Date:05/10/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/10/05/stories/2002100505270100.htm

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PM for financial autonomy to panchayats

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 4. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, said today that the Government would introduce a Constitution Amendment Bill, after evolving a political consensus, to give financial powers to the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs).

Ironically, Mr. Vajpayee made the point at the Conference of the Project Directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs), controlled mostly by the bureaucracy. The DRDAs get dedicated funds for implementation of rural projects, but the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, devolving functional and financial powers to the PRIs, had envisaged panchayats with financial autonomy, which had not happened in the last 10 years. "If all the political parties agree, the Ministries of Rural Development, Finance and Law will together work out a draft amendment,'' he said.

The Prime Minister's observation came against the backdrop of a unanimous resolution passed in April 2002 by the All-India Panchayat Adhyakshas Sammelan here, urging the Government to introduce a new constitutional amendment to empower the PRIs with the much-needed administrative and financial powers.

He said experience had shown that without adequate administrative and financial powers, the PRIs were unable to discharge their new responsibilities.

Recalling the role of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in taking the historic measure in democratic decentralisation, Mr. Vajpayee said the measure needed to be taken forward to really empower the PRIs.

India, he said, was on its way to becoming a major economic power. The world had become a "global village". There was competition and India should produce quality products to earn foreign exchange. "We have to show the world that a nation of 100 crores can change their future and of the world. Today, we are ready for a debate on development. We do not want a model in which disparity and inequality increases.''

Earlier, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant, said that one-fourth of the population was mired in poverty "which was not acceptable". An "all-out war on poverty" must be an integral part of planning.

The Minister for Rural Development, Shanta Kumar, said the Government would soon launch a new programme, the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Jal Samvardhan Yojana.

A task force is working out its modalities and it would be launched before the end of the year.