The Hindu : Cong. for joint session on panchayati raj

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 26, 2003

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National

Cong. for joint session on panchayati raj

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI JULY 25. There is a view in both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress that ten years of panchayati raj must be commemorated not just by paying lip service to "democracy at the grassroots" through a parliamentary debate, which has just ended, but by studying the experience of the last decade in depth, reviewing it and ensuring meaningful empowerment at every village level even if that means some amendments in the Panchayati Raj Act.

The Congress would, in fact, like a joint session of Parliament and the date being suggested is October 2, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary. As yet the entire exercise is at a preliminary level and it has been informally suggested by the Congress that since there may be constitutional and procedural restrictions on when a joint session can be held and when it cannot, such a joint sitting may be described as a "commemorative session".

The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, is taking interest in this and he has had a meeting with the Congress MP, Mani Shankar Aiyar, in his chamber on Thursday. Mr. Shekhawat said that he would like parties across the political spectrum to put together issues related to desirable changes in the panchayati raj system on which there is general agreement.

In the Lok Sabha, the Minister for Rural development, Kashiram Rana, today said that a Constitution Amendment Bill would soon be brought to give greater financial and administrative powers to panchayati raj institutions. He was winding up a discussion on the issue that began on Thursday.

At the end of the discussion in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Rural Development, Annasaheb Patil, made the point that the contentious issue of devolution of financial powers to panchayati raj institutions would be discussed by an empowered sub-committee meeting on August 2.

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