A historic moment for Jammu and Kashmir State, as for the first time , Panchayat Raj Institutions are vested with powers aimed at lending credibility in the real sense to the grass root democratic establishments by means of an act of legislation whereby they have been assigned the charge of 20 Departments. Now, implementation of important welfare measures and various flagship schemes of the Central Government shall be the exclusive domain of Panchayats. In other words, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna (PMAY), Mid Day Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Scheme and the like shall be implemented by the Panchayats. Monitoring and supervision of Schools and health institutions too have been given to Panchayat Raj Institutions to make them accountable to the society. The timing of this act of empowering Panchayats carries lot of weightiness as the decision to this effect has been taken when nine phase Panchayat elections are scheduled to be held between November 17 to December 11. Secondly, it conveys the determination and the writ of the Government to those elements including the two main Regional Political Parties of the state who explicitly and implicitly decided to boycott these elections and thus helping those forces that want to undermine democratic political process in the state to attenuate separatist and secessionist tendencies which over years, otherwise have gained marginal ascendancy. It is worth noting that a feeble attempt by means of an administrative order was made in the past by the National Conference – Congress Coalition Government headed by Omar Abdullah by assigning some role to control some Departments to Panchayats but that “experiment” did not succeed . Keeping in view the past experience, Governor Satya Pal Malik using the legislative powers vested with him under Governor’s rule and the Assembly being under suspended animation, approved requisite amendments in the Panchayat Raj Act to give cover of legislation to powers extended to the Panchayats. It is , however, a bold and innovative attempt , the first one of this nature taken by the State Government and should herald a new era of total involvement of elected representatives of the people in rural areas when even conducting concurrent audits , quarterly social audit of works going on in respective areas including ensuring of socio economic and human development too will be their responsibility. This will surely give boost to these institutions where real powers to look after almost every aspect of development activities will find their full involvement. Transparency and accountability in the concerned Departments at grass root levels shall result in direct accountability to the elected representatives of the people at grass root levels. As regards devolution of financial powers at Halqa and Block levels, It is decided to increase as many as 10 times from Rs.10000 to Rs.100000 for Panchayats and from Rs.25000 to Rs.2.50 lac for Block Councils. Every Panchayat will get Rs.50 to Rs. 80 lacs per year for implementation of key national schemes. It is without any doubt that while most of Panchayats in the country were already enjoying these powers under 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India , Jammu and Kashmir State had been “deprived” of these powers at Panchayat levels. While it is hoped that more and more contestants would join the process of Panchayat elections in the state as a result of massive empowerment by means of cover of a legislation, it has got to be ensured that these “powers” did not cross the expected limit of the line of supervision , monitoring and control so that the Departments under their expected control did not encounter functional hindrances due to misusing of the “powers”. To pre-empt those chances, it is suggested that some measure of tutelage and grooming exercise of the elected representatives would be imperative to make the empowerment meaningful and workable in the real sense.

A historic moment for Jammu and Kashmir State, as for the first time , Panchayat Raj Institutions are vested with powers aimed at lending credibility in the real sense to the grass root democratic establishments by means of an act of legislation whereby they have been assigned the charge of 20 Departments. Now, implementation of important welfare measures and various flagship schemes of the Central Government shall be the exclusive domain of Panchayats. In other words, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna (PMAY), Mid Day Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Scheme and the like shall be implemented by the Panchayats. Monitoring and supervision of Schools and health institutions too have been given to Panchayat Raj Institutions to make them accountable to the society.
The timing of this act of empowering Panchayats carries lot of weightiness as the decision to this effect has been taken when nine phase Panchayat elections are scheduled to be held between November 17 to December 11. Secondly, it conveys the determination and the writ of the Government to those elements including the two main Regional Political Parties of the state who explicitly and implicitly decided to boycott these elections and thus helping those forces that want to undermine democratic political process in the state to attenuate separatist and secessionist tendencies which over years, otherwise have gained marginal ascendancy.
It is worth noting that a feeble attempt by means of an administrative order was made in the past by the National Conference – Congress Coalition Government headed by Omar Abdullah by assigning some role to control some Departments to Panchayats but that “experiment” did not succeed . Keeping in view the past experience, Governor Satya Pal Malik using the legislative powers vested with him under Governor’s rule and the Assembly being under suspended animation, approved requisite amendments in the Panchayat Raj Act to give cover of legislation to powers extended to the Panchayats.
It is , however, a bold and innovative attempt , the first one of this nature taken by the State Government and should herald a new era of total involvement of elected representatives of the people in rural areas when even conducting concurrent audits , quarterly social audit of works going on in respective areas including ensuring of socio economic and human development too will be their responsibility. This will surely give boost to these institutions where real powers to look after almost every aspect of development activities will find their full involvement. Transparency and accountability in the concerned Departments at grass root levels shall result in direct accountability to the elected representatives of the people at grass root levels.
As regards devolution of financial powers at Halqa and Block levels, It is decided to increase as many as 10 times from Rs.10000 to Rs.100000 for Panchayats and from Rs.25000 to Rs.2.50 lac for Block Councils. Every Panchayat will get Rs.50 to Rs. 80 lacs per year for implementation of key national schemes. It is without any doubt that while most of Panchayats in the country were already enjoying these powers under 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India , Jammu and Kashmir State had been “deprived” of these powers at Panchayat levels.
While it is hoped that more and more contestants would join the process of Panchayat elections in the state as a result of massive empowerment by means of cover of a legislation, it has got to be ensured that these “powers” did not cross the expected limit of the line of supervision , monitoring and control so that the Departments under their expected control did not encounter functional hindrances due to misusing of the “powers”. To pre-empt those chances, it is suggested that some measure of tutelage and grooming exercise of the elected representatives would be imperative to make the empowerment meaningful and workable in the real sense.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here