1. Introduction
1.1. Background
World over communities are favouring decentralisation of power. They are increasingly looking at solutions promoting democratic decentralisation, participative local governance and involvement of civil societies. Citizen centred service delivery calls for more attached government set up which is close to the citizen than typical indifferent bureaucracy. Public administration passes through phases and one such phase was evident in nineties with a new wave of decentralisation. It is characterised by (i) devolution of powers and resources to elected local bodies (ii) participation of the marginalised and downtrodden, (iii) local solutions for development (iv) transparency and downward accountability (v) administrative reforms to support decentralisation.
1.2. Panchayati Raj in India
Panchayati Raj was talked and conceptualised in great detail in 1957 when Balwant Rai G Mehta Committee, submitted its report and recommended the establishment of a three-tier Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) system at the village (gram), block (samiti) and district (zilla) levels. It remained only a concept and symbolic implementation of local government was noted by the Ashok Mehta Committee in its 1978 report. He highlighted the lukewarm attitude of the political elite and bureaucracy as the primary factor leading to the stagnation and eventual decline of PRIs. Finally through 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA )[i], India decided to introduce decentralisation through legislation in 1992. This amendment introduced Part IX in the Constitution making state legislatures responsible for devolving power and authority to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). Article 243G, read with the Eleventh Schedule, further elaborated the process and operational part of it and expected the State Legislature to endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority to make decentralisation effective. This is aimed at enabling the country’s 2.74 lakh PRIs[ii] (2.67 lakh gram panchayats or GPs, 6,895 block or intermediate panchayats and 700 district panchayats) to handle responsibilities and take care of the “preparation and implementation of plans for economic development and social justice as may be entrusted to them, including those in relation to the 29 matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule[iii]”.
1.3. Challenges
Since India is a federal democracy, this devolution of powers between the state legislature and panchayats in the Indian Constitution is only outlined and actual devolution was left at the discretion of the state. Thus the aspect of implementation of the cardinal provisions of the CAA to a large extent is dependent on the intention and strength of the state government enactment and will to take forward the decentralization. There is progress in reforms but much is needed. With 14th central finance commission recommendation, fund devolution to panchayats has increased significantly. It has awarded Rs 2,00,292.20 crore as grants to GPs for the period from 2015-16 to 2019-20 towards provision of basic services in the GP. There are several schemes of Government of India being implemented through Panchayats or providing benefits to villagers with direct or indirect involvement of GP. Schemes like MGNREGA, PMAY. PMGSY, NRLM, NSAP, PMKSY of Ministry of Rural Development, National Drinking Water Mission and Swachha Bharat Mission-Grameen of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation have annual allocation of more than Rs.1.40 lac crores. Similarly, Ministry of Food, Ministry of Health and Ministry of HRD have huge allocations for rural areas; Government of India alone releases an average amount of about Rs.2 crore to every panchayat every year. This huge allocation is not yielding desired results due to severe constraints of infrastructure, the capacity to plan and execute village development and social sector projects, and lack of delegation of financial powers along with accountability systems.
There is an urgent need to empower these PRIs by transferring functions, responsibilities and commensurate powers to manage it. PRIs shall be enabled to have suitable elected representatives with the capacity to take informed decisions. It shall be provided with a mechanism to engage suitable manpower and functionaries must be made available to them with the clear control mechanism. Financial delegation and hand-holding support to let them start functioning like a well-managed corporate call for a holistic approach to their empowerment. The corporatisation of PRIs is must to make them effective and deliver in all 29 areas of activities allocated to them under the CAA.
2. PRIs must get relevant functions, responsive functionaries and adequate finances before they may be expected to attain autonomy and work like a corporate. This would certainly result in improved:
(i) decision making,
(ii) operational flexibility – manpower deployment, etc,
(iii) accountability and efficiency,
(iv) disclosure of activities and financial health of the PRIs in time and in a professional manner and reward and remuneration linked with performance and productivity.
2.1. Decentralization of powers to PRIs aims at transfer or dispersal of decision making powers, accompanied by delegation of required authority at all levels. It signifies the devolution of powers and authority of governance of the Union Government and State Governments to the sub-state level organizations i.e. Zila Panchayat, Block Panchayat and Gram Panchayats in India. Mahatma Gandhi’s development approach is centred around a village where decision making is decentralised and primarily participatory. Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj conceives an institution where decision would be taken at PRI level and State Government would only exercise such powers which are not within the scope and competence of the lower tiers of participatory governance institutions. Balwant Rai Mehta Committee observed that the country’s development cannot progress without the co-location of responsibility and power at even the lower tiers of Government. It further observed that the character of the development programmes should change from “Government’s programme with people’s participation to people’s programme with Governments participation.”
