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Panchayati Raj institutions are more than mere agencies or limbs of the State Government; their purpose is not achieved with carrying out the development programmes and administrative tasks entrusted to them. They are organs of self-government at their respective levels. Mobilising popular enthusiasm and harnessing local manpower and other resources for development arc thus their very raison d'etre, The functioning of Panchayati Raj has to he judged by the progress made towards achieving these vital objectives.
To bring about the direct and willing participation of the villagers in development, the planning process has to start from the village. Panchayati Raj institutions were expected to give the lead in this matter, but this they have failed to do so far. The so-called village production plans that we have now are nothing but paper plans prepared by the Village Level Workers in consultation with a few village ciders and the sarpanch of the panchayat. No serious attempt has been made to prepare genuine village plans incorporating targets for each crop and for every family in the village.
Panchayat samitis and village panchayats are prompt to take up and execute programmes for which the Government provides loans, grants or subsidies so as to avail themselves of this assistance. But programmes which have to be carried out with local resources and initiative lag behind.
P A N C H A Y A T I Raj was inaugurated in Rajasthan on October 27,
1959. Elections to panchayat. samit is and zila parishads were held the same month on the basis of the then exis t ing village panchayats. In I960 the vi l lage panchayats were recons t i tu ted according to the onc-village-one-panchayat principle. The State was divided into 7,394 panchayat cycles, each w i t h a population of 1,500 to 2,000- Fresh elections to these reconstituted panchayats were held In December 1960 and elec
tions to panchayat samitis and zi la parishads were completed by M a r c h 1961. I t was w i t h o u t doubt a very bold step to introduce democratic decentrarsation throughout the State at one stroke. It was a leap in the dark. But , after four years of work ing, it can be confidently said tha t Panchayat i Raj has come to stay.
Though decentralisation has not yet succeeded in harnessing popular enthusiasm for development work , the execution and admmist ra t ion of development schemes entrusted to Panchayat i R a j have been, by and large, satisfactory. The success of Panchayat i Ra j has to be judged by
the extent to wh ich the objectives set for it have been achieved. These objectives have been set out in the T h i r d Plan as fol lows:
( i ) Increasing agr icu l tu ra l product ion;
( i i ) Development of ru ra l indust r y ;
( i i i ) Foster ing co-operative in-s t i tu t ions;
( iv) F u l l u t i l i sa t ion of local manpower and other resources and the resources, physical and financial, available to Panchay a t i Raj ins t i tu t ions :
(v) Assist ing the economically weaker sections of the village communi ty ;
(v i ) Progressive dispersal of aut h o r i t y and in i t ia t ive , w i t h special emphasis on the role of vo lun ta ry organisations; and,
(v i i ) Foster ing cohesion and en-couraging the sp i r i t of self-help w i t h i n the community.
Reluctance to Tax One of the p r i m a r y objectives of
Panchayati Raj is to encourage people's par t ic ipa t ion in developmental activit ies. The efforts made by panchayat samitis to raise local resources is a measure of people's par t ic ipat ion. Table 1 indicates the tax effort made by panchayat samitis in the last three years, Of the 232
panchayat samitis in the State, only 175 have so far imposed any taxes.
Cess on land revenue appears to be the most -popular levy nearly 67 per cent of the panchayat samitis have imposed i t . I t should be pointed out, though, tha t of the 26 dis t r ic ts in the State, in about ten of the b igger ones, which cover more than hal f the State, there used to be dist r i c t boards before the introduc
t ion of Panchayati Raj . The d is t r ic t boards used to levy a cess on land revenue at the rate of 6 nP per rupee. When Panchayati Raj was in troduced, the d is t r ic t boards were abolished, but Section 70 (4) of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and
Zi la Parishads Ac t , 1959 provided that "any taxes that were being levied and collected by an abolished Dis t r i c t Board immediately before the date of i ts aboli t ion shall, if such taxes are permissible under Section 33 of this Ac t , continue to be levied and collected after the consti
tu t ion of a Panchayat Samiti for any area of the said Distr ict Board,
by such Panchayat Samiti unless it decides otherwise by re so lu t ion" So the cess on land revenue continued to be levied at the reduced rate of 5 nP per rupee by the successor panchayat samitis .
