Govt ready to give more powers to panchayats

As a measure of encouragement, the Government has decided to issue awards to panchayats which function well. Rs 60 lakh each would be given to six district panchayats annually, Rs 20 lakh to 12 taluka panchayats and Rs 10 lakh to 50 gram panchayats, he said.

Regarding funds for training newly elected representatives, he said the Centre has decided to hike the amount from Rs 5 crore to Rs 16 crore this year. Margaret Alva of Congress demanded special allocation for training women members which the minister agreed to consider.

Rana also promised to suspend gram pramukhs who are hand in glove with thekedars and responsible for spreading grassroots corruption — a complaint made by several members.

On the question of direct election of zilla panchayat presidents, the Minister said: ‘‘If the whole House wants this, the Government has no objection in changing the law to allow direct election.’’

However, this is unlikely to go through because there were major differences on the issue during the discussion. Members from UP and Bihar, notably Mulayam Singh Yadav, sought direct election on the ground that money and muscle power are rampantly used by goondas to get elected to these posts. But others argued that the powers of the ordinary panch is already being eroded by overbearing pradhans.

Rana also underlined the need for state governments to play an active role in devolving power to local bodies and pointed out that barring Karnataka no other state had devolved powers for all 29 subjects under 11th schedule to the PRIs. Kerala came a close second but other states lagged behind.

Though it was a Friday afternoon when attendance in the House is thin, quite a few members were present to hear the minister and a spate of questions followed his reply. However, Congress MPs, who took such a great interest in the discussion yesterday, were less visible today. Less than a dozen were present during the reply — possibly because Sonia Gandhi was not there to ensure their attendance.