In the absence of Panchayats’ own financial resources, they can hardly undertake programmes on their own in line with local requirements. 14th Financial Commission has devolved finance but decision making is still not devolved to the GPs by the states. It is here that decentralization of political decision making needs to be complemented by measures to ensure fiscal autonomy for PRIs so that such institutions can spend the allocated funds in an appropriate manner and also muster necessary financial resources on their own to be truly self-reliant in local decision-making and its implementation. For improved decision making, it is essential that clear delegation of powers is done, protocols are provided about what to do, how to do and whom to consult for technical and other support.
2.2. Operational Flexibility
Since Panchayats implement state and union government schemes they are required to adhere to the guidelines without any authority to deviate even a little as per necessities emanating from local conditions. There is plethora of directions and guidelines, which are well-meaning but difficult to implement due to local constraints eg. Under MGNREGA, after simplification of paper work now 7 registers are required to be maintained by GP. These registers are to be maintained manually. First GP will make entry in software and then do detailing in the registers. Entries made in one software namely NREGASOFT are again required in somewhat same manner in Priasoft which is a software for Panchayat level accounting. Book keeping requirement and redundancies are prescribed centrally and for entire India without looking at the availability of capacity to handle the documentation and paperwork. There are many activities getting carried out by GPs, where engineering inputs are needed. GPs have to wait for the expert engineering inputs coming from the state of the centre. Local engineering inputs are neither appreciated nor respected. GPs need to be provided with functional autonomy and power to select functionaries to complete their requirements.
2.3. Accountability and Efficiency
It is true that under the govt. sponsored schemes the schemes and/or beneficiaries are selected by the Panchayats in the Gram Sabha meetings. But often such meetings are captured by the village elites and the capacity of common villagers to register their claims gets limited. Since funds flow from the state, maximum accountability is towards the government functionaries. Bureaucratic set up is very dominating and rigid to let accountability transfer to the villagers or gram sabha.
The efficiency of GPs depends on powers delegated and functionaries provided. Budget approval, project approval, fund allocation and verification of completed works and then the release of payments are the main activities where the capacity strengthening of PRIs is needed. Most of this is not under direct control of GPs, hence it is very difficult to make them efficient at their own. It mainly depends on factors outside their control. At least one officer to handle computerised bookkeeping and technical measurements is essential for every GP. Assessment of manpower or technical input requirement need to be done and flexibility to engage manpower shall be left to the PRIs. Broad guidelines may be provided and hand-holding be done to facilitate selection of appropriate manpower for the expected pre-defined output.
2.4. Disclosure of Activities and Financial Health
Every scheme of Government of India being implemented through PRIs has excessive provisions of disclosure and transparency. Virtually every program or project details and beneficiary details is to be displayed on notice board or at other prominent place or Panchayat Bhawan. This is aimed at making things transparent to all villagers. There is a provision of displaying everything but there is no mechanism to ensure its compliance and fulfilment of intent. Now with the popularity of IT, it is getting more transparent in the real sense. It is also getting popular in select areas as per the reach and popularity of the internet and social media. Disclosure of information is done in a format designed by either State Government or Government of India. It is seen that there is too much data in the public domain to derive meaningful information. Disclosure requirements may also be left to the PRIs. Let them decide about the areas of disclosure and then the same may be facilitated through technical and administrative support.
3. In order to make PRIs successful following four components shall be strengthened:
(i) Functions
(ii) Functionaries and their capacity building
(iii) Transfer of generation of finances and
(iv) Autonomy
Transfer of functions to PRIs after due study of local eco-system, availability of commensurate functionaries to help elected representatives to discharge these functions and providing adequate finances to manage the assigned functions are essential requirements of the successful management of PRIs. Once these basic ingredients are in place, it becomes necessary to give autonomy to PRIs along with efforts to create capacities to handle delegated powers, carry out procurements, provide inputs for better planning and get the engineering works completed in a professional manner.
