Issues With Panchayati Raj Institutions - Indian Polity Notes

The term Panchayati Raj in India signifies the system of rural local self-government along with development. It has been established in all the states of India by the Acts of the state legislatures to build democracy at the grass-root level. It was constitutionalized through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992. Rajasthan was the first state to establish Panchayati Raj in 1959 and was followed by Andhra Pradesh, which also adopted the system in 1959. The UPSC Indian Polity and Governance Syllabus includes Issues With Panchayati Raj Institutions which is described in this article.

Significance of Panchayati Raj Institution

• Promote Democratic Representation: The Panchayati Raj Institution system increases cooperation among people, democratic participation, and decentralization through the three levels such as Gram Panchayat at the village level, Block Panchayat, or PanchayatSamiti at the intermediate level, and Zilla Panchayat at the district level.
• Effective and Efficient Planning The Gram Panchayats (GPs) in India have been entrusted to provide basic services in the villages and plan for local economic development. The Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) which is being developed by the Gram Sabhas improves the efficiency of public services.
• Ensures Good Governance: Good Governance has two important pillars such as ‘Consensus-oriented’ and ‘Participation’. The Panchayati Raj Institutions help in ensuring both the pillars of Good Governance.

Challenges faced By Panchayati Raj Institutions

Even after conferring constitutional status and protection through the 73rd Amendment Act (1992), the performance of the Panchayati Raj Institutions has not been satisfactory and not up to the expected level. The various reasons for this sub-optimal performance are as follows:

Issues Related To Functionaries Concerns related to Human Resource at Gram Panchayat level:

• Non-accountability- Even though the personnel at the Gram Panchayat level deliver crucial services like education, health, and livelihood generation, they are, in most cases, not accountable to the Gram Panchayat and the Gram Sabha.
• Lack of horizontal and vertical convergence of action at the Gram Panchayat level is a problem of prime concern. Vertical integration is also not ensured because of different departments and schemes under which they are appointed with specific mandates.
• Poor Oversight- There is poor oversight to check if the existing rules are being violated. Dependence on employees is high if elected functionaries in Panchayats lack administrative experience and it can lead to exploitation of the situation by the staff or collusion between elected functionaries and officials.
• Variation across states- Wide variation across States in terms of engagement - qualification and mode of recruitment, duration, remuneration, travel allowances, and other conditions for similar cadres.
• Variation in Remuneration: There are variations in remuneration under different schemes functioning at the rural level which leads to the migration of employees from one State to another; sometimes from one scheme to another. For example, the daily payment under MGNREGA in Haryana is Rs. 309 whereas, in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, it is less than Rs. 200.
• No Standard Minimum Qualification for elected and non-elected members.

Challenges faced by Elected Women Representatives

Even though women constitute a major share of total elected representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions, they face numerous challenges such as:

• Leadership skills: The lack of leadership skills makes it difficult for them to assert or even openly express their opinions. Recently, it has been reported that 77% of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions believe they can’t change things easily on the ground.
• Sarpanch Pati System: Even after getting elected most of their work in panchayats is done by their husbands.
• Also, the general absence of women representatives from panchayat’s meetings due to the discouraging attitudes of the family members is another issue of concern. 

Issues Related To Finances

• Low local revenue generation: As the Economic Survey, 2017-18 highlighted, there is a Low Equilibrium Trap which means the local bodies appear to be not collecting revenues from taxes to the extent they can. This is largely because most of the state governments have not devolved enough taxation powers to Panchayats. Even if the states have given the taxation powers, its collection is low due to their reluctance to pay taxes by the locals. Thus, they remain dependent on fund devolution. 
• Unwillingness to borrow from Financial Institutions: Despite being empowered to access loans for public infrastructure and service delivery, most Gram Panchayats have not borrowed, making them unable to plan effectively for the long term.
• Non-implementation of recommendations of State Finance Commission: Since the recommendations of State Finance Commissions are non-binding on state government, they are not implemented in letter and spirit.

Issues Related to Functions

• Unscientific distribution of functions between different tiers: The roles and responsibilities of local governments remain ill-defined due to the very little actual devolution of functions and authorities by the States to Panchayati Raj Institutions in several States.
• Creation of Parallel Bodies: Often, Parallel Bodies are created for supposedly speedy implementation and greater accountability. However, there is little evidence to show that such parallel bodies have avoided the evils including that of partisan politics, sharing of spoils, corruption, and elite capture. Parallel bodies usurp the legitimate space of Panchayati Raj Institutions and demoralize them by virtue of their superior resource endowments. For example, Khap Panchayats acts as a parallel body in different parts of the country and it usually encroaches into the functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• The politicization of Panchayati Raj Institutions: Even though the Panchayati Raj Institutions are deemed to be Government Institutions, the political parties ruling at the state are reluctant to give autonomy to them, making them as their organizational arms resulting in frequent interventions in their day to day functioning and politicization of appointments.
• Weak and inefficient District Planning Committees: The committees are too weak to guide Panchayati Raj Institutions due to political interferences.
• Poor Infrastructure: A large number of Gram Panchayats in the country do not have even a full-time Secretary. Around 25 percent of the Gram Panchayats do not have basic office buildings. Also, a large number of elected representatives are semi literate and know little about their roles and responsibilities.

Suggested Reforms

• The 6th report of the 2nd Administrative Reform Commission (ARC) can be implemented for better and effective functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• The 2nd ARC had recommended that there should be a clear-cut demarcation of functions of each tier of the government. And it has 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.
• Fiscal autonomy accompanied by fiscal accountability (Genuine Fiscal Federalism) can provide a long-term solution.
• Also, the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Schemes (MPLADS) fund can be utilized in an effective manner.
• Training should be imparted to the Members of Panchayats which requires expertise and resources from various subject matter-specific training institutes. It can be achieved by networking of institutions concerned with various subjects such as financial management, rural development, disaster management and general management.
• State Governments may constitute Audit committees at the district level to exercise oversight of the integrity of financial information, adequacy of internal controls, compliance with the applicable laws, etc.
• Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) can be created by local communities in situations such as if there is an infrastructure need and the community is willing to pay for it.
• Setting reasonable tax and fee rates, improving collection efficiencies, and expanding financing mechanisms to ensure buoyancy of revenues over time.
• Also, access to debt capital markets can be a viable solution for sources of financing, providing them the scope for planned infrastructure development. Local bodies need to substantially improve their overall administrative and technical capacities to access debt, particularly long-term bonds.

Conclusion

The Panchayati Raj system in India should be strengthened as it captures local needs and ensures responsive governance. The implementation of the 73rd Amendment Act of the Constitution should be done in an efficient manner such that the objectives of the Act will be achieved.

FAQs

MCQs

Question: Which one of the following authorities makes recommendations to the Governor of a State as to the principles for determining the taxes and duties which may be appropriated by the Panchayats in that particular State? [ UPSC 2010 ]

(a) District Planning Committees

(b) State Finance Commission

(c) Finance Ministry of that State

(d) Panchayati Raj Ministry of that State

Question: The fundamental object of the Panchayati Raj system is to ensure which among the following: [ Laxmikanth ]

1. People’s participation in development
2. Political accountability
3. Democratic decentralization
4. Financial mobilization

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only

(b) 2 and 4 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4