All plan, very little work in this Panchayati Raj

NEW DELHI: The Panchayati Raj ministry's grand plans to start the process of involving PRIs and municipalities in the planning exercise may have to take a reality check. The district planning committees (DPCs), which were expected to consolidate the plans prepared by these organisations during the current year, are yet to be set up in several states, let alone start functioning. This, besides the process of setting up functioning units of panchayati raj network was scheduled to have been completed by the last financial year. Against this, the Centre has now set a new deadline of three months — i.e. end-June — for all states to complete the process of setting up functioning tiers at different levels of the panchayati raj setup. The slow progress card on the functioning DPCs from all states was revealed at the first meeting of the committee of chief secretaries and secretaries of PR of states and UT s held here on Monday and chaired by PRI ministry secretary Wajahat Habibullah. The meeting was called to review the progress of implementation of the 150 recommendations of the seven round table conferences held last year. According to the Centre's roadmap, the 11th Five Year Plan is to based on the plans prepared by the DPCs, which would come up with an omnibus plan at the district level based on the plans submitted by all the PRIs and municipalities falling under its jurisdiction. Accordingly, the 12th Finance Commission had recommended a provision of Rs 20,000 crore for panchayats for a period of five years. On the plus side, out of a total of 593 districts DPCs have been constituted in 420 districts all over the country. DPCs, sources said, have been constituted in all districts in Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, A&N Islands, D&N Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep. However, in Uttar Pradesh, though the DPCs have been constituted in all districts, they are still not functional. States where DPCs are yet to be constituted include Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Chandigarh, Tripura and Pondicherry. These include seven districts of Meghalaya, eight districts each of Mizoram and Nagaland, nine districts of NCT of Delhi and 14 districts of Jammu and Kashmir where the system is not applicable. Spelling out the new deadline for setting up of functioning levels of panchayati raj at the meeting, PRI minister Mani Shankar Aiyar pointed out that unless this exercise was completed, it would not be possible to make the plan process for the country grassroots-driven by strengthening PRIs as self-governing institutions of economic development and social justice. A first step, it was felt, was to identify and boost their financial and functional powers of PRIs is absolutely imperative. According to the recommendations of the Round Table Conferences held last year, devolution of functions, functionaries and finances should be routed through legislative framework or through executive orders of Governments. A set of 150 recommendations were evolved through consensus of State and Union Territory Governments in the course of Seven Round Table Conferences held last year on strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions.

All plan, very little work in this Panchayati Raj

The Panchayati Raj ministry's grand plans to start the process of involving PRIs and municipalities in the planning exercise may have to take a reality check.

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