The cess on land revenue, therefore, cannot be treated as a fresh tax effort by the panchayat samitis, except in those areas where there were no d i s t r i c t boards previously. The other taxes, namely, on profession and fairs, education, etc, can be taken as a measure of the effort made by the panchayat samitis to mobilise local resources. Table 1 also compares the estimated annual i n come f rom taxes of the panchayat samits w i t h the actual realisation. It is seen tha t even in 1962-63 realisations including collection of arrears were only 50 per cent of estimated annual income. Thus pancha-
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Panchayati Raj in Action A Study of Rajasthan
P K Chaudhuri
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yat samitis are not on ly reluctant to impose taxes, when taxes are imposed ihere is a tendency to put off collection.
L i n k i n g Taxes to Benefit** To encourage greater involvement
of the population in the process of development it is necessary to over
come people's resistance to payment of taxes. The hope tha t the ushering in of Panchayati Raj w i l l reduce this resistance has been belied by experience. The Study Team on Panchayat Finances appointed by the Government of Ind i a has suggested the imposi t ion of compulsory taxes to augment the resources of panchayat samitis. B u t so long as vi l lagers resist payment of taxes, compulsory taxes are no solution of the problem.
Nobody has yet made a proper study of w h y the vi l lagers are averse to pay ing taxes. One of the ma in reasons, it is possible, is that they
do not see any direct l i n k between the taxes they pay and the benefits they get. If the resources could be collected in such a manner tha t the direct relationship between the benefits received and the taxes paid becomes evident to the villagers, thei r resistance to taxes w i l l be reduced. One way of doing th is is tha t the panchayat samitis should not impose any permanent taxes of a general or all-purpose nature. Instead, every year they should impose levies for specific projects, say, a school bu i ld ing , a vil lage road, an i r r i ga t i on dam, etc, and the funds so raised should be earmarked for and spent on these projects. Permanent taxes of a general nature may be raised by a body fur ther removed f rom the people than the panchayat samitis.
Land revenue is one of the most impor tan t direct taxes paid by the agr icul tur is t . B u t he has not the faintest idea as to how land revenue is be'ng spent—whether he gets back even a par t through the various schemes and projects executed in the vil lage, and, i f so, how much .
Table 2 gives the figures of the State's land revenue collection duri n g the last three years and the panchayat samitis ' budget and expenditure . I t wil l be evident tha t the budgeted annual income and expediture of the panchayat samitis correspond very nearly to the land revenue collected. I f a l l the land revenue
collected f r o m a panchayat circle is transferred to the vil lage panchayat and a l l i ts development programmes are f inanced w i t h i t , the vi l lager w i l l readily perceive the relationship between the land revenue paid by h i m and the benefit tha t he receives. Besides, a surcharge on land revenue is long overdue and vil lagers w i l l accept i t more readily i f the collections are spent on development schemes in the vil lage.
Planning f rom Below
Whi le prepar ing the State's T h i r d Five Year Plan at tempts were made to involve the panchayat samitis in the process. Before the State plans were finalised, proposals for development projects were collected f rom vil lage panchayats at the sami t i headquarters. B u t this was done w i t h o u t any indicat ion of pr ior i t ies . The State Government informed the panchayat samitis of the tentat ive schemewise allocation of funds tha t w i l l be made available to them during the Plan period. The proposals received f rom the vil lage panchayats were then sifted, modified and shaped into the block p lan and f o r
warded to the State Government through the zila par i shad. A n d at the State headquarters these proposals went th rough fur ther modifications. Thus the process did not succeed to any great extent in i n corpora t ing the fel t needs of the people in the Plan.
