April 01, 2002

'42'

    A two day All India Panchayat Adhyaksha Sammelan is being organised in New Delhi on 5^th and 6^th April 2002 to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country.

    The Conference will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Smt. Sonia Gandhi will deliver the keynote address. Prominent among those to address the Conference are the Rural Development Minister Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sushree Uma Bharati and the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Sumitra Mahajan. Finance Minister Shri Yashwant Sinha will address the valedictory session. Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers from all the States and prominent social workers have been invited to the conference.

    Delegates to the Conference include heads of all Zila Parishads of the country and Chief of one intermediate panchayat and one Sarpanch from each district. This was announced by the Rural Development Minister Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu at a press conference in New Delhi today. He said, states have been advised that one third of the delegates nominated should be women while one fourth of those nominated should belong to SC/ST.

    Stating that the objective of the Conference is to evolve a consensus on various issues relating to the Panchayati Raj system, the Minister said the Sammelan would focus on issues like Devolution of Powers and Funds to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs); Resource Mobilisation and Planning at the grassroots level, Generation of Awareness and Capacity Building; functioning of Gram Sabhas and Social Audit and Transparency in the development process. He said that the Government is committed to Democracy, Decentralisation and Development at the grassroots level, which can be achieved by empowering the PRIs, which, in turn, would enable the community at large to participate in decision-making, planning and execution of Schemes and Programmes.

    Shri Naidu said that the Ministry invests substantial funds annually through various Centrally-sponsored schemes for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation. The Programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development are designed to bring about all-round development of village infrastructure and reduction of poverty in the rural areas. In this context, the Minister recalled the deliberations of the Conference of Ministers of Panchayati Raj of the States held in July, 2001.

    On the issue of devolution of powers to the Panchayats, Shri Naidu said a Task Force was set up to suggest steps for the administrative decentralisation of funds, functions and functionaries to the PRIs with regard to the 29 Subjects mentioned in the 11^th Schedule of the Constitution. The Task Force had submitted its Report, and all States and Union Territories were advised to complete the process of devolution of powers to the Panchayats by March, 2002. The Task Force had also suggested a broad framework for the devolution of powers to PRIs. The All India Panchayat Adhyaksha Sammelan would review the progress of devolution of powers to the Panchayats and discuss ways and means of granting funds, functions and functionaries to the PRIs in various States.

    The Minister said, The 73^rd Amendment Act, inter alia, provides for regular elections to Panchayats every five years; proportionate seat reservation for SCs/STs and reservation of not less than one-third of the seats for women. The Minister pointed out that most States and Union Territories have enacted State legislation in pursuance of the 73^rd Amendment Act and have held Panchayat elections.

    The Constitution also envisages a key role for the PRIs in relation to the 29 Subjects mentioned in the 11^th Schedule such as Primary Education, Primary Health, Agriculture, Rural Housing and Drinking Water, which are to be devolved to Panchayats. Apart from transfer of powers, the transfer of personnel and resources is necessary for effective implementation. Several States and Union Territories have transferred subjects, in varying degrees, to the PRIs and have transferred functionaries to the Panchayats who would be unable to adequately discharge their functions without sufficient funds and financial autonomy.

    Stressing the Government’s four-pronged strategy of Awareness, Capacity Building, Transparency and People’s Participation and Social Audit by Gram Sabhas, Shri Naidu hoped that the Panchayat Adhyaksha Sammelan would help to accelerate the process of devolving funds, functions and functionaries to the PRIs so as to make them vibrant institutions of Self-government.