National Conference on the Occasion of the National Panchayati Raj Day
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is organizing a two day long National Conference on the occasion of the National Panchayati Raj Day from today as on April 24, 1993 the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in our country. The theme of the occasion will be “Roadmap for the Panchayats”.
Roadmap for the Panchayats
Draft “Roadmap for Panchayats; an all India perspective” will be deliberated in detail among the experts, academicians, editors of major newspapers/journals and officials during the day-long deliberations today at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. This document charts future path of decentralization agenda for the Panchayat bodies in India. Roadmap sets out strategies and action plan to accomplish the goal. It is hoped that this roadmap will successfully lead towards strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions; real devolution of power; proper functioning of Panchayats; and establishment of efficient and accountable Panchayats.
The second days proceedings will begin with the inaugural address by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who will also release the “State of Panchayats Report 2008-09”, and give away awards to the best performing States under the Panchayat Empowerment & Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS).A host of dignitaries including Union Ministers, Members of the Parliament, Ministers/officials from the States/UTs, elected PRI representatives from all over the country, Experts and Academicians.
State of Panchayats Report 2008-09
The State of Panchayats Report 2008-09 has been prepared as an ‘independent assessment’ through IRMA. It is presented in two volumes; Volume 1 has reports on seven themes and Volume 2 is a report of the State of Panchayats in 15 States. The MoPR had prepared the first State of Panchayats Report in 2006.
Panchayat Empowerment & Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS) - Assessment of the States for 2009-10
PEAIS is being implemented by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) since 2005-06. The scheme aims at encouraging the States for empowering the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and putting in place mechanism for transparency and accountability of the PRIs. Performance of the States in these respects is measured through a Devolution Index (DI). A token award is also given to the States, for which the annual provision is currently at Rs. 10 crore.
In the first year (2005-06), the Scheme was called the Panchayat Empowerment Incentive Scheme. In subsequent years, the scheme was modified to introduce the element of Accountability also. Accordingly, the DI was refined suitably. Evaluation of the States in terms of DI is done independently by expert institutions. For the year 2005-06, the DI was developed on the basis of a report of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi. In the subsequent two years, the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi was assigned the task of refinement of the DI and evaluation of the performance of the States. For 2009-10, the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi was engaged for preparation of DI and ranking the States.
The impact of the 73rd Amendment in rural India is clearly visible as it has changed power equations significantly. Elections to the Panchayats are being held regularly. Through over 600 District Panchayats, around 6000 Intermediate Panchayats and 2.3 lakh Gram Panchayats, more than 28 lakh persons now have a formal position in our representative democracy.
*****
ST/-
(Release ID :60791)