Panchayati Raj System

The J&K District Polls Call for an Examination of Local Governance Not Politics

Unlike other elections, local body polls are not about political rancour. Instead, they should focus on resolving issues of public interest using resources judiciously and planning effectively.

Governance as a process promotes both social and political participation. Similarly, elections ensure social and political participation. However, in areas affected by conflict and violence, every process becomes a tool of political positioning. The process of elections to District Development Councils (DDCs) in Jammu and Kashmir has brought the focus back on the political process in J&K rather than on local governance.

Elections at the local level are no substitute for legislative assembly elections and do not provide adequate representation to every issue and challenge that people face. J&K at this moment faces bigger challenges that cannot be addressed at the local level. Further, elections to DDCs or vacant panchayat seats cannot be used as a litmus test for all the changes that have emerged in the erstwhile state of J&K. This is where the politics-administration dichotomy debates even more relevant.

Halqa Panchayats, Block Development Councils, and District Development Councils are the institutions of local governance. And local governance through Panchayati Raj is at the heart of rural development. Elections to these institutions have to focus on local governance rather than promoting and ‘force verifying’ a particular ideology.

Also read: To Contest or Not: Gupkar Alliance In a Bind About Participation in J&K DDC Polls

Elections to DDCs would complete the three-tier Panchayati Raj in J&K. DDCs would play a significant role in preparing and approving district plans and capital expenditure. They would have elected representatives from rural areas of each district. Within DDCs, there will be District Plan Committees (DPCs) which will consider and guide district development plans. DPCs would indicate priorities for various schemes and consider issues related to the speedy development and economic uplift of the district.

Election officials make preparations for polling at the BDC elections being held across 22 districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Photo: PTI/File

District Development Councils have to be understood within the context of Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) and Back to Village Programme (B2V) programme. Looking purely from the governance perspective, GPDP has to be the cornerstone of the local development and governance.

GPDP empowers Halqa Panchayats to ensure decentralisation of planning and power at the grassroots level. DDCs would help in the consolidation of planning but councils cannot be substituted for gram panchayats, and yet another tool of centralisation of planning process even if it is at the district level.

The success of DDCs would rest largely on the process of decentralised planning through Gram Panchayat Development Plan and Back to Village (B2V) programme. These twin concepts are aimed at ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable governance at the local level. The focus of this article would be on GPDP and Back to Village concepts (B2V).

From local government to local governance: Shift from means to ends

In other states of India, the debate around local governance has shifted from local government to local governance. The organisation issue has been resolved in other states with the implementation of the 73rd Amendment to the constitution which mandated three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj. In Jammu and Kashmir, elections to the local bodies have been irregular. In 2011, Panchayati elections were held after a gap of 10 years. In 2001, the elections were held after a gap of 23 years. Even when elections were held, those were for Halqa Panchayats only. Now with elections to DDCs, all three structures of the Panchayati Raj would be in place, namely: Halqa Panchayats, Block Development Councils and District Development Councils.

These structures would not be enough. There has to be devolution of functions, finances, functionaries and decentralised planning as mandated by the Act. However, this has not happened and unlikely to happen if there is more political utilisation of local governance institutions.

File photo of women attending a gram sabha meeting in Dungarpur district, Rajasthan. Photo: UN Women Asia and the Pacific/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Elections are means to an end and not an end in itself. Devolution of functions, finances and decentralised planning as mandated by the Act are yet to be implemented in the actual sense. This is partly due to focus on PRIs as the institutions of local government rather than local governance. The focus has been more on political participation, and PRIs are looked at more as centres of local politics than institutions of governance. It also suffers from bureaucratic hurdles of power-sharing. People’s attitude towards these institutions has been to a large extent indifferent as their participation was limited to voting.

Also read: Cui Bono: Panchayati Raj System and the Structures of Power

There has to be a shift from local government to local governance with emphasis on three Fs, functions, finance and functionaries. The shift should aim to make PRIs action-oriented and goal-oriented units of governance. From mere political representation, the emphasis in governance would mean focus on citizen participation, responsiveness, transparency, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency and accountability. In the context of PRIs, local governance as a concept would manifest itself through empowerment of gram sabha and gram panchayat, capacity building of panchayats, financial strengthening through devolution, programme delivery, inclusive social and economic development, social justice, and social audit.

Governance includes various processes – elections, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, etc. It is not one of these features that complete the organic concept of governance, but a combination of these. Strengthening one aspect involves strengthening other aspects as well. Institutions, processes and people’s participation are in a way ends of the governance. But on the other hand, these features are means through which the state achieves the larger objectives. That’s true in the context of local governance as well.

