PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS 'A CITIZEN'S INITIATIVE FOR AN EFFETIVE VILLAGE GOVERNANCE' By Floriano Lobo Gen. Secretary, Goa Su-Raj Party Email: floriano.l...@gmail.com Phone: (Res) 2470223 (M) 9890470896 Introduction: It is generally observed that the Panchayat bodies ( Panches and the Sarpanch) are at loggerheads with the Gram Sabha members and most Gram Sabha meetings end up in a fiasco. The ideal situation would be that the Panchayat bodies which are elected by the Gram Sabha members conduct themselves in accordance with the wishes of the Gram Sabhas ( Resolutions Passed). But very seldom this is the case. Most often than not, the resolutions passed by Gram Sabhas are fit for the waste paper basket. In Goa we have 189 or so Panchayats. Do we have a single Panchayat whose Sarpanch does not entertain any illegalities and if so, has s/he survived for more than 3 months in the chair without being knocked off through no-confidence motion? And those Panchayat which are stable without a whisper of opposition within, are most detrimental for the overall well being of the concerned villages because opposition [constructive criticism] is the essence of good governance. Preamble: Panchayat elections are very very important elections, contrary to what is believed. In the 73rd. Amendment to the Constitution of India, there are approximately 28 items for transfer of powers from the State Government to the Panchayats relating to the governance and/or the development of the Panchayat held areas. So far only a handful few (just 2 or 3) of those items are transferred to the Panchayats by the State Government mainly because of two reasons:- (1) The State Government does not want to relinquish its powers believing that its Ministers or the MLAs will be powerless, and, (2) The Panchayats are not capable enough to hold such powers. Furthermore, the implementation of the 73rd. Amendment as of now, with the Panchayat Raj Act remaining as it is, will see more full-fledged corruption at the Panchayat level. If at all the government is serious in implementing the 73rd. Amendment in Goa, the Panchayat Raj Act must be amended to hold the Sarpanch and the Secretary accountable, fully and completely. [A good look as to what would happen if the 73rd. Amendment was implemented as of today with the existing Panchayat Raj Act. All 28 powers would be transferred to the Panchayats. The Panchayats which are already corrupted, would have a field day, with the legislators (read MLAs and Cabinet Ministers) losing their punch at percentages. With no money to be made at the Assembly level, there would be a rush to get into the Panchayats at the next elections. Eventually who would contest Assembly Elections would be persons who do not want to be in the rat-race. This breed being the legislators and Cabinet Ministers who do not enjoy the warmth of the money pot and who cannot make money by virtue of money not being there, would sit down and frame stricter laws, rules and regulations, so that no money could be made at the Panchayat level either, a veritable 'Dog in the Manger' situation where the sentiment on display would be: 'if we cannot make money, you too shall not make it' [there being a rare chance that legislators and Panchayat members working together to loot the exchequer]. If money is not there to be made at Panchayat level also, no one would be interested in occupying these posts and we would be back to square one { where in the early days of Panchayats, people had to be coaxed and cajoled to contest Panchayat elections}. The rats would rather look at other ways of sustaining themselves, invariably by shedding the sweat of their brows. In this situation the winners would be the tax-paying people] Having said that, today, as against a couple of decades ago, Panchayat posts are looked upon as money-spinners and as such every Tom Dick and Harry wants to contest these elections. Besides, these posts have stopped being honorary post. Gone are the days when the people of the village had to literally drag knowledgeable persons to become Sarpanches. This is because the Panchayat hierarchy has been reduced to a bundle of corruption where any and all development plans in the villages are considered on 'percentage' basis. When such percentages are distributed amongst the members of the hierarchy, there is not much left to go into such development projects and these are naturally reduced to mere shams, scams and white elephants, sucking in the tax-payer's hard earned money. This, in fact, is the way of life in the presently held Panchayat Raj system in this State, where people who would want to go through the lawful formalities are advised not to do so by the Panchayat members citing (imaginary) inadvertent official delays due to 'red-tape'ism and laborious procedures. This, in fact, puts the innocent people into a pot of trouble having taken this ill-advice at face value and subsequently become the milching cows for the Panchayat members to extort money from them because they are trapped into illegalities. Also, the political masters are using the Panchayats for their own end by restricting the free decision making process. Ideally, self governing institutions such as Panchayats and Municipalities must remain apolitical and must keep all party politics at a clear distance. This must be the primary resolve of ordinary citizens like us if Panchayats and Municipalities are to function to the satisfaction of the tax-paying citizenry. It must be realized that a WARD in a Village is the nucleus, if the nation is to become strong and powerful. Simply put, if a WARD is strong (well maintained, sanitized, greened and meticulously planned) , the Village becomes strong in all respects. If the Village is strong, the Constituency becomes strong. If the Constituency is strong, the State becomes strong. And needless to say that if the State is strong, the Nation becomes strong. Therefore, it is vital to put every and all efforts into making a 'ward' of a village strong and well planned. When we say 'strong', it means strong morally, ethically, economically, aesthetically etc. Therefore the type and extent of development projects planned for a ward in a village becomes ever so important. The institution, which has replaced the age-old indigenous institutions of Goa , originally known as GAOKARIES, later called COUNIDADES , which doubled-up as the caretakers of a wards in a village, is now the Panchayat. Sadly, the Pancayats have become the epicenters of political upheavals most detrimental to the very survival of these indigenous institutions (the Comunidades). Therefore, it is time to put pointed focus on these vital self-governing