“My idea of a village swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants and yet interdependent for many others where dependency is necessary.”

~ M.K.Gandhi

The State Government had set up the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Amendment Committee in 2013 with K.R.Ramesh Kumar as Chairperson for the purpose of recommending amendments to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993. Following the vision of Gandhi and pioneers of Karnataka such as Abdul Nazir Sab, Ramakrishna Hegde and M. Y. Ghorpade who had helped establish Karnataka as one of the most progressive states advocating decentralisation, the Report entitled ‘Path to Grama Swaraj’ brought out by the Committee is path-breaking in its approach to make Gram Swaraj a reality.

Some of its very progressive recommendations are:

a. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as autonomous governments

The report has shifted the perspective from PRIs as sub contractors of the State to PRIs as autonomous governments with the appropriate powers and obligations of governments at these levels of governance similar to the sharing of responsibilities of the Union and State Governments.

 

b. Re-alignment of governance structures to respond to Gram Sabhas

The Report delineates functions that require to be carried out at the respective tiers, completely dismantling and incorporating whole institutions under the PRIs as appropriate. In this model no line departments or independent missions or programmes will function independently of the PRIs as all of them will mandatorily be incorporated into the administrative machinery of the PRIs including their functions, functionaries and funds making it possible for PRIs to deploy the staff so devolved as they see fit and use the funds at their discretion to fulfil the demands of the Gram Sabhas and implement the plans the Gram Sabhas design.

c. Promoting the concept of participatory democratic planning

People’s planning and reporting, the crux of a democratic participatory democracy, has been designed with a bottom-up approach with the Gram Sabhas as the primary unit for developing plans based on their needs – which is as it should be – with provision for Gram Panchayats to have a say in the consolidation of plans at the Taluk level through a Taluk Planning and Development Committee [TPDC].

 

d. Special attention to incorporating rights of the marginalised

Emphasis has been laid on the participation of the most marginalized communities in all aspects of local governance in the Report. This creates opportunities for the participation of members of the socially disadvantaged groups including women and children. The Committee has recommended that Grama Sabhas for members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, women and children be mandatory. Matters related to Social Justice such as violence against women and the scheduled castes and tribes, dispute resolution and the establishment of an environment that allows all people to exercise their rights in an atmosphere of freedom and liberty, Knowledge Management or the creation of an information base for every Panchayat to enable more scientific planning and monitoring; and Electoral Reforms are considered for devolution.

 

Read the full report and the related papers.

The Report is accompanied by a Grama Swaraj Bill which actualises its recommendation. As the winter session begins in Belagavi by 9th December, come join us in petitioning the Government to table and pass this path-breaking Bill. GPHA is building momentum through every panchayat to build support for this Bill which brings self-determination back in the hands of the citizens.

Come join us in a demand to realise Gram Swaraj in Karnataka!

Sign the petition and we will ensure that your voice is added to the movement!

Hosted by:

Grama Panchayat Hakkotaya Andolana (The Movement for Self-determination of Rural Local Governments), Karnataka. GPHA has been devoted to securing and safeguarding the provisions of  democratic decentralisation and devolution of power enshrined in the Constitution of India for the last seven years. The Concerned for Working Children is the Secretariat of the GPHA.

 

To know more about:

Andolana: http://gpha.weebly.com

CWC: www.concernedforworkingchildren.org​; www.facebook.com/workingchildren​; https://twitter.com/workingchildren

Write to us at cwc@pobox.com