Panchs, Sarpanchs Decry Security, Empowerment

…But Coalition Partners Eyeing 'MISSION 2014'

20/04/2013

Now it has been almost two years that the state coalition government is orchestrating so loud and making promises to the 33,000 elected Panchayat members that the NC-Congress government is quite sincere in strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State but beyond this lip service and formulation of so called expert panels nothing tangible has been done to give a sigh of relief to the elected village heads who before the elections were shown a very glowing picture and were made to believe that after elections they would not only be given an opportunity to be a part of the basic democratic units but also enjoy power devolution and would also be able to serve their respective constituencies (Halqas). But this Cup of extra sugared Coffee never reached the Lip and in cold war between the National Conference and Congress Party the village heads are rendered helpless to suffer between the tug of war between Nation's oldest Party and the state's oldest Party. Right from Congress Party's National top Brass like Rahul Gandhi to State unit of party headed by Professor Saifudin Soz, the party projected itself as pro-Panchayats and made public announcements that the party would do whatever necessary to implement 73rdamendment of Indian Constitution here in J & K to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions. On the other side, the National Conference also assert for strengthening the local self governance units in rural areas but with a caveat that because of article 370 the Indian laws cannot be directly extended in the state.
Anyhow, once again 2 months ago another so called expert panel of Congress Party has submitted its recommendations to the state government for strengthening the PRI's and on the name of further study the report, the state government ordered formulation of another commission having members from the rural development and Panchayat ministry . This commission comprising of bureaucrats has also submitted its report and recommendations to the state government but yet the government is not taking any decision and still trying to buy more times. It is pertinent to mention here that earlier also the state government hired the services of Delhi based NGO to suggest recommendations and to make a critical comparison between the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayti Raj Act and the Union Panchayti Raj Law. Unfortunately the state government never ever made this report public which has suggested so many positive recommendations and underlined many shortcoming in the state Panchayati Raj Act.
The state government has simply failed to convince the elected Panchayat members that it was sincere to give powers to them. The only thing the J & K governments and its ministers talk about is that the state government has put 14 departments under the control of Panchayats. This is perhaps the biggest joke of the century because the GAD circulars make it ample clear that in these 14 departments any Panch or Sarpanch can only do the role of a whistle blower and nothing else. For example in forest department if any Sarpanch finds someone is cutting a tree in his Panchayat Halqa Jurisdiction he can simply make a complain to the concerned forest official which other wisely an ordinary citizen can also do. And in any educational institute say a primary school if any village head finds absence of a teacher or any other staff member in this case also he has to report to the concerned ZEO, zonal education officer. The Panchayat member cannot even recommend any disciplinary action against any delinquent officer or official not even a class iv employee.
The only good thing in this period of two years the state government did for the Panchayat representatives is announcement of honorarium to them, the state government has announced Rs. 2000/month (Rs. 66/day) for the Sarpanch and Rs. 1000/Month (Rs. 33/day) for Panch which no way can be justified in this era of high inflation. Last but not the least, so far 6 Sarpanches have been assassinated by the unidentified gunmen but both the union and the state government remain clueless and eyeing 2014 elections (both lok sabha and assembly elections are due in 2014). GOI and State government are trying to bury this important issue under carpet ignoring the consequences. Calling it as personal rivalry to selected targets the people at the helm of affairs are not willing to face the bitter truth that the situation is going out of hand and if immediate action is not taken then no one can stop the history to repeat itself. God forbids, if 1987 election scenario is repeated then who will come forward to participate in democratic process therefore both Congress and National Conference should shun their petty political points and do whatever necessary to keep the flame of constitution and democratic principles alive. In a major embarrassment for the government of India and the state now these scared Panches and Sarpanches have urged the World Human Rights Organizations to intervene in the matter of killings of Panchayat members. The other mainstream political parties also needs to raise the genuine grievances of the 33000 elected Panchayat members who are feeling helpless in absence of any power in their hand and are also fearing for risk to their lives because they have received open threat by a terror outfit's commander from across the border. About Raman Sharma, he is an RTI activist and can be reached [a]jkrtiact@gmail.com

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty