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The tussle of the two groups of elected representatives of the State in the matter of power sharing or in other words the crisis in the matter of devolution of power is not a new thing. Manipur is a small State; the size of an Assembly constituency is just equal to the size of a Gram Panchayat in bigger States like U.P and Madhya Pradesh. There is always the possibility of tussle in the matter of power sharing in the name of providing service to the people. The infringements do occur in the opinion of the elected members of the Gram Panchayats. The complaints of these elected members are that they are yet to get the powers to discharge their duties as an elected member.
The 73rd constitutional Amendment Bill was passed by the Parliament in December 2002 and came into force from the 24th April, 03. This amendment grants the constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions under a different schedule, the 11th schedule. This is a matter of great headache to the elected members of the State Assembly as most of the powers under their feet have to be slipped away as an obligation to the Constitution. It will be a matter of great interest and importance for the common people to know what the 11th Schedule of the Constitution provides for the Panchayats.
The Panchayats have been empowered by the 11th Schedule to prepare plans and schemes in respect of 29 subjects for the economic development while ensuring social justice and implementation of various programs.
They are:
(i) Agriculture including agricultural extension.
(ii) Land improvement, implementation of land reforms
(iii) Land consolidation and soil conservation
(iv) Minor irrigation, water management and water shed development
(v) Animal husbandry, dairying and poultry
(vi) Fisheries (vii) Social forestry and farm fishery
(viii) Minor forest produce
(ix) Small scale industry
(x) Food processing
(xi) Khadi, village and cottage industries
(xii) Rural housing
(xiii) Drinking water
(xiv) Fuel and fodder
(xv) Road, culvert, bridges, ferries waterways and other means of communications
(xvi) Rural electrification
(xvii) Non-conventional energy sources
(xviii) Poverty alleviation program
(xix) Education, adult and non-formal education
(xx) Technical training and vocational training
(xxi) Libraries and cultural activities
(xxii) Markets and fairs
(xxiii) Health and sanitation including hospitals
(xxiv) Family planning
(xxv) Women and child welfare
(xxvi) Social welfare including handicapped
(xxvii) Welfare of weaker section
(xxviii) Public Distribution system and
(xxix) Maintenance of community assets.
In order to bring conformity with the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act 1992, the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 was passed and came into force from the 23rd April 1994. The Act provides for a two-tier system gram Panchayat and Zilla Parishad. Section 35 and section 61 of this act gives a long list of functions of the gram panchayats and Zilla Parishads. But in the Amendment Act of 1996, gram Panchayat and Zilla parishads shall exercise such powers and perform such function as may be specified by the Government by notification in the Gazette.
Here lies the root of the tussle of the two representative bodies. If all the powers of implementation of schemes included in the 29 lists are transferred to the panchayats (they ought to be), then what will the MLAs and Ministers do then? So they always try to seize the powers of the panchayats so that the coarse portions should still remain in their hands, while the smaller portions that slipped should reach at the hands of their favored members. This makes people to believe that Panchayat institutions are the rubberstamp of political parties in power.
The last election of the panchayats was held on the 30th August 2002 in which altogether 1783 representative were elected from the panchayats of Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and Thoubal district. The number of elected members: 61 Zilla Parisad members, 166 Pradhans and 1556 members. However the complaints of these elected members are that they are yet to get the exact power to discharge their duties as elected members.
There are many programs and schemes to be executed by the Panchayat like (a) IRDP (b)JRY (c) DWCRA (d) EAS (e) SGRY (f) SGRY etc. The lack of co-ordination or communication gap between the official and elected representatives of the panchayats greatly affects the success or the failure of the programs.
Of late, it is learnt that in the programs relating to PDS in the schemes like BPL, AAY, PS and SK Oil distribution, members of Parishads and Panchayats have been given their share of duty. It is a good step in the right direction. Let the Gram Panchayat setups in the State perform the functions entrusted to them under the law so that the slogan "Power to the Panchayat "should not be a mere shibboleth". |