Fai lure of Extension Services Panchayat samitis and vi l lage pan
chayats are prompt to take up and execute programmes for w h i c h funds are provided by the Government in the f o r m of loans, subsidies, grants,
etc, so as to ut i l ise the assistance
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To achieve the direct and w i l l i n g par t ic ipa t ion of the vil lagers in p lan implementat ion, the p lanning p rocess should s ta r t f rom the vi l lage. Whi le d r awing up the plan each vil lage should be given an indicat ion, as definitely as possible, of the resources tha t w i l l be made available to i t du r ing the plan period and the local communi ty on i t s p a r t should make a f i rm commitment to implement the projects formulated on the basis of their fe l t needs- The State Government's Evalua t ion Organisat ion carr ied out a random survey to assess public opinion on the formula
t ion of development plans. I t revealed tha t an overwhelming m a j o r i t y of the people wan t the plan to be prepared at the local level. The results of the survey are given below:
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provided. B u t programmes w h i c h are to be carr ied out w i t h local resources and in i t i a t ive lag behind. Programmes l ike product ion of pure seed by registered seed growers, development and proper use of local manur ia l resources, use of improved implements, adoption of improved practices, etc, have not evoked sufficient response in the villages. This can be a t t r ibu ted to a very large extent to the fa i lure of the extension services. Extension services were started in the blocks nearly a decade ago, bu t even now there is hardly any communication between the extension personnel and the vil lager. Impressive s tat is t ical figures are published f rom t ime to t ime by the Government regarding increased i r r i ga t ion potential , d i s t r i but ion of fertil isers, use of improved implements, etc, but these achievements are seldom reflected in higher p roduc t iv i ty on the fields.
The extension services should cater to the individual needs of the farmer, advise h i m on his problems and suggest solutions for his day-today difficulties. Today the approach of the extension services to r u r a l problems is abstract and general* The extension personnel seldom go in to the farmer 's individual and specific problems. Unless this is done, l i t t l e communication can be expected to be established between the farmer and the extension personnel. A n d w i t h o u t such communication being established our extension methods w i l l never be able to make any impact on the r u r a l scene.
Abstract, General Approach Under present rules, the panchayat
sami t i vehicle can be used only when at least three extension officers go on tour together. So for touri n g the sami t i area the extension officers generally fo rm groups of 3 to 6 persons, take the samit i vehicle and go to the villages- They usually stop in a vi l lage for a short while , collect a few persons available on the spot or ask the sarpanch or a panch who is readily available to collect some people. Then they deliver harangues on thei r respective subjects in abstract and general terms. This method of extension has failed to make any impression on the agr icu l tur i s t .
At times a t tempts are made to explain away this fa i lure by p u t t i n g
the blame on the conservatism of the Ind ian farmer and his reluctance to adopt modern practices. I t i s diff icul t to subscribe to this view- The Indian farmer is not a fool. He is reputed for his s t rong commonsense. Take, for instance, the case of bu l lock carts. In r u r a l India , the bullock car t is the only means of transpor t on wh ich the farmer depends for mov ing his crop, manure and fodder and for visi ts to fairs and markets as wel l as for m a k i n g social calls. The bullock carts used to have wooden or i r on tyres, bu t in the last four or five years almost 90 per cent of the carts—bullock, camel or human drawn—in the State have been f i t ted w i t h pneumatic rubber tyres. No extension officer or Government agency told farmers to adopt this modification in their age-old means of t ransportat ion. B u t they realised the value of this innovation and avidly seized upon i t w i thou t any external agency u rg ing them to do so.
