Law needed to give money to panchayats: PM

‘‘If all the political parties agree, the Ministries of Rural Development, Finance and Law will together work out a draft amendment,’’ Vajpayee said inaugurating a conference of project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (drdas) here.

The Prime Minister’s announcement comes in the backdrop of a unanimous resolution passed recently by the All-India Panchayat Adhyakshas Sammelan here urging the Government to introduce a new Constitutional amendment to empower the panchayati raj institutions with much-needed administrative and financial powers.

Recalling the enthusiasm of former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi in taking a historic step in democratic decentralisation, Vajpayee said he wished to mention Gandhi’s name in connection with 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution to empower panchayati raj institutions. Asserting India is on its way to becoming a major economic power in Asia and the world, Vajpayee said but the country still lagged behind in so many areas of development with villages remaining deprived of even the most basic amenities of life.

‘‘We neither have well-ordered cities nor reconstructed and rejuvenated villages. This is because, after Independence, we did not attach high priority to agriculture, rural development and creation of productive employment for the youth in villages,’’ the Prime Minister said.

Vajpayee said it is indeed a paradox that whereas the cities and towns had become a part of ‘‘the global village’’, many of the villages are still far-removed from this ‘‘global village’’.

Expressing concern over the growing urban-rural divide in the country, he said it is holding India’s progress back.

‘‘The situation is bound to impact the country’s overall socio-economic development,’’ he said.

Stating that the urban-rural divide is impacting development and the quality of life in urban areas too, the Prime Minister said poverty, over-population and overstretched civic amenities in the cities were a direct result of rural stagnation.