EMPOWERING PANCHAYATI RAJ IN RAJASTHAN

  • Elections to PRI's were conducted in January / Febrarury, 2005.

·         Special programme of training conducted by organising joint orientation work shop of three days for all Zila Pramukh & Chief Executive Officers from 4th to 9th April,05, three days joint orientation work shop for all  Pradhan &  Block Development Officers from 5th to 7th May, 05, Six days joint orientation work shop for all Sarpanchs & Gram Sevaks from 30th May to 4th June, 05 and one day work shop for all Ward Panchs between 6th to 18th June, 05. In the above special programme training provided to 88518 newly elected PRI’s Representative along with 7995 official of PRI’s.

Social Reform

  • Upon removal of Chairperson of PRI from reserved category, the post shall mandatorily fill by a person from the same category.

  • Increase in reservation of seats for Other Backward Classes from 15% to 21%.

  • Reservation of all seats of Chairpersons of Panchayati Raj Institutions at all level in Scheduled Areas reserved for the person belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.

  • Quorum for Gram/ Ward Sabhas has to comprise of proportionate presence of members belonging to reserved categories.

Electoral Reform

·         Persons against whom Courts have taken cognizance of offences punishable with imprisonment of 5 years or more have been prohibited from contesting elections.

·         Persons employed in any body financed even partly by the State Govt. are ineligible to contest elections.

·         Restriction on contesting election for more than one seat.

Structural Reform

·         Ward Sabhas have been constituted in order to increase public participation in development planning and implementation.

·         Ward / Gram Sabhas given wide ranging powers like identifying, prioritizing and implementing works under various development schemes, identifying beneficiaries under various development schemes, undertaking social audit in respect of works, etc.

·         Constitution of Standing Committees of PRIs at all levels in order to empower institutions rather than personalities.

·         Restoring organic linkage between the three tiers of PRIs by making Sarpanchas member of Panchayat Samities and Pradhan members of Zila Parishads.

·         To give PRI's financial autonomy beside funds transferred by State/ Central Government, the Panchayati Raj Institutions have been given power to utilise their Own Income. However there is prohibition on creation of new posts from own income and new vehicle cannot be purchased without the prior permission of State Govt.

·         To vest PRIs with Administrative authority Zila Pramukhs and Pradhans made Reporting Officer for filling the Annual Performance Appraisal Report of Chief Executive Officer/ Addl. Chief Executive Officer and Block Development Officer respectively from year 2003-04.

·         The DRDAs merged in Zila Parishads.

·         To provide for self-governance in Tribal areas the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Extension of provisions to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1999 has been enacted.

·         To have transparency in the development works done by Gram Panchayats, the rule 323{3} of Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996 amended, now any person interested to have a copy of information of any record, muster-rolls or vouchers, relating to Gram Panchayats can apply for the same and on payment of prescribed fees the copy is made available to him in the prescribed period.

·         In order to ensure that the rural mass gets justice cheaper, the powers of Revision under Section 97 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, which were withdrawn in the year 2002, have been re-delegated to the Collectors in December 2004.

·         The powers of Section 111 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 enabling for recovery of the amount incurred due to loss, waste or miss-application of money or other property of PRIs' by the member of Panchayati Raj Institutions, vested earlier in Director, Panchayati Raj Department, have now been delegated to the Collectors in matters of Zila Parishads and to the Chief Executive Officers in matters of Panchayat Samities & Gram Panchayats.

Activities transferred as per the list of 29 Subjects of 11th Schedule to PRIs in Rajasthan :

Some of the key transferred activities and staff are as under:- 

Ø     Agriculture/Agriculture Extension activities along with staff up to the level of Asstt. Director transferred to Zila Parishad / Panchayat Samiti.

Ø     Watershed & Soil Conservation department brought under the control of RD & PR from Agriculture Department.

Ø     Irrigation Tanks up to 300 heq. Capacity transferred to Panchayat Samities along with supporting staff.

Ø     Fisheries Tanks of "D" category transferred to Panchayats "C" category to Panchayat Samities & "B" Category to Zila Parishads along with supporting staff up to level of Asstt. Director in Zila Parishad.

Ø     Activities relating to Social Forestry, Farm Forestry & Minor Forest produce transferred to Panchayat Samities along with supporting staff up to district level.