Convincing the Farmer W h a t this example underscores is
that a farmer has to be first convinced by pract ical demonstration of the value of any new method or practice before he can be expected to adopt i t The ma jo r i ty of our agr icul tur is ts belong to an income group jus t on or below subsistence level and it is wishful to expect them to indulge in the l u x u r y of experiment ing w i t h new ideas on the s t rength of a few harangues f rom extension officers, whom they regard as youngmen, fu l l of book-learning but ignorant of actual agr i cu l t u r a l practices. I t has been observed tha t whenever an enterprisi ng agr icu l tur i s t adopts a new agr i c u l t u r a l practice and gets better yields f rom his field as a result, his neighbours adopt i t w i thou t w a i t i n g for anybody to ask them to do so. It has been noted tha t the in t ro duction of a new crop pat tern in any loca l i ty by an agr icul tur is t has a quicker and greater impact in the neighbourhood than the in t roduct ion of an improved practice of cul t ivat ion for the exis t ing crop pat tern in force in the area.
Demonsrations g iven in Stare own . ed fa rms do not convince the farmer. The reason for this is obvious. The Government-managed farms are usually spoon-fed. Money and
materials are spent on t hem freely. Rarely are any of these farms economically even self-supporting, not to t a l k of profitable. Na tu ra l ly , therefore, demonstrations given in the State farms do not car ry convic t ion w i t h the agr icul tur is t . Gaps In Adminis t ra t ive Procedure
The extension personnel are genera l ly ill-equipped for the job they are entrusted w i th . Lack of pract i cal field experience and adequate knowledge of local problems are their pr incipal handicaps. Besides, the extension staff function under a dual control . The extension officers for agricul ture, animal husbandry, co-operation, etc, are on deputation w i t h the panchayat samit i . The Vikas A d h i k a r i (Block Development Officer) has administrat ive control over them. Simultaneously they are under the technical control of the officers of their respective parent departments who are supposed to supervise and guide them in their technical work- Moreover. even though they are under the administ ra t ive cont ro l of the Vikas Adh i ka r i , he cannot take any disciplinary action against them. Since they are on deputation w i t h the panchayat samit i . a l l discipl inary action against them is in i t ia ted and taken by officers belonging to the parent department. This type of dual control encourages indiscipline among the extension staff and also contributes to their ineffective functioning.
Another impor tan t cause of indiscipline is the lack of clear demarcation of the spheres of action of the Pradhan (president of the panchayat samit i ) and the Vikas Adh i ka r i . At times conflicting instructions are issued to the extension staff by the Pradhan and the Vikas A d h i k a r i . In case of f r ic t ion between the two, the extension personnel are found to al ign themselves, some w i t h the Pradhan and others w i t h the Vikas Adh ika r i . This creates an impossible si tuation for the adminis t ra t ion of the panchayat samit i .
D i s t r i c t level extension officers are superimposed on the departmental cadre and function under the guidance and control of their departmental officers either at the regional level or at the headquarters. The dis t r ic t level officers, it has been noticed, evince less interest in their
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w o r k In the field since the Introduct ion of Panchayat i Raj t han they used to do before. They appear to feel t ha t w i t h the in t roduc t ion of Panchayat i Raj the onus of execution of projects has passed on to the popular representatives and Panchayat i Raj ins t i tu t ions . The Government is conscious of this and various steps have been taken and instruct ions issued f r o m t ime to t ime to ensure tha t the d i s t r i c t officers take interest in the i r work , but t i l l now these efforts have not produced results. One suggestion tha t has been made is t ha t the services of these officers m a y be transferred to the zi la parishad and these officers placed under the adminis t ra t ive cont r o l of the zi la parishad.
Village Production Plans
In the words of the Grow More Food Commit tee "no plan can have any chance of success unless the
mil l ions of small farmers in the count ry accept i t s objectives, share in i t s making , regard i t as the i r own and are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary fo r implementi n g i t . " This can happen only when the extension agencies can assist every fa rmer w i t h his production programme, otherwise, to quote Shri V T Krishnamachar i , "these agencies w i l l cease to command confidence."