3.1. Assignment of Functions
Transfer of functions has been done very liberally in many states in India. Functions which are discharged at the local level and requires local inputs, monitoring and control shall be transferred to PRIs. It is getting popular year after year to transfer more and more functions to PRIs. Even though 29 items have been listed in the Schedule XI of the Constitution, this list is generic and still not accepted by all states uniformly across the country. Some states have devolved powers and functions within these items and some have done only part devolution. In most of the states, animal husbandry, dairying and poultry, fisheries, agriculture and extension, Fuel and fodder, minor forest produce, social forestry and farm forestry are some of the primary functions handled or managed by the GPs. Secondary functions such as small-scale industries and khadi village and cottage industries, Non-conventional energy and rural electrification have broader revenue earning potential but require significant technical knowhow hence not very prevalent in many states. Tertiary functions performed by GPs include providing sanitation, drinking water, construct & maintain streets, street & road lights, help people economically in case of natural calamities, arrangements for fairs, exhibition, wrestling matches & kabaddi matches for providing recreation to the people. GPs also perform administrative functions and have limited Judicial Power.
Even though construction of roads, culverts etc. is a very popular function of PRIs, this is hardly taken up by GPs. Urban functions like fire services, slum improvement and up gradation of cattle pound and prevention of cruelty to animals, provision of amenities and facilities like parks, garden and play grounds, Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences, regulation of land use and construction of buildings, solid waste management are still not handled by majority of the GPs. More worrying aspect of assignment of powers and responsibilities to PRIs is the delegation of planning and social development, which is virtually non-existent in most of the cases.
Though functions are getting transferred to the PRIs associated clarity of extent and reach of transfers is not there in many cases. There is a disconnect between the transfer of functions and associated authority to discharge those functions or take corrective action against delinquency in the discharge of the functions in many states and GPs. Further, mere transfer of functions would not help decentralised democracy.
3.2. Functionaries and their capacity building
PRIs need accountable functionaries and adequate finances. First and foremost requirement is to have functionaries duly supported by the adequate infrastructure to discharge the assigned functions. How many staff is placed at the disposal of GP or other levels of PRIs and how many are accountable to the head of the concerned PRIs? The delineation of the role of the State and the various tiers of the Local Government has been debated at length by different committees. Under the central sector as well as state schemes, most of the functionaries are provided at the block level. Block Development Officer is the key administrator at this level. At the district level, administrative and technical set up is much better. However, the cutting edge level of GP lacks suitable manpower. On an average, a GP gets directly or indirectly funds amounting to more than about 2 crores per year. For an entity handling such huge amount of funds need to be more robust and strong.
Capacity to lead these important institutions is generally lacking. It requires professional skill sets to run PRIs having the diverse area of activities. There are capacity building initiatives taken by Government of India and training programs are organised through National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, State Institute of Rural Development and other institutions involved in the domain of rural development. During the last 3 years, more than Rs.1000 crores were spent by Government of India alone on capacity building. This year i.e. the financial year 2017-18, there is a budget provision of more than Rs. 500 crores for capacity building under MoPR and MoRD alone. In addition government of India also incurs expenditure on IEC activities apart from incentivising Panchayats for better performance. Most of the training programs are aimed at training the elected representatives. Despite these efforts, there is general perception that awareness and competence of elected representatives of GPs is still not appropriately enhanced. Elected representatives are not required to be formally educated; however states like Rajasthan made the minimum educational qualifications for candidates who contest elections for panchayati raj institutions mandatory. About officials to support PRIs, there no clear rules. State like Bihar has formulated some guidelines for selection of teachers for primary schools managed by PRIs. Large scale reforms are needed to improve the core staffing in panchayats. This may be done with clear rules and guidelines to select employees for the core posts in Panchayats across the country. Currently emphasis on basic literacy for panchayat staff to maintain records is being exploited by selecting staff which is having only proximity with Panchayat members or administrators of the state. Such selection of manpower, not only creates liability, it also affects outcomes of the PRI.
Merely providing manpower will not solve the problems as there are about 1.20 lacs community cadres engaged to work on most rural development programmes in addition to the employees engaged under different schemes/program. These and other local functionaries are regularly trained using capacity building funds of the respective schemes. These functionaries are provided by the state in most of the cases and they come under the administrative control of the state. PRIs often keep complaining about unresponsive functionaries and lack of control of PRIs on their working, delivery and conduct. This virtually puts PRIs in a position where expectations are high but there is no one to help them or work with them. Thus despite a large number of the persons associated with developmental programs, it is often felt that suitable manpower is lacking or functions are getting compromised due to lack of responsible manpower.