Ø     Zila Parishad will decide the name of village as per allocation by State Government for rural electrification.

Ø     Gram Panchayats have been authorised to take up the work relating to distribution of electricity bills, if desired.

Ø     Maintenance of Rural Hatts transferred to Gram Panchayats from Agriculture Department.

Ø     District Woman Development Agency brought under Zila Parishads.

Ø     Dy. Director, DWCD brought under Zila Parishad and CDPOs under Panchayat Samiti along with supporting staff & activities.

Ø     Activities implemented by District Social Welfare Officer transferred to Zila Parishad along with Officers up to level of Dy. Director / Asstt. Director together with supporting staff.

Ø     List of beneficiaries selected under Primer Minister Employment Scheme (PMRY) will be approved by Zila Parishad.

Ø     Proposals of Small Scale Industries will be discussed in the Standing Committee of Panchayat Samities.

 

·         Report received from Cabinet Committee constituted to review the functions transferred earlier along with funds and functionaries to PRIs and to recommend measures to strengthen them as effective units of Self Governance. Committee's report sent to Cabinet Secretariat for approval from Cabinet. 

Activity Mapping:

·         The exercise on the division of functional responsibilities between the three tires of the Panchayati Raj system on the basis of activity mapping have been completed for the following 18 departments:- I.C.D.S., Social Welfare, Agriculture, Soil Conservation, P.H.E.D., M.D.M- Education- Elementary/ Secondary, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Health and Family Welfare, Irrigation, Forest, Industry, Food, Tourism, P.W.D., Energy & Technical Education.

District Planning Committee (DPC):

  • In accordance with Article 243 ZD of the Constitution, the provision of District Planning Committee (DPC) has been incorporated in Section 121 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994. Detailed provisions relating to constitution, election and powers and functions of these committees have been made in Rule 350, 351 & 352 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996.

  • District Planning Committees in all districts of State, comprising members from Zila Parishads &Urban Local Bodies elected in recent election, have been constituted under the Chairmanship of Zila Pramukh.

  • Chief Planning Officers (CPOs) are appointed, as the Secretary of the DPCs. District Planning Cell under CPO will work as the secretariat of DPCs, under the administrative control of Zila Parishad.

  • For strengthening of DPCs, District Level Planning & Co-ordination Committees have also been constituted under the Chairmanship of District Collectors.

  • Planning (District Planning) cell has been established at headquarter in Panchayati Raj Department to get prepared Draft Development Plan of district by District Planning Committee.

Rajasthan Rural Development State Service:

  • Rajasthan Rural Development State Service has been approved by cabinet. The Rules of service will be notified soon.

Model Panchayat and Mini Secretariat:

·         In the state of Rajasthan efforts have been made for improving the delivery system of PRIs towards beneficiaries and rural population. The concept of Model Panchayats and Mini Secretariat has been introduced to locate the employees at the Panchayat headquarter and attending fortnightly meetings to be held at Panchayat office under the Chairperson of PRI.

·         The main aim of this system is improving the delivery system and empowerment of Chairperson with regard to solution of public grievances. In each block there will be one Model Gram Panchayat and a Mini Secretariat.

·         All Model Gram Panchayats will be housed in a properly designed building having separate rooms for all village have to level functionaries with adequate furniture. This will have a meeting hall for two meetings of all functionaries will be taken by Sarpanch/ Chairperson of PRI with an aim of solving the local level problems relating to all departments' activities.

·         In Mini Secretariat system all the village level functionaries will work under the control of Chairperson of PRI concerned. Officer in charge of the Mini secretariat will be Secretary of that PRI. In each month two days (i.e. 12th and 27th of the month) meetings will be held positively. Meetings of the Standing Committees of that PRI will be held on the same day in which important issues will be short listed and discussed in the future meeting of Panchayat. A register for public grievances and applications will be maintained. Inter departmental issues will be discussed in the meeting and the progress of each department will be reviewed in the meeting. Four or five GPs will be grouped and DLO or the BDO would be made officer in charge of each group of GP. They will guide and monitor these GPs functioning.

·         For establishment of "Mini Secretariat" concept at Gram Panchayat level the selection of 237 Gram Panchayats has been made to make one Model Panchayat in each Panchayat Samiti. In all the selected 237 Gram Panchayats the concept of Model Panchayat and "Mini Secretariat" will be made functional.

Panchayat Resource Centers (PRCs):

·         PRCs will be established in Panchayat Samities of the State to facilitate PRI representatives in legal and technical matters regarding implementation of rural development schemes, social security schemes and enforcement of major provisions of PR Act, 1994.

·         Initially "Panchayat Resource Centers" will be established in 100 Panchayat Samities In 42 Panchayat Samities covered under District Poverty Alleviation Programme the finance will be made available by DPIP.

·         PRCs will be staffed by minimum of two members (one male, one female). On rotational basis while one member manages the PRC desk the other member visits to Gram Panchayats and provides required support at the doorstep. The visits need to make in such a way that every panchayat is visited once in every three months.

Grant for PRIs under State Finance Commission-II (SFC-II):

·         The grant amounting to Rs. 491.88 crore made available to PRIs during the period 2000-01 to 2004-05.

·         As per State Finance Commission-IInd recommendation the allocation of 85% of grant made to Gram Panchayat, 12% to Panchayat Samities and 3% to Zila Parishads from the total grant for Panchayati Raj Institutions.

·         The district allocation made on the basis of 80% on 1991 population, 10% on the area, 5% on the literacy and 5% on the basis of the number of BPL families. In the district at different tiers i.e. Gram Panchayat & Panchayat Samiti, the allocation made on the basis of their population.

·         The grant made available to PRIs to finance the creation, improvement, strengthening, augmentation, up gradation, extension and maintenance of civic services in rural area. For maintenance of school buildings and other community buildings to promote the elementary education of Girls and construction of public facilities like Bus Stand, Sanitation. To complete the works which are left incomplete due to closure of schemes and non-availability of funds for incomplete works.

·         For Execution, Supervision and Monitoring of different rural development schemes prevailing in the jurisdiction of Zila Parishads/ Panchayat Samities.

Incentive Scheme:

  • State Finance Commission-IInd recommended starting incentive scheme in order to encourage Gram Panchayats to generate their own income.
  • In this incentive scheme if any Gram Panchayat increase own income as per provision made in Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act/ Rules then incentive grants is allotted equivalent to collected additional revenue.
  • The grant amounting to Rs. 11.21 crore made available as an incentive to Gram Panchayats.

Grant for PRIs under Eleventh Finance Commission (EFC):

  • The Eleventh Finance Commission made available grant amounting to Rs. 490.95 crore to PRIs in Rajasthan during the period 2000-01 to 2004-05. To finance the maintenance of civic services in rural area which includes Primary Education, Primary Health Care, Safe Drinking Water, Street-Lighting, Sanitation including Drainage and Scavenging Facilities, maintenance of Cremation and Burial Grounds, Public Conveniences and other common property resources.
  • Amount of Rs. 1884.20 lac & Rs. 754.08 lac kept for maintenance of accounts & creation of database of PRIs respectively as per recommendations of Eleventh Finance Commission. A project named CARISMA has been prepared by the department involving Headquarter of Panchayati Raj Department, all 32 Zila Parishad, all 237 Panchayat Samities  & 1100 Gram Panchayats to develop them in the form of Computer Hub in order to have networking up to Zila Parishad & Panchayat Samiti level is under implementation.

Twelfth Finance Commission:

  • Against the financial provision of Rs. 24600.00 lac amount Rs. 24600.00 lac transferred to PRIs in year 2005-06.
  • The grant made available to improve the service delivery in the rural area in respect of water supply & sanitation and for creation of database & proper maintenance of accounts of PRIs.
  • Against the financial provision of Rs. 24600.00 lac the first installment of Rs. 12300.00 lac transferred to PRIs in year 2006-07. 

State Finance Commission-IIIrd:

  • Amount Rs 15757.00 lac transferred to PRI’s in year 2005-2006.
  • Against the financial provision of Rs. 18004.00 lac amount Rs. 9002.00 lac transferred to PRIs in year 2006-07.

The following schemes implemented through Panchayati Raj Department:

  1. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Adarsh Gram Yojna

  2. Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana.

  3. National Family Benefit Scheme.

  4. Residential Allotment of plots on concessional rates

  5. Panna Dhay Jeevan Amrit Yojna.