Do you think that despite having significant limitations the Panchayati Raj institutions have strengthened the process of democratic decentralization? Give your views.(UPSC CSE Mains 2021 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1)
Decentralisation and democracy are the most significant themes in the development discourse. Decentralisation means transfer of planning, decision-making or administrative authority from the central government to its field agencies. Democratic decentralization is an extension of the democratic principle aims at widening the area of the people’s participation, authority and autonomy through devolution of powers to people’s representative organizations. Despite various limitations Panchayati Raj Institution has played its crucial role w.r.t.
- Promote Democratic Representation - The PRI system generally consists of three level: Gram Panchayat at the village level, Block Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti at the intermediate level and Zilla Panchayat at the district level. This scheme of the PRI system increases cooperation among people, democratic participation and decentralization.
- Effective and Efficient Planning - The 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country have been entrusted to provide basic services in the villages and plan for local economic development. The Gram Sabha (GS) discusses the development work plans of the GP called Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and the elected representatives execute the plans. Formulation of GPDP improves efficiency of public services.
- Ensures Good Governance - ‘Consensus oriented’ and ‘Participation’ are two important pillars of Good Governance and the PRI helps in ensuring both these pillars. For example, GS is a channel to include the less privileged section of society and ensure their participation in the village level governance wherein they can advocate their developmental aspirations. This bottom-up approach is meant to reflect the needs of various stakeholders
The recommendations of the 6th report of the 2nd Administrative Reform Commission (ARC) can be implemented for a better and effective functioning of the Panchayati Raj institutions.
- Genuine fiscal federalisme. fiscal autonomy accompanied by fiscal accountability can provide a long term solution.
- The 2nd ARC had recommended that there should be a clear-cut demarcation of functions of each tier of the government.
- The2nd ARC also recommended that state Governments should encourage local bodies to outsource specific functions to public or private agencies, as may be appropriate, through enabling guidelines and support
- The Comprehensive and holistic trainingrequires expertise and resources from various subject matter specific training institutes.
- This can be best achieved by ‘networking’ of institutions concerned with various subjects such as financial management, rural development, disaster management and general management.
- Audit committeesmay be constituted by the State Governments at the district level to exercise oversight of the integrity of financial information, adequacy of internal controls, compliance with the applicable laws and ethical conduct of all persons involved in local bodies.
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