be to see as to how a single, consolidated law — that conforms with the mandate of 73rd Amendment to cover all three tiers of Panchayat — be enacted to replace the existing 3 Panchayat laws. This new law ought to be framed in simple Odia language and laid out in a user-friendly style so that every literate villager is able to go through it comfortably.

In 2013, to mark the 20th anniversary of the epoch-making legislation of 73rd Constitution Amendment, the Ministry or Panchayati Raj, Government of India, constituted an Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Mani Shankar Aiyer.

The Committee brought out a report on April 24, 2013, titled ‘Leveraging PRIs for more efficient delivery of public goods and services’. A major finding of this report was that the states have visibly failed in carrying out devolution of funds, functions and functionaries to the Panchayats, as mandated by the 73rd Amendment.

Out of about 150 CSSs (Central Sector Schemes), only two — MG-NREGA and BRGF — provide for the role of Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayats in respect of administration of these schemes. Other schemes are basically bureaucracy-driven and, therefore, poorly administered. This also demeans the 73rd Amendment since the latter provides for planning and execution of all rural programmes and schemes through Gram Sabha and PRIs.

Besides, the Central Sector Schemes have promoted parallel bodies at village level which are made responsible before the bureaucrats of respective line departments, but not answerable to the local Panchayats or Gram Sabhas. The Central Sector Schemes don’t recognize the centrality of Panchayats in the system of delivery of goods and services, but are designed in such a way as to make delivery through the bureaucracy. Hence there is a need to ensure that the devolution to Panchayats shall promote efficiency of Central Sector Schemes in the delivery of public goods and services.

Being self-governing units, the Panchayats need to directly receive the money transferred to them. Besides, the States should also endow Gram Sabha with necessary powers as required under Article 243-A of Constitution. It needs to be remembered that the Panchayats are symbols of representative democracy, but the Gram Sabha is a symbol of participatory democracy.

Powers of Grama Sabha in the Scheduled Areas are already incorporated in the PESA Act 1996, enacted under Article 243M of the Constitution. The elected representatives need to implement the decisions of the Gram Sabha and the government employees at various levels have to concur with the same. The Gram Sabha can thus become a strong, basic unit of democracy.

DECENTRALIZATION & COVID-19 CRISIS

The current COVID-19 crisis has once again re-emphasised the importance of decentralized governance. The Health Ministry’s recent ‘Micro Plan for Containing Local Transmission of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)’ has placed Panchayats at the forefront in increasing community mobilization and ensuring active surveillance. Many states, too, have made Panchayats the nodal agency for coordination – ensuring health activities, information dissemination and determining that all vulnerable communities have access to food supplies.

On April 19, 2021, the Government of Odisha declared to empower the Sarpanches of Gram Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with the authority of district Collector in their respective jurisdictions towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in accordance with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 read with Odisha COVID-19 Regulation. Odisha was the first and only State to make such provisions, as per the Section 44 (1) of Odisha Gram Panchayat Act 1964.

The primary objective of delegating power to Sarpanches of 6,798 panchayats in the State was to do mandatory registration of each newcomer from outside the state and make them undergo 14-day quarantine at different quarantine centres. The Sarpanches were responsible for providing food, safety and security and other facilities during the stay of migrants at the quarantine centres.

The reality was altogether different. During interactions with Sarpanches, it was revealed that till date they have not been given either financial power or administrative power to take decisions and carry out the same. They invariably depend upon the BDOs and, at times, on Tehsildars for taking decisions.

The Sarpanches were spending the money previously allotted to them under various schemes on the basis of counter signature of respective BDOs. They were complaining that taking the counter signature of BDOs causes great delay and is also difficult, considering the urgency of a critical contingency. Instead, they should be given the authority of withdrawing money with their signatures, subject to a constant process of social audit by Gram Sabha and monitoring by the local administration.

CONCLUSION

A new surge of coronavirus cases has spread across the country. In the present scenario, Panchayats are primarily responsible for containing and preventing spread of coronavirus. There is a need to empower the local governance, local leaders, local communities and local organizations which will respond to any disaster rapidly and effectively. They need information and guidance, but they should have resources, capacities and systems in place to act with confidence, without waiting for instructions from above.

In this respect, the Government should provide adequate financial and administrative powers to access basic minimum amenities besides other development work in the villages. Also, the Government should ensure that every panchayat is provided with adequate facilities, equipment, medical and para-medical man power for the purpose. Then only the Panchayat can exercise its power in true sense.

Again, the decentralization process should not stop at the Sarpanches only and rather go down to the level of Gram Sabha. In such a situation, the Gram Panchayat consisting of the elected leaders from among a compact and cohesive population can be expected to act properly as the executive arm of the Gram Sabha. Thus, a redefined functioning of Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat will make the PRI process more participatory and effective. Such norms are already built in the provisions of PESA 1996 and FRA 2006.