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| Leh Panchayat initiatives: An example in J&K? | | | Tsewang Rigzin
Despite hiccups and
glitches in the
smooth functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in most parts of State of Jammu & Kashmir, several initiatives by Panchayat leaders and steps taken to empower them in Ladakh are promising. The initiatives are not without impediments as there are loopholes in the system which could lead to create conflict between the powers and functions of PRIs with that of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) of Leh and Kargil.
The Jammu & Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act 1989 provides a three-tiered structure with Halqa Panchayat (HP) at the grassroots, Block Development Council (BDC) at every block and the District Planning and Development Board (DPDB) at the district level. However, the three-tier system has not yet seen the light of the day in the State on account of many grounds including lack of political will and feeling of insecurity amongst politicians as the new institutions are often seen as threats to the established politicians in the state. Block Development Council elections scheduled to be held in October 2012 were postponed abruptly on the pretext of bringing reservations for women and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in BDC. Since then it was never conducted despite repeated verbal assurance by the government over the years.
Stories in Ladakh, however, are little different because LAHDC Act 1997 provides Hill Councils to function as the District Planning and Development Board (DPDB) or Zilla Parishad - third of the three tiers of J&K Panchayati Raj system. After the enactment of J&K Panchayati Raj Act in 1989, Panchayat elections were first held in the State in 2001. Soon after the formation PRIs, Leh was perhaps the first district to take steps towards empowerment of grassroots leaders. Students Educational Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) with support from ActionAid India and DanChurchAid organised a month-long study tour for panchayat members of Leh to States like Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in February 2002 to study best practices of grassroots governance in other parts of the country where panchayat institutions had evolved with the backing of the 73rd constitutional Amendment. The delegation later called on the then Chief Minister and the Governor in Jammu and presented a set of recommendations for empowerment of PRIs in the State. Ladakh Development Organization (LDO) also provided leadership trainings and workshops to the Ladakhi panchayat leaders to enable them to function as efficient grassroots leaders.
After Panchayat elections in 2011 in the state which saw an astonishing 79 percent voter turnout, Leh district took several initiatives to empower Panchayat leaders. As a part of the TATA - LAHDC Development Support Program called the 'Gyurja' (a partnership between LAHDC Leh and TISS Mumbai implemented in Ladakh with IDBI support), an exposure tour to the Sarpanches of Leh district was organised in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with training workshops at Hyderabad and Mumbai with the aim to 'help strengthen the decentralization process leading to an increased ownership of the development process by village communities in the region'.
The Sarpanches of Leh formed the Panchayat Coordination Committee (PCC) to strengthen PRIs in Ladakh and work in close coordination with the Hill Council. In addition to the schemes and functions transferred to the PRIs as per the J&K Panchayati Act 1989, each Halqa Panchayat in Leh is allocated an amount of rupees 3.00 lakh each financial year by LAHDC to be spent for development schemes at grassroots at the discretion of PRIs.
Panchayats leaders in the State, particularly of Ladakh, have been demanding adoption of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution. The PCC Leh has made several representations before the state government favoring adoption of 73rd constitutional Amendment in letter and spirit. Secretary PCC Leh Mr Rigzin Namgial believes that one of the successful initiatives of the PCC was the anti-corruption drive that it launched in association with religious and political organizations of Leh in 2014. The drive was against all forms of corrupt practices and irregularities which are causing a huge loss to the government resources besides hampering the smooth functioning of developmental activities. "We received support from all sections of the society including religious organization which too expressed concerns over the loss to the public exchequer on account of irregularities", he said. In an attempt to root corrupt practices from where it begins, all Sarpanches of Leh vowed not to succumb to any corrupt practices. PPC passed resolution in this regard and the same was forwarded to the State Government and LAHDC. It also suggested State Assembly to bring a strong anti-corruption law like the 'Jan Lok Pal' to curb this menace across the State.
PCC demanded its representatives in the General Council meetings of LAHDC Leh till BDCs are formed in the State. When BDCs are in place, the chairmen BDC become ex-officio members in the General Council sessions. Panchayati Raj Act says that 'in the case of districts of Leh and Kargil the Councilors of any Council Constituted under the section 3 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997 representing the area falling in any block shall be ex-officio members of Block Development Council for such block'. As Leh believes in participatory governance process and devolution of powers, amendments with the LAHDC Act 1997 to harmonize it with the J&K Panchayati Raj Act 1989 has been a unanimous demand as roles and functions of two democratic dispensations need more clarity. "LAHDC Act needs to be suitably amended to clarify its roles and functions vis a vis the PRIs", Councilor Phunsok Tashi from Zanskar observes. A formal proposal to amend LAHDC Act to harmonize it with the provision of the Panchayati Raj Act, particularly the structure and empowerment of institutions at different levels under the new framework, seems to be collecting dust with the Ladakh Affairs Department for the last several years.
Panchayat elections were conducted in several phases in the State from April to June 2011 and as astonishing as 79 per cent of voter-turnout was registered to elect over 33,000 representatives in 4,200 panchayats constituencies. PRIs are completing their term in July 2016. It will be interesting to observe whether the State Government, if there is one soon, would prefer to conduct Panchayat elections on schedule or keep on making different excuses to put it in the backburner.
(The article has been written under NFI National Media Fellowship 2015-16) |
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