Gram Panchayats and Development Plan

 

The relevant provisions of the Panchayati Raj Act enjoin upon every Panchayat which is known as institution of local self government, to follow the set mechanism of preparing Development Plan of basic grass root entity – the Halqa – taking into confidence the villagers and the Halqa Majlis under the maxim ”your money, your plan”. This plan in the normal devised course travels right from the Panchayat to the District Development Council and funds are sought and got released for implementation of the said plan. It is , however, quite amazing that more than 50 per cent of Panchayats in the UT have not undergone the exercise for the financial year 2021-22 ending March 2022. Who is responsible for this mandatory requirement not fulfilled especially in the context of the requisite funds liable to get lapsed by the end of March 2022 or in other words, barely three months having remained left all of the current financial year. Do in fact, all the functionaries in Panchayats in the UT fairly know all the nitty-gritty about the Development Plan and whether some work shop or a sort of training / briefing has been provided to them by the concerned UT Department or we just expect things to move in right and fast direction without knowing all these likely reasons behind a near virtual failure of the development plan system. There may be efforts innumerable at the highest governmental levels made and measures devised to strengthen the Panchayats and effect development of villages but what about the implementation process of such measures by the concerned Rural Development Department which appears to have taken no pains in monitoring and removing any doubts or addressing certain points where clarity there-about may have been sought in order to go ahead with the preparation of the said plan. The Union Ministry too has continuously been directing the states and the UTs to oversee and take corrective steps in this vital exercise at the Gram Panchayat levels but even after two pronged thrust on the vital issue, the available data reveals that only half of the number of Panchayats have prepared the requisite plan while others have not. The question about the possibility of some sort of ambiguity on certain points or scant knowledge of how to prepare a plan could neither visit the ”performing” Panchayats nor deter those from preparing the said plan indicating only non -serious approach to the matter by the monitoring authorities in respect of the remaining ones. The data , however, is not precisely available about in which specific districts of the UT , the important and mandatory job has not been completed till date all under the guidance and supervision of the Rural Development Department so that the general and sweeping reasons of the pendency of the preparation of the said plan could be known. We have, on many an occasion, suggested in order to obfuscate such a scenario, that the controlling department or the one which supervises and oversees the particular exercise, should arrange visiting its personnel the defaulting institutions in order to remove any doubts and helping them practically completing the assignment. When neither proper monitoring is done right from the controlling office nor any team of field functionaries is deputed to help , how can results on the ground be anticipated to be satisfactory and on expected lines? It is especially so when the issue is all regarding development of villages by villagers themselves with the funds meant exclusively for villages. It could also be the other way round. There may be deliberate reluctance at some bureaucratic or political level or at both the levels together, in not letting decentralising of functions take place and, therefore, decisions and the will about planning and how development could be shaped by the Panchayat level functionaries frustrated and humped . To this effect, fears too have been expressed which makes it all the more necessary for the Government to address the issue in details. Even if there is some content of truth in such fears , in that case, it means blatant attempts with intent to reversal of what the UT and Union Ministry level want all about the three tier Panchayati Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir to successfully function .Who is doing that from