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: 73
 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]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
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 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
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deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
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Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
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Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

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: 74
 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]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
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 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
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deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

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]
Code Context
            if (Configure::read('debug')) {

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    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
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</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;
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The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&amp;nbsp;
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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.
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. 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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
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The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;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&#039;,
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
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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.&nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the..."/>
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                <strong>With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji</strong></h1>
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                <div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div>               </font>
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;
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The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&amp;nbsp;
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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.
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;s rural jobs guarantee scheme MGNREGA, accessible to panchayats has made the post of a member a coveted one. 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Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;The complete authority of sarpanchs on money for these schemes has led to irregularities in the system. 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	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji&#039;,
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
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.
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;





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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.&nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the..."/>
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                <strong>With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji</strong></h1>
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                <div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div>               </font>
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    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f0c5d8955f9-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;s rural jobs guarantee scheme MGNREGA, accessible to panchayats has made the post of a member a coveted one. 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Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said a sarpanch, or head of a panchayat, in a village in Uttar Pradesh. 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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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The large sum of money, mainly from the government&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;
&amp;quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&amp;quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
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The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; 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.&amp;nbsp;
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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.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; said Madhya Pradesh&#039;s state commissioner for the MGNREGP. However,some say that the state&#039;s political systems and even administrative officials are partly responsible for this decay.&amp;nbsp;
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&lt;br /&gt;
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&amp;quot;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,&amp;quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&amp;nbsp;
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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.
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The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;





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$disp = &#039;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;The country&#039;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify&quot;&gt;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. 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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.&nbsp;





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                <strong>With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji</strong></h1>
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                <div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div>               </font>
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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.&nbsp;
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	'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji',
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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.&nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the...',
	'disp' => '<div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div>',
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	'title' => 'With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji',
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<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify">
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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
&quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
&quot;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,&quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
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.
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify">
<br />
</div>',
	'credit_writer' => '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',
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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.&nbsp;





Over 250,000 panchayats or village councils in the...'
$disp = '<div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;Getting elected into the panchayat system has become an expensive one. Candidates spending Rs 5-10 lakhs has become a norm,&quot; said Vibhishan Patrey of Jan Jagaran Samiti, a non-government organisation that trains elected representatives.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">The splurge on panchayat polls creates indebtedness among candidates, particularly the unsuccessful ones, which in turn promotes corruption.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; 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.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">&quot;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,&quot; rural development secretary BK Sinha, said at a recent meeting of state rural development departments on social audit.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify"><br /></div>'
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With Rs 90,000 crore at stake, plan panel goes in for recast of panchayat system by Devika Banerji

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.