The T h i r d Plan out lay on agr icu l ture is nearly double tha t provided in the Second Plan. D u r i n g the F i r s t Plan ag r i cu l tu ra l production increased by 17 per cent and dur ing the Second Plan by 16 per cent. I t is proposed to increase agr icu l tu ra l product ion d u r i n g the T h i r d Plan by about 30 per cent and the yield per acre of foodgrains by about 16 per cent. Th i s is a tremendous task.
The only w a y these ambit ious targets can be achieved is by involv ing a l l the cul t ivators , small and big, in the country. This can be done only by f o r m u l a t i n g effective vi l lage production plans. Panchayat i Raj ins t i tu t ions were expected to give the lead in th is ma t t e r but this they have failed to do so far. The so-called vi l lage product ion plans tha t we have today are no th ing but paper plans casually prepared by the V i l lage Level Worke r s in consultat ion w i t h a couple of vi l lage elders and the sarpanch of the vil lage pancha-yat . No serious a t t empt has yet been
made to prepare an authentic v i l lage product ion plan incorporat ing production targets for each crop and for every f ami ly in the vil lage
The vil lage production plans, according to the T h i r d Five Year Plan, should include two main groups of programmes:
(a) Programmes such as supply of credit, ferti l isers and improved seeds, p lant protection, minor i r r i gation, etc, for wh ich a measure of assistance has to come from outside the v i l lage; and
(b) Programmes such as d igging f ie ld channels for u t i l i s ing i r r i ga t i on f rom large projects, maintenance of bunds and field channels, d igging and maintenance of vi l lage tanks, development and u t i l i sa t ion of local manu-r i a l resources, etc, which call for effo r t on the part, of the vil lage comm u n i t y or the beneficiaries.
In practice, the vil lage production plans tha t are prepared at present do not take into consideration the productive capacities of the individual families in the vi l lage but are based purely on group fa) type programmes and are formulated on the basis of estimates or indications of the quantum of outside assistance expected to be made available dur ing the agr i cul tura l season. No at tempts have so far been made to incorporate in the village production plan group (b) type programmes which call for effor t on the part of the village comm u n i t y or the beneficiaries. So the P lanning Commission's directive "to give effect, in the field of extension, to the idea of w o r k i n g out vi l lage
product ion plans so as to d raw al l the cul t ivators into the common effort , and at the same t ime, to make available to individual farmers in an efficient and organised manner the credit supplies, and other assistance needed" s t i l l remains on paper- As long as vil lage production plans are not prepared on the basis of f ami ly units and in consultation w i t h them, they w i l l f a i l to involve the farmers.
No Place for Zila Parishads In i ts present fo rm the zila pa r i
shad as an ins t i tu t ion appears to have become redundant. In spite of its status, it has played no effective role. One of the most impor tan t functions of the z i la parishads, as provided
in the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Z i l a Parishads A c t 1959, is to "supervise generally the act ivi t ies
of the panchayat samitis in the dist r i c t and to advise the State Government on a l l matters concerning the
panchayats and panchayat samitis". The zila parishad's instructions to the panchayat samitis are a l l of an ad
visory nature having no sanction behind them- If the advice is not palatable, the samitis usually ignore i t .
Zila parishads are also given power to scrutinise the budgets of the panchayat samitis under Section 37 (4) of the A c t which reads as follows:
"The budget estimates as f inal ly passed by the panchayat samit i shall be submitted by the Vikas Adh ika r i , on or before such date as may be prescribed, to the Distinct Development Officer (i e, the Collector), who shall, after scrut iny , place the same w i t h his comments before the zila parishad wi th in the prescribed time. If the zi la parishad is satisfied tha t adequate provision has not been made in the budget estimates to give effect to the provisions of this Act , it shall have the power to suggest such modifications as may be necessary and re turn it to the panchayat samit i w i t h i ts observations regarding the modifications to be made therein. The panchayat samit i shall cons'dei- such observations and pass the budget w i t h such modification as it deems f i t " .
Thup the A c t does not make it mandatory on the panchayat samit i to accept the modifications suggested by the zila parishad. And so the zila parishads are reluctant to issue any instructions which it knows may not be acceptable to the panchayat samitis. As for the zila parishads' function of advising the State Government on matters concerning panchayats and panchayat samitis, the posit ion is no better- The advice is hardly ever acted upon by the Government.
Evils of Indirect Election The Pradhan of a panchayat samit i
is elected by the sarpanches of village panchayats in the jur isdic t ion of the samit i and the co-opted members of the samit i . In Rajasthan there are 7,394 village panchayats and 2."52 panchayat. samitis. In 1960-61, 25 per cent of the elections of panches and sarpanches were unanimous; of sarpanches, 38.8 percent were elected unanimously. But unanimous elections of panchayat samiti pradhans were
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rare . In most cases, there were keen contests fo r the office of pradhans. The Congress contested the elections as a pa r ty . D u r i n g these contests cases of forcible confinement and k i d napping of sarpanches occurred on an a l a rming scale. The kidnapped persons were released at the place of the election j u s t in t ime to cast the i r votes. In a few cases the sarpanches were sent on p i lgr image to Hardwar , etc, or fo r sight-seeing to Kashmi r at the expense of the prospective candidates for the office of pradhan so as to prevent them f r o m coming under the influence of r i v a l candidates-
These elections witnessed the worst features of indirect elections when the electoral college is small and the office is one of power and patronage. The assumption tha t direct election is more expensive than indirect elect ion was disproved. None of the contestants fo r the office of pradhan spent less than wha t an average Assembly candidate spends ( actual expenditure, not tha t submit ted to the r e tu rn ing officer). Another unhappy feature of indirect elections also manifested i tself — pol i t ica l and other pressures as we l l as money played a deciding role in them.
The elections have lef t such a b i t ter t r a i l tha t every one in the state, irrespective of pa r ty affiliation, now wishes a change in the mode of elect ion of the pradhan. The consensus of opinion is tha t the pradhan should be chosen either by direct election or the exis t ing electoral college should be enlarged by including in i t , besides the sarpanches, the panches in the panchayat s ami t i area.
Co-opted Members to Blame Section 8 (2) of the Panchayats
A c t provides for co-opting cer ta in categories of persons as members of the panchayat samitis to give adequate representation to weaker sections l ike women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, etc. I t also provides fo r co-option of " two persons whose experience in adminis t ra t ion,
public l i fe or r u r a l development would be of benefit to the panchayat sami t i " . The A c t allows re laxat ion in the residential qualification for such persons who "need not reside in the block but they must be residi n g in the d i s t r i c t i n w h i c h the block is si tuated". The result is t ha t a large m a j o r i t y of the persons co-opted are t o w n dwellers.
Of the 232 panchayat samitis In the State no less than 60 have co-opted members as their pradhans. Of the co-opted persons who are pradhans, 80.5 per cent have been co-opted because of their experience in adminis t ra t ion. S imi la r ly 33.3 of the chairmen of the standing committees on production are co-opted members. I t is in terest ing to note tha t a number of co-opted members were defeated in the election of sarpanches. Much of the doubtful tactics used in the election of pradhans are a t t r ibu ted to this par t icu la r type of co-opted members.
An enquiry by the State Government's evaluation organisation in to the nature of par t ic ipat ion of co-opted members in samit i meetings is not very encouraging. Only about 10.2 per cent of the co-opted members part icipated actively in discussions at samit i meetings, whi le nearly 70 per cent of them had never part icipated at al l in any discussion. A m o n g co-opted members, of course, the most active are those who have been co-opted for the i r so-called experience in adminis t ra t ion or social work . Co-opted members representi n g women, scheduled castes and tribes are the least active.
Politics of Standing Committees Under Section 20(1) of the A c t
every panchayat samit i is required to constitute standing committees for each of the fo l lowing group of subjects;
Product ion programmes, including agr icul ture and other allied subjects;
Social services, including educat ion, sanitation, communication and allied subjects; and
Finance, taxat ion and adminis t ra t ion.
