Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji

With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Nov 24, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 24, 2011

The country's main planning body will overhaul of the system of village panchayat in the next Five-Year Plan period to improve its functioning and check siphoning of funds meant for social sector programmes. 

Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the country collectively handle about Rs 90,000 crore in social sector funds every year, but embezzlement by village representatives often prevents the benefits of welfare schemes from reaching the needy. 

To remedy this, the Planning Commission will set up a fund in the 12th Plan period beginning April 2012 to train elected village representatives and strengthen monitoring systems such as social audits. The corpus is as yet undecided. 

Although misappropriation of funds is not new in largely rural India, flawed election policies and increased decentralisation along with the rising importance of panchayats has led to a jump in corruption cases. 

The large sum of money, mainly from the government's rural jobs guarantee scheme MGNREGA, accessible to panchayats has made the post of a member a coveted one. Although states allow expenditure between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.6 lakh for panchayat elections, candidates end up spending up to Rs 10 lakh in the hope of recovering it when elected. 

"Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm," said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives. 

The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption. 

"We spend Rs 5-8 lakh for the post of sarpanch and Rs 2-3 lakh for that of a panch. People mortgage their land, gold and cattle. But if you win, you can recover it," said a sarpanch, or head of a panchayat, in a village in Uttar Pradesh. The cost recovery process has led to a cyclical series of corrupt practices, which have undermined the intent of social sector programmes. 

A stock taking exercise conducted recently by the ministry of rural development showed that Tamil Nadu had hauled up 200 elected representatives for misappropriating MGNREGA funds over the last two to three years, while Madhya Pradesh had taken action on 1,000. This is a small fraction of the total cases of irregularities reported on a national basis for which there is no official record. 

"The complete authority of sarpanchs on money for these schemes has led to irregularities in the system. Most of them have political protection, which makes action difficult," said Madhya Pradesh's state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state's political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay. 

"I believe that for every single sarpanch there would be five or six corrupt officials who are misappropriating funds using panchs as a political umbrella," rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit. 

According to Sinha, a sarpanch has to sign on cheques and has to be re-elected again, which accords accountability to the post, but officials go scot-free or are made to pay meager penalties if found guilty of misappropriating funds.


The Economic Times, 24 November, 2011, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/with-rs-90000-crore-at-stake-plan-panel-goes-in-for-recast-of-panchayat-system/articleshow/10850386.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close