Headcount is not going to give desired results as clear and unambiguous empowerment allowing PRIs to take decisions and enforce them is also required. However, in practice this is not done as public servants entrusted with the discharge of functions are not under the control of the Local Government. Functions and functionaries have the umbilical relationship. It is seen that there are several functionaries at GP, Block and district level who are performing different functions under different schemes of the central government as well as state government. These functionaries are tied to a particular scheme in most of the cases. Further, their engagement is also on short term contract basis which is extended year after year but without giving the benefit of the continuity. Contractual workers are also assigned responsibility of unrelated activities/schemes. This has been highlighted by the Sumit Bose Committee in its draft report on HR requirements of Panchayats with a focus on implementation of rural development programs. The report has broadly looked at the administrative structure of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the National Rural Livelihood Mission and that of the district rural development agencies (DRDAs). Problem identified by the Committee “is the profusion of ill-organised cadres and temporary workers to manage programmes”.
It is evident that the PRIs are yet to come up as units of self-governance due to inadequate organisational capacity. Overall infrastructure is also a concern in many states. Infrastructure like Panchayat Bhawan, office furniture, electricity, computers, internet connectivity, telephone etc is now essential for PRIs to be able to deliver and keep pace with requirements of reporting and compliance. It is seen that states like Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa have the good infrastructure at PRIs and they are doing well in decentralised local administration. Whereas States like Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Bihar and Chhattisgarh are not doing well and they have poor infrastructure as well. Though one to one direct correlation is a simplistic way of analysis, improving infrastructure in Grams Panchayats will definitely give good result in delivery of services at GP level. Infrastructure clubbed with Devolution of functionaries to the PRIs shall be done with linkages to functions being performed. It “should be patterned on the mapping of activities related to the devolved functions”[1]. In the initial phases, staff may be provided on deputation to assist the PRIs for assigned activities. Administrative mechanism to ensure accountability of such staff need to be clearly defined. “States or UTs may consider instituting a Panchayati Raj Administrative and Technical Service”[iv]. Panchayats should have the power to recruit personnel within the resources available; they should have power to regulate the service co nditions within the framework provided by the State Government.
3.3. Devolution of Finances
There are several sources of finance available with PRIs. It depends on delegation made to PRIs but theoretically they may have own sources of revenues and grants coming from centre and state.
Sources of revenue of PRIs
It has been argued that PRIs need to be provided with finance to give them the real strength in terms of autonomy, effectiveness and efficiency. Independence of PRIs as local governments is critically dependent on the non-discretionary financial resources available to them. Finances shall not be dependent on whims and fancies of state or administrators. Funds are essential to fulfil the functional responsibilities assigned to PRIs. With 14th FC, assured devolution of funds to the PRIs has not only increased but it has become known and transparent.
There is no doubt that transfer of finances has institutionalised with the devolution of 14th FC. But another fund devolution from the government of India and state is taking place in a very unprofessional manner. PRIs are treated as executors of programs/projects but hardly have any control over finances. Wherever they have some control, capacities have not been developed to handle finances in a prudent manner. Autonomy with clarity on role, functions, finances and accountability mechanism is lacking.
3.4. Autonomy
It will come as an output of above and other efforts. Accountability and transparency is promoted through top-down approach and in silos of schemes promoted by different departments of the government at national and sub-national level. An institutional mechanism to promote and bring autonomy with good governance must have a long-term perspective on good governance. It must have clearly defined functions, accountable functionaries and finances to support its activities. Accountability on various decisions taken by the PRIs shall be established in clear terms so that model is sustained. The framework for good governance shall provide for opportunities for panchayats since they are institutions positioned at the cutting edge, the scope for participation of the citizens is immense in their working and the opportunities that exist for building transparency, accountability, fairness and equity in their working could be plentiful.