Panchayat samitis usually meet once every quarter. It is the standing committees which function throughout the year. As provided in the Ac t , the samit i delegates i ts powers and functions to the standing committee by a resolution and the decisions of the standing committee have the same legal force as those of the sami t i unless it is revoked by the sami t i w i t h i n a month of the date on which i t is taken.
The standing committee members are elected by simple m a j o r i t y and so normal ly the m i n o r i t y group in the sami t i goes unrepresented on
these committees which are monopolised by the ma jo r i ty group consist ing of the supporters of the pradhan. The decisions taken by the standing committees are not always above reproach; very often they are influenced by factional and group considerations.
Members of panchayat samitis are generally more interested in transfers, postings and appointments of samit i staff than in developmental activit ies. This is what the State Evaluat ion Organisation has to say about the durat ion of meetings of the various standing committees: "On an average the meetings of the standi n g committees on Admin is t ra t ion and Finance were the longest while those of the standing committees on Production were the shortest. I t is interest ing to note that a f a i r l y large number of meetings of the standing committees lasted for only 15 minutes. H a r d l y any business could have been transacted in such meetings and they were jus t called to complete the fo rma l i t y of doing so". Some statistics on the durat ion of the meetings of s tanding committees is given below:
Role of Officials Af te r the introduction of Pancha-
y a t i Raj , almost all appointments to the posts of Vikas Adhikar i s have been made f rom the cadre of the State Admin is t ra t ive Services. The Vikas A d h i k a r i is the chief executive officer of the panchayat samit i . But in practice he has no control over the sami t i staff. Under Section 89 (2) of the A c t he can punish only class IV staff; against the rest of the staff he can only record censures. But an appeal against such censure can be made to the standing committee of the samit i . Punishment of a l l other
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sami t i staff is the sphere of the standing committee of the samit i .
This has created an anomalous position. The Vikas A d h i k a r i is responsible for ensuring tha t "plans and programmes approved by the appropriate au thor i ty are executed efficient ly" and for exercising "supervision and control over the acts or all officers and servants of the pan-chayat samit i and the staff w o r k i n g in ins t i tu t ions and schemes transferred by the State Government to the panchayat samit i in mat ters of executive adminis t ra t ion" . Yet he has been given no discipl inary control over the staff. As a result, the panchayat sami t i gets paralysed when relations between the pradhan and the vikas adhikar i are not cordial and when the pradhan is the chairman of the standing committee on administrat ion w h i c h exercise discipl inary control over the samit i staff.
There is evidence of g rowing deter iorat ion in the relations between officials and non-officials in the pan-chayat samitis. Instances of f r ic t ion between the pradhan and the vikas adhikar i are on the increase. Whenever the pradhan happens to be educated or assertive, conflicts w i t h the vikas adhikar i are frequent. A clear demarca t ion of the spheres of action and powers and functions of the two is u rgent ly called for.
A panchayat samit i has a representative of the co-operative societies in the area as one of i t s co-opted members and the co-operative extension officer is placed under the adminis t ra t ive control of the vikas adhik a r i . In spite of this there is lack of coordination between the two. At the vi l lage panchayat level the si tuation is much worse. At times cooperatives and panchayats appear to w o r k at cross purposes. Cooperative societies very often f ind place for persons losi n g panchayat elections. These persons then t r y to use the cooperative movement to regain pol i t ical power. This is a reason why the cooperative movement is dominated by pol i t i
cians.
Panchayats Lose Importance The vil lage panchayat is the corner
stone of Panchayati Raj . Bu t in fact vil lage panchayats in the State have grown weaker than before the inaugurat ion of Panchayat i R a j . Some of the factors responsible for this are shortage of finance, increase in fac
t ionalism, and emergence of the sar-panch as a powerful personality on account of his membership of the panchayat sami t i .
