Bricks of gold

 

 

Panchayati Raj, the backbone of rural India, was visualised as a ‘decentralised form of government’, where villages will be responsible for their own affairs and adopt a policy of self-governance. Panchayat traditionally refers to ‘five elders in a village’. It now means a body elected by law. Panchayati Raj was adopted by State governments in the 1950s and gradually laws were passed to establish the ‘Raj’. However, over the years, the system has become the bedrock of corruption and exploitation. There are innumerable cases against Panchayat members for embezzlement of funds. There have also been several reports of Panchayat members using the platform to settle personal disputes.

Complaints of caste bias in Panchayats could fill pages. It was meant to be about self-governance, creating employment opportunities and empowerment of rural women. With the United Progressive Alliance coming to power, came the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREG) Act. The onus for implementing this lies with the standing committee of the district Panchayat, district programme coordinator, programme officer and Gram Panchayats.

The NREG Act says that if an applicant “is not given work within a fortnight of receiving his or her application, then the person will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance from the State.” The Act also says, “The Gram Panchayat will be responsible for registering all potential workers, issuing job cards to them, receiving applications and forwarding those to the Block officers.”

The Panchayat thus plays a key role in implementing projects. The target group of the Panchayats have been those living Below the Poverty Line, mainly landless labourers. The NREG scheme at the Panchayat level is expected to help villagers stay back and reduce the pressure on urban India. The kind of ‘labour intensive’ work taken up include environmental protection, watershed programmes, rainwater harvesting, land generation, prevention of soil erosion, wasteland development and other works.

Also a responsible political system must ensure that entitlements reach the poor and needy, work is being carried out as prescribed and implementation of pro-poor programme in a transparent and viable manner.