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Gear up for Panchayat election

Young Bites. Dated: 11/23/2017 12:55:11 PM

The government has set into motion the process of holding Panchayat elections by ordering delimitation of wards.Rural Development department has issued directions that the delimitation of the Panchayat wards and Sarpanch constituencies should be speeded up and completed at the earliest. The Block Development Officers (BDOs) have started delimitation of the Panchayat wards, where the number is less than six in a particular Sarpanch halqa. In spite of enacting the 73rd amendment of the Constitution in 1993 which has formally given the panchayats of the country the position of the third tier of the government, the unfortunate reality is that in most states devolution of power according to the 73rd amendment has been only half-hearted. Panchayats continue to function mostly as implementing agencies of centrally sponsored schemes and are often captured by the elite and/or the corrupt. The policy of reservation of seats for SC/ST and women has also had only mixed results and the poorer sections or the women are often controlled from behind by the upper caste elite or by men of the family. In some cases state governments have shown reluctance even to hold elections to the panchayats and most state governments have not devolved funds, functions and functionaries as per the mandates of the Constitution. Participation of people in the gram sabha remains low. This has resulted in a panchayat system that is not efficient, participatory, transparent and accountable to the people at grassroots. In order to address this problem of half-hearted and tokenistic decentralization of power in most states of India, we believe that a powerful network of enthusiastic elected representatives, civil society organisations and activist individuals is necessary to act as a pressure group on government at the national and at the state level to implement the provisions of the 73rd amendment in letter and spirit. Is the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir conducive for holding Panchayat elections? Though the state authorities do not find the atmosphere favourable for holding the Panchayat election, however, the Union Home Ministry is certain that time has come for holding the elections so that the state could r eceive additional funds that were due had the Panchayat poll been held on time. Inspite of this,the Union Home Ministry has directed the Jammu and Kashmir Government to hold the panchayat elections by January as it will help restore normalcy in the state.This message has been conveyed to the state government and the revision of electoral rolls has already begun. It was observed that the panchayat elections were of paramount importance and this would involve people at grass-roots level with the governance.“The decision of holding panchayat poll will ultimately be decided by the chief electoral officer.