W i t h the in t roduct ion of Panchay a t i Raj village panchayats were reconstituted on the one-village-one-pan-chayat basis. Two consequences f o l lowed f rom this- F i r s t , w i t h the reduction in size, the income of the village panchayats suffered proportionate decrease, whi le their overhead expenditure remained the same. Second, on account of the compact and smaller size of the panchayats contest for the offices became wider, keener and closer and gave rise to fact ional ism on a wide scale. The consequence of a l l this has been tha t the vil lage panchayat as an ins t i tu t ion actual ly suffered a setback after the in t roduct ion of the Panchayati Raj .
The Rajasthan Panchayat (Amendment.) A c t 1960 made provision for g ram sabhas. I t i s provided tha t "Every panchayat shall convene in such manner and at such times and intervals as may be prescribed, a meet ing of all adul t residents of the panchayat circle- At such meetings the programme and works undertaken by the panchayat and their progress shall be explained and the views of the residents thereon shall be reported to the panchayat at i ts next meeting".
Though it has been decided to hold the meetings every six months, the Ins t i tu t ion of the gram sabha has vet to f ind i ts place in the Panchayati Raj system. The part icipants in these meetings are mos t ly passive, except when mat ters per ta in ing to the revenue or forest departments come under discussion. In such discussion they air thei r grievances w i t h o u t any inhibi t ion .
Weaker Sections Have Not Benefitted
Panchayat i Raj has not brought relief to the weaker section of the community . There has been no perceptible increase in the f low of benefits of development to the economically and socially weaker sections of the vil lage communi ty . According to the 1961 Census, the State has a populat ion of 21 mill ions, of w h i c h scheduled castes consti tute about 3 m i l l i o n and scheduled tribes about 2 . 1 mil l ions. Yet there is not a single scheduled caste pradhan in the whole State. Out of a to ta l of 7,394 sarpan-ches, the number of scheduled caste
sarpanches could be counted on one's f i nge r s . A n d only i n predominant ly t r i b a l areas do we find a few sar
panches and pradhans belonging to the scheduled tribes. Rura l leadership is s t i l l in the hands of the re la t ively well-to-do classes in the vi l lage which control a l l vantage positions in Panchayati Raj .
Another reason w h y the benefits of development in the r u r a l areas have not percolated th rough to the weaker sections is tha t to take advantage of programmes l ike agr icu l tura l loans, subsidies, etc, one must possess land and immovable proper ty to offer as sureties. If the weaker sections of the ru r a l communi ty are to take advantage of these development programmes, present rules in th is respect w i l l have to be changed.
Panchayat Training Centres
S O M E 66 Panchayati Raj T r a i n i n g Centres are now func t ion ing in
the country, p rov id ing t r a i n i n g facil i t ies to Sarpanches, Up-Sarpan-ches and Panches. Of this, 25 arc located in U t t a r Pradesh, 10 each in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, 3 in A n d h r a Pradesh. 2 in Assam and one centre each in Kera la , H imacha l Pradesh, M a n i p u r and T r i p u r a . Three t r a in ing centres are bei'ng set up in Gujarat .
The or ig ina l target was to have about one hundred t r a i n i n g centres by March , 1963, and to have another 50 in 1963-64. Because of the slow progress, it has now been decided not to have addi t ional centres t i l l the capacity of the exis t ing centres is f u l l y ut i l ised.
The Central Inst i tute of Panchayati Raj w i t h cent percent financial assistance from the M i n i s t r y is in charge of t r a in ing pr inc ipa ls and instructors of the Panchayat i Raj T r a i n i n g Centres. So far, some 160 teachers have been t ra ined at this Inst i tute.
To ensure the sound w o r k i n g of Panchayati Raj T r a i n i n g Centres, i t has been suggested that committees, representing officials and non-offi-cials, should be set up at the State level to look after them. The committees, besides pe r iod ica l ly reviewi n g the work of the Panchayat i Raj T r a i n i n g Centres, will also v i s i t the centres and give them on-the-spot guidance.
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