Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's speech at the conference on "The State of the Panchayats"

"I am very happy to be here today when the issue of panchayati raj and its progress is being discussed. I believe the Ministry has compiled a Report on the State of the Panchayats. I hope States and Union Territories will soon follow with their respective reports. It is important that the march of panchayati raj - both its achievements and its shortcomings be appraised on the basis of objective data and scientific evaluation. When this report is released in Parliament, hopefully there will be a serious debate on the state of local self government in our country.

Our Government was the first ever to set up a separate Ministry for Panchayati Raj. I entrusted this important charge to my friend Mani Shankar Aiyar, because he has been passionately committed to the empowerment of panchayats ever since he entered public life. He worked closely with our Late Prime Minister, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, to give Constitutional sanction and sanctity to Panchayati Raj with the aim of realising Mahatma Gandhi's dream of Poorna Swaraj through Gram Swaraj. This Report is a measure of the successes we have achieved so far and the road we still have to travel.

The 73rd and 74th Constitution amendments, enacted under the leadership of Rajivji, gave a new lease of life to Panchayati Raj. We now have over 22 lakh elected representatives in panchayats, a truly remarkable number by any yardstick. Reservations for women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in panchayats has combined political empowerment with social empowerment. Earlier fears about elite groups capturing these institutions have been allayed. Indeed, the share of women has substantially exceeded the reserved quota with around 50,000 women elected from general unreserved categories. This is a remarkable success in bringing lakhs and lakhs of women into the mainstream of governance. It is particularly worth underlining that the primary reason for this is that a larger proportion of SC/ST women are getting elected over and above the ⅓rd reserved quota. I think it would be fair to say that there are now more women in India in positions of elective authority than in the rest of the world put together! I trust this shining example will encourage our Parliament to follow suit!

In addition to the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments, Parliament has also enacted the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. This Act is the single most important instrument in our armoury for dealing with the economic and emotional alienation of our tribal brethren which lies at the root of the growing menace of Naxalism. Its effective implementation would, I believe, generate a deep sense of effective participation among our tribal people in the conduct of their own affairs.

The task that remains is to transform the political and social empowerment that we have achieved through Panchayati Raj into effective administrative and economic empowerment. This is still to happen in many States. The National Common Minimum Programme stresses that effective devolution involves the devolution of the three Fs - Functions, Finances and Functionaries. It is only when Functions, Finances and Functionaries come together that Panchayats will be truly empowered to fulfill their mandated role. To this end, I believe, three critical steps are necessary.

First, the key to the effective devolution of Functions is the Activity Map. Every State must prepare a detailed Activity Map that clearly spells out the activity in respect of each devolved function that must be carried out at each of the levels of our three-tier system of Panchayati Raj. I am happy to learn that State Panchayati Raj ministers have jointly agreed that Activity Maps be prepared on the principle of subsidiarity. Any activity which can be carried out at a lower level must be entrusted to that level. Equally, Ministries at the Centre also need to prepare Activity Maps so that their schemes ensure the centrality of Panchayats in our system of governance. The statutory provisions of the NREGA in this regard are worthy of emulation.

Second, to secure effective devolution of Finances, budgets of all line departments must open a Panchayat sector window through which Panchayats have the necessary financial resources to undertake the duties entrusted to them. The best Panchayati Raj states have already opened such Panchayat sector windows. I hope others will follow.

Third, the Approach Paper to the Eleventh Five Year Plan stresses the importance of grassroots planning. The Planning Commission has issued guidelines to all States to base their annual and five-year perspective plans on district plans prepared in conformity with the Constitutional provisions.

District planning is also the sine qua non of the Backward Regions Grant Fund, which we have entrusted to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to administer. Once we get effective district planning going in the most backward districts of our country, the rest would follow.

The experience with panchayats and their role and status varies from one region to another. The Report highlights the lack of basic resources, facilities, connectivity and staff in many panchayats. States must learn from each other on effective empowerment of panchayats. Panchayat functionaries need continuous training and capacity building. The best teacher is hands-on practical experience of running Panchayats. However, such practical experience needs to be backed up by formal systems of interactive teaching and guidance. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has prepared a Gram Swaraj Yojana which aims to supplement State efforts in this regard. But the primary responsibility remains that of the States - and I hope they give high priority to ensuring this.

One of the objectives of democratic decentralisation is to encourage people's participation in processes of governance. We hope that this will also help reduce corruption and the abuse of power by various government functionaries. If we introduce mechanisms for social audit and formal audit, we will go a long way towards mitigating the evil of corruption in panchayats. Strong, empowered Gram Sabhas and Ward Sabhas, which meet frequently and regularly to keep the elected executive authority under continuous check and watch, can also guarantee clean Panchayati Raj.

Equally important is the need for free and fair elections. Here the Constitution places a heavy burden on the States for it is their responsibility to ensure that elections are both free and fair. I commend the State Election Officers on their having come together on a common platform to exchange experience and make recommendations to State governments in this regard. They have given a number of valuable suggestions about a common electoral roll for Parliament, Assembly and Panchayat elections, on the unexceptionable argument that the Indian voter is one and indivisible. I hope states will take measures to make our democracy not only the largest and most representative one, but also the cleanest on earth.

I would like to also commend the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for being pro-active in promoting the idea of creating Rural Business Hubs. You will recall that I had suggested that this could be our answer to the successful Village Enterprises model in China that constitute the backbone of their rural economic miracle. I note that over 50 MOUs for establishing Rural Business Hubs have been entered into between business enterprises and Panchayats. I will be seeing a presentation on this next week in Hyderabad.

I urge the National Rural Business Hubs Council to mobilise our business community to make their contribution in bridging the widening rural-urban divide and ensuring inclusiveness of our growth process. It is not till the output of village enterprises goes beyond the village haat and reaches out to the hypermarket, will we see real signs of rural prosperity.

Our government has given special attention to the development and empowerment of Panchayati Raj. There is a silent revolution that is taking place in our countryside - silent only because the media and urban political opinion are not giving adequate attention to it. It is the harbinger of new hope for the eradication of rural poverty and the promotion of rural prosperity.

I have every confidence that Panchayati Raj will truly bloom within the next few years so that even as our economy gallops forward, rural India sees the blossoming of the dream of Gram Swaraj that has inspired our leaders from Mahatma Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi."