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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Plan to take politics out of panchayats by Pranesh Sarkar

Plan to take politics out of panchayats by Pranesh Sarkar

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published Published on Dec 2, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 2, 2011

The Mamata Banerjee government is planning to take politics — or at least political symbols — out of panchayats, the foundation on which the Left built the edifice that remained impregnable for 34 years.

“We would like to have non-political rural bodies as it would uproot petty politics that often halts development projects in rural areas. If things go as planned, the required amendments in the act would come into force before the panchayat elections due in 2013,” said Chandranath Sinha, the state panchayat minister.

Bengal has a three-tier system of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads. Unlike in several other states, the rural polls are fought on symbols of political parties in Bengal — a practice that started in 1978 when the Left Front was just a year old in power.

State panchayat and rural development department officials said political parties would be barred from fielding candidates with party symbols once the amendments are made.

“Anybody can contest the polls but without the symbols of political parties. The state election commission will distribute symbols to the candidates in line with their wish,” an official said.

The department is considering amending the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973, and related rules that were framed before the 1978 panchayat polls. This particular rule had allowed political parties to field their candidates.

“In West Bengal, the first panchayat election was held in 1964 and political parties were not allowed to contest the polls. After 1964, the next panchayat election was during the tenure of the Left Front in 1978. Political parties were allowed to fight the polls since then. The Left Front had allowed parties to field candidates bringing in a rule after it came to power in 1977,” said an official of the panchayat department.

According to the official, the new government wants to revert to the pre-1978 system.

“Rural bodies in states like Bihar and Rajasthan are apolitical and they are doing well in terms of undertaking development schemes in rural areas,” he added.

Officials of the state panchayat department said that an apolitical panchayat system could weed out petty politics in implementing development projects.

“The existing BPL list is a classic example of how petty politics has deprived hundreds of the poor of their rights. In all the panchayat areas, the parties running the bodies push their supporters into the list at the cost of the genuine poor people,” an official said.

Another official said the zilla parishads often refused to vet schemes prepared by a panchayat run by Opposition parties.

CPM MLA and former panchayat minister Anisur Rahman agreed that petty politics stood in the way of the aged, widows and disabled getting pension. “When I was the panchayat minister, I had received several complaints that people are being deprived of pension because of their political allegiance,” he said.

However, in a deeply politicised state like Bengal, it is easier said than done to depoliticise the panchayat system. Little prevents a party from fielding candidates on different symbols and still calling the shots.

Rahman appeared to share such concerns. “Political parties are not allowed to field candidates in college and university elections. But the parties never miss a chance to show their strength in the educational institutes. The same will happen here as politicians will definitely find a way to fight the polls,” he said.

An apolitical system, if it can be put in place, may facilitate easier misappropriation of funds as individual representatives would not be accountable to any political party.

Sinha said that he was aware of the potential problem. “We have plans to engage special officers to monitor the daily activities of the panchayats. The BDOs could work as special officers for the gram panchayats while the SDOs can monitor the activities of the panchayat samitis,” he said.

The Telegraph, 3 December, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111203/jsp/frontpage/story_14833373.jsp


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