CELEBRATING THE RAJ – by Juvenal.

Readers must have seen the advertisement by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, in the local media, requesting “Panchayati Raj Institutions / States / UTs to celebrate National Panchayati Raj Day on 24th April, by organising purposeful Gram Sabha meetings for making India a fully participatory democracy”.

It contained an abridged quote from the father of the Nation: “My idea of Village Swaraj is that it is a complete republic. The government of the village have all the authority and jurisdiction required. This Panchayat will be the legislature, judiciary and executive combined” and a message from the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh: “One of the objectives of democratic decentralisation is to encourage people’s participation in the processes of governance. We hope that this will also help reduce corruption and the abuse of power by various government functionaries”. There is also a motto: “Active Gram Sabha – for Empowered People and Accountable Panchayats”.

For this celebration, the State level Panchayat will probably be composed of the Chief Minister, the Panchayat Minister, the Departmental Secretary, the Director of Panchayats and the Panchayat Secretary. They are the five who wield the power that should vest on the “Empowered People”.

Do we have “purposeful” Gram Sabha meetings? The State government overrules the decisions of the “Active Gram Sabhas”, the decision of the “Acountable Panchayat” is overruled by the unaccountable Deputy Director of Panchayats and the Panchayat Secretary is the government functionary vested with the “abuse of power” that the Prime Minister has spoken about.

Where is the “democratic decentralisation”? Where is “people’s participation in the processes of governance” that the Prime Minister hopes for? We have the Zilla Panchayat threatening to file contempt plea in the High Court against a government that has sworn an affidavit before the same Court that it would devolve powers to the ZPs but, even after more than a year, failed to do so.

We also have the recent case of the Cansaulim Panchayat. At the purposeful Gram Sabha, the members objected to the “mischievous” order of the “government functionary” Addl. Director of Panchayats directing the Village Panchayat to renew a construction license to a mega housing project in the village, that had been revoked because of a number of anomalies in the construction plan. The order directs the Panchayat not to be influenced by the resolution of the purposeful Gram Sabha and renew the license, failing which the Panchayat Secretary, the government functionary vested with the same abuse of power that the Prime Minister hopes to reduce or even put an end to, would be asked to do it. Where and how did the anomalies in the construction plan vanish? How come the kick on the back of the Gram Sabha? And why is it that the “complete republic”, “the legislature, judiciary and executive combined”, as per the wishes of the Father of the Nation, is not the Licensing authority?

Which Panchayati Raj Institution is expected to celebrate the Panchayati Raj Day?