Strengthening of local institutions like gram sabha and gram panchayat; people’s participation in local development; and processes like capacity building, community mobilisation and decentralised planning are not an end in itself.

These aspects are the means to achieve effective and responsive service delivery at the local level and ensuring inclusive social and economic development and justice at the grassroots level. There has to be the shift from means to ends which would involve reforming of local governance and strengthening of all aspects of governance to ensure responsive and effective public service at the local level. It starts with PRIs playing a major role in planning at the local level.

Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and responsive local governance

Planning is an important process of governance. Decentralised planning has been a long-term objective in developing effective local governance in India. It gained renewed focus in 2015 through Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).

GPDP is the development plan of the gram panchayat. GPDP are plans formulated by gram panchayats for economic development and social justice utilising the resources available to them. It is expected to be not merely an end product of gram panchayat planning, but a comprehensive and participatory process of governance that involves full convergence with schemes of all related union ministries related to 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule of Constitution.

A gram panchayat meeting in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh. Credit: UN Women/Gaganjit Singh

A gram panchayat meeting in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh. Photo: UN Women/Gaganjit Singh

The convergence is a central aspect of GPDP for the effective implementation of flagship schemes on subjects on national importance for the transformation of rural India as well as localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

GPDP re-emphasises that development is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Local needs and demands may differ from panchayat to panchayat. It is a bottom-up approach of planning which seeks to go beyond infrastructure and covers areas like poverty reduction, social development of vulnerable groups, service delivery, and include both resource-based and no-cost interventions.

Also read: Why India’s Governance Policies Often Ends up Being Suboptimal

GPDP through a convergence of schemes at the panchayat level seeks to address deprivations at the grassroots level and achieve inclusive development, poverty reduction, creating better opportunities, improve basic services, health nutrition, malnutrition, education, and women and child development, etc. GPDP as a process of planning takes into account the available resource at the panchayat level, infrastructure status and gaps, needs and demands of local people and prioritises important sectors and activities, etc.

GPDP as a process of governance is a reform tool that improves institutions, people’s participation and processes. It is a reform and development tool both at the level of preparing as well as implementing it. It is a time-bound, participatory, inclusive and transparent process.

There has to be a change in the working of the panchayats, capacity building among gram panchayat and gram sabha members, and convergence of efforts of various functionaries at the GP level, block officials, district officials and at the state level with gram sabha to avoid Riggsian Formalism in the Gram Panchayat Development Plan.

It starts with the awareness generation about the gram sabha and gram panchayat. It is critical for any planning process that people should be able to express their demands. Demands can come from active citizenry. Active citizenry is a byproduct of awareness generation and capacity building. This is where the concept of Back to Village (B2V) of Jammu and Kashmir gains significance.

Back to Village programme

As a concept of governance at doorstep, Back to Village programme ensures active citizenry through community participation in the development and strengthening of panchayats. It has to essentially act as a means to promote local planning rather than yet another tool of bureaucracy-led top-down planning with only difference that it is done at the local level by visiting the villages. It has to act as a behavioural programme as well through the reformed bureaucratic apparatus and there is an effective convergence of officials at the state and district level with frontline functionaries and local elected representatives.

J&K Lt Gov Manoj Sinha inaugurates the Back to Village programme. Photo: By arrangement

Back to Village programme has to essentially act as a prelude to GPDP and complement it rather than act as a parallel framework of local governance and development. The first phase of B2V saw significant participation among the people. The subsequent phases have also been popular with the masses but the participation has been slightly less due to lack of accountability and follow-up on earlier promises. This is where the problem actually exists. The perception goes among people that it is led by the officers when it has to be led and directed by local people which decentralises not only planning but also implementation and accountability as well.

Also read: Outsourcing Governance to the Citizen

Even though Back to Village programme is aimed at involving people of the state and government officials in a joint effort to deliver the mission of equitable development, it has to be led by the people at the grassroots than by the visiting officers and those at district and state level. There is where the change is needed. There is where convergence is needed between GPDP and the Back to Village programme.

GPDP aims at getting wide spread participation, and Back to Village would assist in strengthening systematic efforts to mobilise community and getting them involved in the process of their own development. Community awareness and mobilisation would essentially mean behavioural change. The behavioural change involved in the process is to own common problems and not leave them to the government (perceived as external agency).

One of the aspects that should be added to Back to Village programme and GPDP is to engage a team of community volunteers. These volunteers can be given training about planning, implementation and monitoring of development programmes. These community volunteers can be used to do community mobilisation as well as capacity building. Community mobilisation through volunteers has to focus on capacity building and information dissemination and leave the leadership role to the members of the community themselves. They have to act more as facilitators for sustainability of such process.

GPDP as a holistic plan has to deal with several subjects and would need much more participation and involvement of the people. Planning is a technical process and it is true that people at the local level know their problems and needs, but may not effectively be able to plan about their solutions. This is one aspect which often leads bureaucrats to presume that leaving planning to people wouldn’t serve the purpose. However, capacity building is possible.

Also read: Why Has the ‘Back to Village’ Programme Failed to Take-Off in Kashmir?

One critical aspect of GPDP is the formation of Gram Panchayat Planning Facilitation Team (GPPFT). It has to be a starting point of GPDP implementation, and in J&K, B2V exercise should be used to facilitate capacity building of GPPFT since officers are available at the local-level during such programmes.

GPPFT would have to create working groups or use standing/functional committees to deal with different subjects, such as health, sanitation, education, nutrition and social welfare, etc. It would need involvement of such people who have interest in such matters or knowledge or experience of such matters. Facilitators and volunteers would first build capacity of working groups of the GPPFT before the larger community mobilization is initiated.

J&K Lt Gov Manoj Sinha distributes sports kits as part of the Back to Village programme. Photo: By arrangement

Devolution of funds was a major challenge to the functioning of the local governments. This issue to some extent has been resolved through the devolution of funds to the local governments under the 14th Finance Commission. In fact, it was the 14th Finance Commission that played a major role in increasing prominence of PRIs.

The 14th Finance Commission awarded a fixed amount of Rs. 2,00,292.2 crore to panchayats across India for 2015–20, which is more than three times the grant of the 13th Finance Commission. This devolution of funds augmented the financial health of PRIs. It has also made the exercise of GPDP meaningful. Even though funds are still limited GDPD can play a role in effective and efficient utilisation of available funds. One of the major lessons of B2V was the mismatch between what people need and what people are provided. GPDP would ensure that funds are utilised for works depending upon the priorities set by people themselves at the village level.

Back to Village programme has also assisted in strengthening twin concepts of ‘self-coordination and self-adjustment’ which are fundamental to GPDP. Self-coordination and self-adjustment relate to coordination by direct control and coordination in the early stages. It means that there is direct access to Halqa Panchayat leadership to common people. Halqa Panchayat is in convergence with the line functionaries in the gram panchayat and that this involvement is at the initial stages and continues from planning to implementation stage. Problem solving has to be a shared goal among people, village leadership, block and district leadership and above. Once a particular problem gets solved, it would shape the behaviour of people and increase their interest and participation in the activities of gram panchayat.

Also read: ‘More Visiting Officers Than Villagers’: Inside J&K Govt’s ‘Back to Village’ Outreach Programme

GPDP would provide a role for civil society organisations and state institutes of rural development. The role of civil society organisations and state institutes of rural development is essential to train elected representatives, community volunteers and frontline functionaries in the planning process. These bodies would also help in data collection and analysis that is at the heart of Gram Panchayat Development Plan. The role of community volunteers can be used to collect information about financial resources available, own funds, number of ponds, wells, check dams, the status of grazing lands, condition of buildings, schools, health sub centres, toilets, infant mortality, school drop-outs, institutional births and drinking water in Anganwadi, etc. This would make planning at the local level effective.

GPDP plans have to be realistic and must factor in situational analysis and demands of various groups to prioritise activities for development in a year. Community mobilisation and community ownership would ensure equal focus on social development. For long, gram panchayats have focused mostly on infrastructural development. This has largely been due to lack of awareness and lack of demands by various groups in the gram sabha. Community mobilisation and active participation of people in gram sabha ensure that there is expression of needs and ensuring of focus on social development and service delivery. It also leads to focus on many costless or low-cost activities which are largely dependent on community awareness and mobilisations, such as quality education, provision of mid-day meals in schools, proper sanitation, enrolment of school drop-outs, immunisation, institutional delivery and social forestry, etc.

Way forward

The way forward for local development is the effective utilisation of the twin concepts of governance-GPDP and Back to Village. It needs the fundamental change in the understanding of governance both by the officials as well as the people. If these concepts are implemented in the letter and spirit, then there is a strong possibility of a shift from local government to local governance; and from top-down to bottom-up planning; and more importantly from bureaucracy led to community-led development. Without utilising these concepts, it is unlikely that sustainable development would reach to the grassroots.

Dr. Zubair Nazeer is an assistant professor of public administration at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Dr. Shafia Wani is an assistant professor (Rural Development) at J&K Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development, Srinagar (J&K).

‘Love Jihad’ Laws: No Room for Consent

The politics of ‘love jihad’ has deep roots in our patriarchal society. Individual agency needs a voice, now more than ever.

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath, has proposed legislation threatening that those engaging in ‘love jihad’ must be prepared to die. Here, the suggestion is that ‘innocent’ and ‘gullible’ girls are forced into marriage with Muslim men and forced to convert in order to do so. It also suggests that the state has the right to step in to protect the girl and honour the Indian tradition of marrying within one’s own network. He has even threatened that boys who engage in this practice would find that their “Ram Naam Satya” (a phrase chanted at Hindu funerals) journey would follow. While without threats of death, other states – Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh – are considering similar proposals.

This call is communally-tinged and promotes honour killings. Honour killings occur when a girl is supposedly duped into marrying someone who comes from a family, caste, or religion that is unacceptable to her family or village leadership, thereby justifying action by them to avenge the dishonour caused and to restore the family’s izzat or honour.

Both practices deny women and girls their constitutionally guaranteed right to social justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, and equality of status. India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (Office of the High Commissioner, United Nations Human Rights Commission, 1989) that calls for ‘free and full choice’ in decisions on when and whom to marry, and these practices also show that we do not honour this commitment.

Girls are seen in need of constant policing

Persisting patriarchal gender norms underlie both honour killings and ‘love jihad’. Girls and young women continue to be perceived as incapable of making informed decisions and in need of constant policing. Marriage continues to be perceived as an alliance between families and not an alliance between two individuals.

In Uttar Pradesh itself, as recently as 2015-16, a state-wide survey by Population Council reports that as many as 40% of young married girls did not participate at all in the decision on when and whom to marry, while 51% simply acquiesced to their parents’ wish. They were typically shown a photograph of the prospective groom, told that ‘he is from a good family’, or felt it was their duty to obey their parents. While a few did have an opportunity to become acquainted with their husband prior to marriage, just 8% made their own decisions. In short, few girls and young women in Uttar Pradesh make informed decisions, and as a result, almost three in five (57%) met their husband for the very first time on the wedding day.

Also read: Ulterior Motive of ‘Love Jihad’ Laws Is to Drive Muslims Out of the Social Ecosystem

This is, of course, not unique to Uttar Pradesh. A largely similar picture emerges from various other recent state-wide studies—for example, in Bihar and Jharkhand, and also in earlier studies across diverse states in 2006-07, including (undivided) Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.

Girls acquiesce for several reasons, key among them is the fear of losing family support. For instance, girls interviewed in the Young Lives longitudinal study in rural Andhra Pradesh and Telangana made it clear that even when parents asked about their preferences, it did not necessarily mean girls felt able to express their preferences. Meaningful consent is hardly possible. For instance, girls who reported that their family had sought their consent were asked to explain their role in marriage-related decisions. Responses included:

“They asked me one day before the engagement whether I would like to marry him. I said I will accept their decision. I also said that in future if I have any problem with him they have to stand up for me.”

Clearly, girls fear that rejecting their parents’ decisions and selecting a husband of their own choice would compromise their chances of securing the support of their natal family.

The consequences of any deviation from traditional marriage norms – marrying a boy from an ‘unacceptable’ family, caste, or religion – can be severe. The tip of the iceberg is of course ‘love jihad’ and honour killings. There are also threats of resorting to legal action under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act that subvert young people’s exercise of life choices. Documentation of these threats and misuse of the law is evident from findings of an unpublished study by the Population Council of residents of protection homes in Bihar, a state in which child marriage rates are among the highest in the country, and in which millions of girls enter marriage without meaningful consent.

A large proportion of residents in these homes were girls and young women whose parents had used legal mechanisms to break a consensual marriage, both among under-age and adult girls. An under-age resident reported:

“It was a love marriage. My parents lodged an FIR. They said that their daughter was manipulated and abducted by the boy, that he had forcefully taken their daughter with him. I was not willing to get married in the family in which they had fixed my marriage…. It was fixed without my consent, so then I had to run away…. We made a plan…. and then we eloped…. They (the parents) didn’t threaten me but they threatened him, saying that if we get married, they will kill him.”