4. Recommended systems for governance, accountability and transparency
4.1. Every state must come up with a road map to transfer functions to PRIs. Transfer shall be done in along with detailed guidelines about expectations from different levels of PRIs, commensurate delegation of administrative and financial powers and guidelines about exercising these powers. It is often noticed that factionalism at GP level leads to plethora of bonafide and malafide complaints against elected PRI representatives. Institutions adjudicating on them are alleged to be biased and unaccountable to their decisions. A well-structured mechanism to handle grievances and adjudication may be put in place. This institution of democratic rights’ oversight and grievances may work at district level and gradually expanded to block level and handle cases of entire domain of PRIs. Scheme-wise grievance redressal and ombudsman set up may be merged to this or strengthened to handle all functions.
4.2. PRIs need to be empowered to engage manpower and have control over them. There is a need to assess manpower for the functions to be performed by GP and other PRIs. Manpower and capacity building not only for execution but for planning, monitoring, internal controls, financial management and evaluation is required for equitable growth and holistic development. The viability of providing technical and administrative manpower may be assessed at the local level. Qualified and trained technical manpower generally migrates from villages. Therefore, local youth may be trained in skills needed in PRIs. To cater to the requirements, skill development programs being run in the country shall include basic engineering drawing and measurement, budgeting, government accounting and bookkeeping, internal audit, evaluation, social audit and public procurement. The module may be developed for multi-tasking experts for PRIs. Further, engineering colleges and technical institutions may be encouraged to send their students on summer training and other projects. During their project and study tour, they may help PRIs in suggesting designs for local developmental projects as per the requirement and feedback of the village. Further, they may also carry out measurements and conduct surveys to ascertain usefulness of the executed projects.
4.3. Pooled resources for GPs may be thought of with well-defined responsibility and reporting structure so that such functionaries do not end up not doing the work of a few GPs and get paid by the Block or any GP where he is reporting. Training is imparted to the functionaries but there is no database of skill set requirements. There is a need to carry out assessment of skill gap and plan of conducting training to reduce these gaps and then do follow up programs to enhance the skill sets. It is essential to create a pool of trained officers at GP and other levels to handle important developmental schemes. Currently training of functionaries is done in a piecemeal manner. Some are deployed on training, as they may be spared or they may be favoured to attend the program conducted by either the state of Government of India. Assessment of output of trained officials is also not done. Based on feedback, further training may be conducted and a decision may also be taken whether training is leading to improvement in skill sets or there is a need to engage the suitably skilled person to perform the technical job. Thus, rules of engagement, deployment and redeployment may be framed for PRIs. For every functionary, there must be a clear role and responsibility defined. To avoid undue harassment of functionaries, enabling provisions to be also put in place. “It is necessary to develop a good human resource policy for staffing along with appropriate infrastructure”[v]. A mechanism to ensure its compliance will help PRIs in long run.
4.4. Since funds are being made available by state and central government, the problem of funds is not that severe. Currently, it is more important to create capacities to utilise these funds in a very productive manner. With funds come many vices and challenges, PRIs need to be trained to manage finances without compromising their autonomy and quality of decisions. IT is a good tool to strengthen them for this purpose.
4.5. Use of IT in Panchayat administration
As explained above, many functions are being discharged by PRIs in almost all states. There are flagship schemes getting implemented through them. Under Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation there are several flag ship schemes getting implemented through state government which in turn uses Panchayat as implementing agency. In all centrally sponsored schemes, funds are transferred from government of India to state treasury. From treasury it goes to sub-treasury or through SPV to GPs.
Fund Flow from Government of India to GPs
Entire fund flow from government of India to states or other autonomous bodies directly implementing central sector or centrally sponsored schemes are taking place through PFMS. Many bigger schemes capture further details of the implementing agencies and beneficiaries. In many schemes, there is dedicated software which is primarily MIS. It intends to capture fund flow and physical deliverables or outputs of the schemes. Some of the software is elaborate and they capture transactions recording physical and financial activities.
Process of initiation of payment requests and fund transfer in MGNREGA
Software package NREGASOFT has been developed by NIC and it is taking care of document processing and forwarding the payment requests to PFMS. PFMS takes care of payment and accounting at Government of India level. Accounting at GP level is left to Panchayats to handle. Similarly, there are other software portals handling fund flow or document processing up to district or GP level. Ministry of Panchayati Raj has put in place a software developed by NIC called Priasoft. This accounting and transaction software portal has been designed to capture transactions taking place at the Panchayat level. This is being used by many panchayats to handle accounting at GP level. However, as mentioned above, there is software already in use in the Panchayats where the Panchayat functionaries are required to key-in data and same or similar data is required to be keyed in again in Priasoft. Further, there are reporting requirements, which consume a lot of time of the functionaries in preparing reports which may be easily generated electronically. All this not only adds to redundancy but additional work at Panchayat level which is already deprived of trained manpower. In order to derive the benefits from technology and already developed software, there is a need to integrate MIS and other IT tools in such a manner that data interchange can take place seamlessly and benefits can be derived by the Panchayat, state and central government as the case may be. To begin with, data captured in NREGASoft and other similar software may be interchanged with Priasoft so that all the payments happening in the Panchayat can also be captured in Priasoft without making separate entries in the software.
