Karnataka - Bangalore

Sindhia hits out at Kumaraswamy on Panchayati Raj Bill

Staff Reporter

Says Government ‘doing its best to nullify decentralisation of power

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Expressing opinion: Participants writing their views and signing on a huge banner at the Karnataka State Panchayati Raj Convention in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: “General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan seems a gentle person who has merely appointed his minions as Prime Minister and the Supreme Court Chief Justice, but the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government is out to strike at the very foundation of democracy by trying to undermine the panchayati raj institutions,” the former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia said here on Thursday.

Speaking at the State-level convention of the Panchayati Raj Hakkottaya Andolana to protest against the Panchayati Raj (Amemdment Bill) 2007, Mr. Sindhia said the State Government was “doing its best” to nullify Karnataka’s achievements in decentralisation of power to the lowest rung of governance and administration by bringing in this amendment.

It was ironical that the Chief Minister, who had taken to visiting backward villages and staying there, had allowed the passage of the Bill in April this year, and effectively placing gram panchayats under the control of MLAs and the Government going against the spirit of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, which gave gram panchayats the power to govern themselves and make decisions best for the community at the village level, he said.

“Merely visiting villages, and spending time in poor people’s houses cannot solve problems. Taking away the constitutional rights of the panchayats is worse,” Mr. Sindhia said, and suggested that the panchayats take matters into their own hands, and take action against MLAs who wish to impose themselves on the panchayats.

Several of the 1,500-plus delegates expressed anger over Panchayati Raj Minister C.M. Udasi’s justification of the amendment. “He has accused the gram panchayats of not holding the mandatory gram sabha meetings. He does not know that we derive our strength from the gram sabha, where every villager has a right to speak,” a participant said.

The andolana has been launched by over 80 federations of gram panchayat members, NGOs, institutions and individuals, on May 16 to highlight the fact that apart from the 73rd Amendment, the proposed law would violate several orders and legislation passed by the State Legislature which transferred powers and functions to the panchayats.

The andolana steering committee had conducted a telephone survey of MLAs and MLCs. Of the 55 MLAs contacted, 36 were in favour of the amendment, while 12 of the 21 MLCs were against the amendment. Thursday’s convention saw attendance by several of the MLAs and MLCs who started in politics at the panchayat level, and have remained committed to decentralisation. Gadag MLA D.R. Patil, H.C. Mahadevappa (Hunsur), Araga Gnanendra (Thirthahalli), Sharanagowda Patil (Raichur) who is also in the Legislature Committee on Panchayti Raj, were present.

Three delegations of gram panchayats met Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Governor T.N. Chaturvedi, and Mr. Udasi. The Minister has agreed to hold a meeting at a later date with gram panchayat members from all districts to discuss the issue. Many of them went in a procession to the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

Since the launch of the campaign, the panchayat members have been collecting signatures and sending out appeals to the Governor to withhold consent for the Bill. The campaign has been coordinated by the Concerned for Working Children, the Hunger Project, Singamma Sreenivasan Foundation, Mahila Samakhya Karnataka and the Grama Swaraj Vedike.

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