The narratives of older girls were not so different, as another resident reported:

“I used to talk to a boy on a regular basis. I told my brother that this is the boy I wish to marry. My brother told me that it is not possible, because it is a Hindu-Muslim issue…. One day, I saw that they were planning my marriage. So, I told my father about my affair; he was furious. I then told this to the boy, and he asked me what I wanted. I asked him to take me with him, anywhere. He agreed, and the next day we left. Later we received a phone call from my sister-in-law saying that a case had been filed against my husband…. She told us, ‘Your father-in-law has been arrested by the police, so come back here please.’ We went back and surrendered, and I was sent to the short stay home. My husband is in prison.”

While there may be some parents—and this proportion is undoubtedly growing—who respect girls’ choices even if it is to marry a boy from a different caste or religion, the majority do not and some are well aware of the possibility of honour killing. A mother in Rajasthan expressed her misgivings thus:

“If a girl goes off with someone and gets married, we will have to hold our heads in shame. Our society will keep passing comments, I would be afraid of that. In our area, if a girl goes off with a boy (galat kaam), she won’t be allowed back home, they will kill her, this happens among us, that’s why we don’t send girls out.”

Representative image of a woman with mehendi on her hands. Photo: Reuters

What can be done?

Programmes have thus far wisely invested the limited resources at their disposal in empowering girls, building their agency, and apprising them of their rights and opportunities. But in order to exercise these rights, an empowered girl needs an empowered, supportive environment, and it is time to invest in that.

Building a supportive environment must simultaneously engage multiple stakeholders. On the home front, parents must be sensitised about the rights of girls, about enabling daughters to take advantage of schooling, skilling, and employment opportunities available to them, and the value of daughters more generally. Gender transformative life skills education must reach boys, and not only work to change attitudes, but also apprise them of their own rights, including those surrounding marriage decisions.

Also read: Raising ‘Love Jihad’ Bogey, Yogi Threatens Death for Men Who ‘Hide Identity, Disrespect Sisters’

Beyond the home, the community leadership, teachers, and health care providers must be exposed to new ideas and to clarifying values about gender roles and their role in protecting the rights of girls. Platforms exist but have not thus far been sufficiently exploited. For example, frontline health workers, teachers, and elected representatives under the Panchayati Raj system are all entrusted with behaviour change communication and ensuring human rights of the communities they serve. Training for frontline health care providers includes modules on human rights and right to health; training of teachers to impart the Adolescence Education Programme in various states includes a focus on values clarification; and training of elected representatives under the Panchayati Raj system emphasises the need for behaviour change communication and changes in values. While values clarification is stressed in training programmes in multiple sectors, the extent to which these values are translated into behaviour change is not clear.

More intractable is changing patriarchal mindsets of our elected leadership, our judiciary, and our criminal justice system. The proposed legislation by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is evidence of this. Misperceptions are deep rooted – about girls’ inferiority, gullible outlook, and their inability to make informed choices. Urgent action is needed, as articulated by India’s own Attorney General, K.K. Venugopal to the Supreme Court, in which he called for gender sensitisation of judicial officers, saying that it is a national imperative so that the trend of insensitivity to women’s rights can be corrected. One can only reiterate this imperative and call for its extension beyond the judiciary to elected leaders at district, state, and national levels.

This article was published on IDR. Read the original here.

Cui Bono: Panchayati Raj System and the Structures of Power

At the core of a democracy is the idea that a person has the opportunity to represent her fellow citizens and exercise power on their behalf.

File photo of women attending a gram sabha meeting in Dungarpur district, Rajasthan. Credit: UN Women Asia and the Pacific/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Modi government’s budget this year allocated an amount of Rs. 2.78 lakh crore for the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, which translates to Rs. 80 lakh per gram panchayat, Rs. 21 crore per local urban body and Rs 2.87 lakh crores to local government bodies.

The finance minister called this a “quantum jump of 228% compared to the previous five-year period…capable of transforming villages and small towns”.

Before we celebrate this “transformation” in the offing, let’s take a look at the democratic journey that independent India has made, and examine the basic constructs of power and the way it is exercised in our country.

Power structures and the elite

At the core of a representative democracy is the idea that a person has the opportunity to represent her fellow citizens and exercise power on their behalf, irrespective of gender, income or social status. The reality, of course, is that in democracies across the world, political representation has been restricted mostly to those who belonged to the traditional elite or those who leveraged their ownership of land, assets, class, gender, and in the case of India, caste to their advantage. This essentially meant that the upper caste male largely benefitted from and controlled power in our country.

