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By Gargi Parsai
The tone for such a move was set by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who suggested in his inaugural address that the conference could discuss another amendment to the Constitution to make Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) stronger and accordingly recommend to the Government. "But there should be unanimity on the subject. This is not a political issue,'' he emphasised. Expressing concern over ineffective functioning of PRIs in the absence of adequate fund and its proper utilisation, Mr. Vajpayee said panchayats had too many responsibilities but no funds to carry out programmes under the Constitution. He said that in the devolution of powers and funds, the Centre restricts itself to its Constitutional role. Then comes the responsibility of States to ensure that the institutions under them are empowered and funded. Mr. Vajpayee said while it was remarkable that there were 24 elected panchayat representatives with 10 lakh women in the country, the annual resource mobilisation by the three tiers of panchayats was merely Rs. 700 crores. Pointing out that the world was facing an economic crisis, he said India can overcome it "if we can fully mobilise our resources and properly use them''. He said the credit goes to Rajiv Gandhi for amending the Constitution to legally put in place panchayats and empower them. The Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, in her keynote address said, "This is an emotional moment for me as we cannot but remember Rajiv Gandhi. It is due to him that panchayats got rights and voice.'' Ms. Gandhi was repeatedly cheered and representatives of Congress-ruled States raised pro-Sonia slogans much to the discomfort of the Union Rural Development Minister, Venkaiah Naidu, and the Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, who occupied the dais then. Ms. Gandhi demanded disbanding of the District Rural Development Authority and merging it with district panchayats. She also sought dismantling of all parallel bodies and programmes — like the Janmabhoomi programme in Andhra Pradesh— that seriously undermine the functions of panchayats. She urged the Centre to ensure that State Governments implemented the Panchayat Raj legislation to enable panchayats to carry out their responsibilities. She suggested that to ensure compliance through consensus, a special meeting of the NDC be convened and a special session of Parliament be called. ``I am asking the Chief Ministers to hold a special session of their legislatures and present an annual `State of Panchayats' report to promote informal debate on this vital subject. But this is not a party issue,'' she added. Quoting the recommendations of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, Mr. Jaitley said Article 243-G read with Schedule XI of the Constitution should be suitably amended to devolve adequate financial powers to panchayats. The Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant, stressed the need for evolving a code of conduct to make functioning of PRIs "fair, just, transparent, inclusive and accountable''.
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