Workshop discusses steps to empower gram sabhas

By Our Staff Correspondent

JAIPUR, APRIL 8. An inter-State workshop on Gram Sabha empowerment here today identified the areas of focus for strengthening the exercise of ``direct democracy'' by rural communities which would help the poor gain greater control over decisions and processes affecting their lives.

An ordinance promulgated by the Rajasthan Government on January 6 has amended the State Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, to constitute gram sabhas and ward sabhas in an attempt to carry the decision making power to the grassroot level. The participants in the workshop discussed various provisions of the ordinance and specified the areas which require further attention.

The one-day workshop was organised jointly by the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, the Central Government's Project on Panchayati Raj, and the Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj Institute. The participants were drawn from various States, such as Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The significant areas identified for further action included the mechanism of social audit, monitoring and control of gram gabha over the Government functionaries, ownership and control over natural resources, the need for untied funds being made available to gram sabhas and the process of people's planning for utilisation of those funds.

It was felt that the ordinance needed to be elaborated in terms of procedure for social audit and mandatory action based on the conclusions reached in the gram sabha. The Centre's guidelines on social audit should also be incorporated within the rules, the participants said.

Despite its limitations, the law has opened unprecedented spaces for exercise of direct democracy. Mr. Harsh Mander, Project Director of the Project on Panchayati Raj, pointed out that while the challenge on the one hand was to push the frontiers of these legal spaces, even greater challenge was to facilitate the actual exercise of participatory democracy through massive mobilisation and capacity building.Drawing up lessons from the experience of Kerala, the speakers felt that significant portions of Plan expenditure of the State Government must be made available directly for use by local self Government bodies. This must be accompanied by a process for planning within each panchayat for optimum use of the funds.In consonance with the provisions in the national tribal self- rule plan, ownership - rather than management - of minor forest produce must lie with the gram sabha. Similarly, ownership over minor mineral and water bodies must lie with the Gram Sabha, the speakers said.

The Chief Minister, Mr. Ashok Gehlot; and the Panchayati Raj Minister, Dr. C. P. Joshi, who addressed the workshop at the end, asserted that the new cadre of panchayats would change the model of governance in Rajasthan. They said the State Government wanted to strengthen Panchayati Raj as the bedrock of human resource development.

Mr. Gehlot said the initiative to empower Panchayati Raj institutions would inculcate a new confidence among the people and encourage them to participate actively in the democratic process. The Government was equally conscious of fulfilling its promises in the related areas, he said and promised that a Bill on right to information would be introduced in the current session of the Assembly.

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Section  : Regional
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