Until 1992.

In that year, the 73rd amendment to the Constitution of India, popularly known as the Panchayati Raj bill, was passed to improve the delivery of public goods by bringing decision-making closer to the people and Constitutionally empowering local village leaders. In what can only be termed a radical move for the empowerment of women and backward communities, the legislation also ensured that 33% of the sarpanch/pradhan seats were reserved for women, and that seats were also reserved for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) in proportion to their population.

Devolution of power

As crores of rupees are spent at the panchayat level for improving the delivery of government schemes and programmes, this amendment really stood for the devolution of power and changing the existing social structures to an extent, by putting some government funds and their use in the hands of people who were part of what were called the ‘weaker’ sections of society – women and those from the SC/ST communities. This legislative change prevented historically powerful groups from continuing their hold over political, economic and social resources while allowing a vast number of people who would ordinarily never have become elected representatives, an opportunity to do so.

According to the ministry, the panchayati raj institutional network has three million elected representatives who manage the local bodies, and are involved in planning economic and social justice. Since, the law required that a third of this number include women and members of the backward communities, and these seats are reserved on a rotational basis, it would be safe to assume that since the amendment to the Constitution came into force 24 years ago, at least a million women and SC/ST citizens have had the opportunity to serve their local community, creating what could probably be the largest number of first time elected representatives (FTERs) in the electoral history of India, if not the world.

While the actual number of FTERs created by this amendment would require deeper research, it would be fair to say that it would have had some far reaching consequences. Not merely because experience in electoral office should have ideally created a pipeline of diverse people who have gained representational experience and can combine it with their knowledge of local issues to potentially better represent the 4676 political posts in legislative bodies and even parliament, but also because it provides them the opportunity to represent their community and take significant decisions that have large socio-economic localised outcomes.

Also read: In a Democracy, Education Certificates Shouldn’t Matter. So Why is No One Talking about Norti Bai?

Women in the system

Even if we take cognisance of the oft repeated criticism that in a number of cases the panchayats are being run by the infamous sarpanch patis (husbands of women sarpanchs) who field their wives as candidates as a front, there is a body of research to prove that eventually these women are able to influence the delivery of public services, especially those that address the needs of women in the community. More importantly, for the women and members of the SC/ST communities who actually function effectively as panchs, there is a lot to be said for what this experience of holding office means to them as individuals, as they take decisions and help the community address the basic issues affecting women and society as a whole.

Take the recently reported case of illiterate Ashubi Khan who, as the chief of Haryana’s first all-women panchayat in 2005, fought a number of battles, from water shortage to female foeticide, along with her then nine women panchs. According to locals, one of Ashubi and her team’s biggest achievements was upgrading the primary school into a secondary school. Thus, when Rajasthan – the state which ironically proclaims that it was a pioneer in adopting the panchayati raj system – and Haryana decide to introduce education, functioning toilets and other restrictive criterion as preconditions for elections, they deny Ashubi and her colleagues a chance to stand for elections and upend one of the most fundamental ideas behind the Panchayati Raj bill – the need for changing the traditional power structures and transforming lives at the grass-root level.

The results of panchayat elections held in Rajasthan post its decision to impose discriminatory electoral criterion indicate a worrying trend as results show that two hundred and sixty sarpanchs were elected unopposed last year, as compared to 35 in 2010. Surely an increase of seven times in the number of unopposed elections should worry a democracy whose founding fathers did not deem it fit to fix education as a criterion in 1951 when the Representation of People’s Act was passed.

Who is benefiting

It should worry us all that when the Modi government announces substantially higher allocation of funds to the panchayati raj ministry, this additional funding, counter-intuitively, may well be less than ‘transformative’ in some cases in states like Rajasthan and Haryana, where election criterion have taken away the ability to contest panchayat elections from over 50% women, 60% Dalits and 43% of the general population. If anything, additional funding could negate the very spirit behind one of the core ideas of the Panchayati Raj bill, as it might end up putting more money and, therefore decision-making, in the hands of the traditional elite of society, virtually perpetuating an age old power structure and social hierarchy.

Even though the courts have decided in favour of the new criterion, if we don’t question this ‘unintended’ consequence of the amendments to the state Panchayati Raj Acts, and if more states follow Rajasthan’s ‘pioneering’ idea of restrictive election criterion, then while we celebrate grassroots democracy via the panchayati raj system, the question that will need answering is – who benefits from it at the end?