After mapping of data structure of schemes and PFMS with Priasoft, data interchange may happen seamlessly. Thus accounts would get prepared without any significant efforts at Panchayat level for these schemes. In all other cases, vouchers may be prepared using Priasoft and fund transfer orders may be handled the way it is handled today. Once payment is made expenditure report may be filed in PFMS using an interface to be developed between Priasoft and PFMS. Wherever GPs have capacity to handle payment using online systems or internet enabled fund transfers, PFMS’s EAT (Expenditure, Advance and Transfer) module may be used. PFMS has a provision to release payments to the beneficiary, through this module, if the GPs is registered on the portal. PFMS has a provision whereby all the money going to GPs can also be tracked scheme-wise, program wise, agency wise or any other attribute defined in the software. EAT module of PFMS captures expenditure incurred by the agency, advances are given to any other agency or transfers made to any other agency. This module also handles payments to be made to the beneficiaries through electronic mode using the secure digital payment method. Thus, there will a process through which payment will be made using PFMS, to the beneficiary and related account will be maintained in Priasoft whereas many management reports would be available in PFMS as well as Priasoft. PFMS will also provide facility to look into the passbook of the agencies so that the minimum idle fund is kept with them and it may also be monitored by the higher level implementing agency. Once this PFMS module is used, Panchayats will be able to make payment through their bank and keep the account maintained and consolidated using PFMS. This will also enable them to get the bank reconciliation done in a more scientific manner. For working under this module, officers need to be trained to work on this module using digital payment methods. There is a provision that user will use dongle for digital signature. However, there is a tempting need to introduce other modes of digital signature in PFMS available in the market.
In the village every beneficiary may be allotted with one Ledger under which its accounts will be maintained. Each Ledger will contain details of the beneficiary and separate flags for payments received under different schemes of government of India, state government or local government. Demographic and other relevant data for ledger is already available in one scheme database or the other. SECC data is also a good source to link to the ledger. This Ledger will enable the Panchayat to look at the money going into the beneficiary accounts, and overall benefits provided to the family. As per SECC data, reports may also be generated about the help extended to such families of poor economic status. Architecture of accounting may be designed in such a manner that the ledgers may be maintained for schemes, beneficiaries and sub ledgering may be done to capture expenditure with minimum efforts.
5. Conclusion
PRIs are being provided with the responsibility to discharge developmental and other social functions. Functions to be transferred to PRIs need to be done with the close assessment of local requirements and capacity to handle them. With capacity enhancement handling of the assigned functions would become effective. PRIs may be trained to manage bookkeeping and reporting with due disclosures. PRIs would become well managed with clearly defined rules of engagement and deployment of functionaries and adequate autonomy provided for better decision making. This would result in the decentralisation of powers and democracy in the same manner as envisaged by Gandhi Ji in his Gram Swaraj model of Panchayati Raj.
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Abstract
This study examines the issues affecting decentralisation and empowerment of PRIs in India. It analyses the root cause of ineffective delegation of powers by looking at functions, functionaries and finances. Transfer of functions without functionaries is not of any use. Similarly, transfer of functionaries or providing functionaries without accountability and proper skills is not going to offer desired benefits. Providing autonomy to PRIs is a long-term goal and it may be done only by strengthening PRIs through proper institution building and making them grow like corporates.
It prescribes the use of ICT for the betterment of financial management and bookkeeping without adding more burdens on already constrained resources of Panchayats. It has dealt in detail the existing software and how they may be synergised to get useful information without doing redundant and duplicate activities for financial management and monitoring.
About Author:
Mr.Ajay S Singh is an ICAS officer and posted as Chief Controller of Accounts in Government of India handling Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He is an engineering graduate, MBA and MA(Economics) by qualification. He has more than 25 years of experience in financial management, administration and use of ICT in reforms.
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