institutions (Panchayats) and wean them back to health by snatching them from the clutches of the political masters who are hell bent in squeezing them to the utmost extent for their own vested interests and aggrandizement through playing vote-bank politics. In an effort to start a revolution of sorts, vital to the very existence of the Panchayat Raj System, we the citizens of GOA must come forward to do something about it, rather than leave it to the wolves, as it were. Therefore, we the people of each ward of GOA must look at these coming Panchayat general elections (2011??) with highest of concern and take the opportunity to do ourselves more good than harm, keeping in mind that it is we, as custodians of our children, who will be responsible to hand-down to them a life which is secure , healthy and enjoyable, for them to grow into adulthood and prosper. We must admit that we cannot be experts in anything and everything. But we must remain concerned citizens who want to be guided by the very many experts amongst us so that we all may benefit in the long run. We must look at these experienced persons as our very own extensions so that we may do things for ourselves through their sane advices. Needless to say that this experience will be most gratifying to us, more than it would be for the advisers. Therefore, let us all hold hands with confidence and move forward to make these Panchayat Institutions of GOA, the institutions of GOODWILL and real touchable PROGRESS. The most central to the Panchayati Raj Act is the Gram Sabha. If there has to be a participatory ingredient in any planning, the Gram Sabha is the nucleus. But unfortunately what we see is that hardly any of Goa's Panchayat bodies inspire confidence in the Gram Sabha members and Gram Sabhas are seen as disruptive, non-productive and unnecessary. The root cause of this is that we elect individual persons to the Panchayat with individual notion of governance. Unfortunately, the Panchayat members have good reason to discredit the Gram Sabha members the day they get elected to office, their job having been done to vote, so that they can do things selectively, on their own. If this is not to happen, we must elect a Gram Sabha savvy Panchayat. And this can be done only if the Panchayat elections are actively fought by the Gram Sabha members on a PANEL BASIS, where the Gram Sabha members select and short list persons from every ward who would constitute the panel. The final candidates can be selected by the Gram Sabha forum in a public debate. A fool proof procedure to this effect can be designed where there is no scope for bad blood and cross working by those who are not selected ultimately as candidates and who wanted to be in the race, simply said, no hurt feelings through a purely democratic process. A Panel floated by the Gram Sabha forum will afford the entire village to campaign for the panel on door-to-door basis, the panel being bound by the MANIFESTO prepared by the Gram Sabha forum. In addition to generating collective interest and incentives, the added appeal will be that all panel members can contest on one common election symbol. So far just one Panchayat has been able to execute this 'panel' contest and be successful and that is the Taleigao Panchayat. However, the difference is that this is not the Gram Sabha floated panel, but a panel having allegiance to vested interests. A SAMPLE COLLECTIVE CITIZEN'S MANIFESTO & REQUIREMENTS The panel contestants agree with each other that governance of the village shall be on consensus basis and through dialogue and co-ordination with the Gram Sabha. Panel members not to indulge in 'NO CONFIDENCE MOTIONS' throughout the term of office of the elected body of the Panchayat. The post of the Sarpanch to be rotated every two years through the internal elections. The third term to be a term for one year or till the Panchayat body remains in office. The post of the Deputy Sarpanch to be in rotation, like-wise. All members of the panel who shall be elected to the office shall mandatorily attend GRAM SABHAS. If the Panel fails to get clear majority, the elected panel members shall join other non-panel supported members to form a coalition ruling body only to the extent of the required numbers falling short for the formation of the coalition. The other members of the panel to work as effective opposition. In case the panel elected members fall short of only one member to form the ruling coalition, the borrowed member may be given the post of Deputy Sarpanch at the most, but not the post of the Sarpanch. The panel not to entertain political interference in the running of the Panchayat. The members of the panel could be affiliated to a certain political party or parties. But the working of the Panchayat to be strictly on non-party politics basis (i.e. discourage cultivation of vote-banks). All infrastructural development works in the village to be carried out on priority basis. All developmental works to be carried out in the village and which are pending, to be listed and submitted to the authorities for estimation purposes. These estimates to reflect in the budget prepared for the village each year even if it is reflected as a deficit budget. The deficit budget will reflect the true measure of infrastructural development works pending and accordingly requests for additional funding from the government may be put forward. Apart from the stipulated fortnightly Panchayat body meetings (in force presently), the Panchayat body to meet every week, preferably on SATURDAYs , to co-ordinate with each member on the matter of development of the village and/or to pass any requests for NOCs, permissions etc so that the developmental works in the village is not held up or delayed because of the scheduled fortnightly meetings. Minor works and other matters which does not require consensus of the Panchayat body to be dealt with on daily basis by the Panchayat staff. All administrative matters of the Panchayat to be dispensed with within the stipulated time frame or earlier. All works, NOCs, Permissions, Licenses, Occupancy certificates etc to be dispensed with in time bound manner and without any harassment or without asking for donations (which is the alternate term for bribes) Any and all illegal activities in the respective wards to be strictly dealt with and the respective ward member to be held responsible for such illegalities. The Gram Sabha members to be kept fully informed about the Government Schemes on offer and every step to be taken to get these schemes sanctioned to deserving persons without let, hindrance or bias. The panel to be actively involved to make the village garbage and plastic free through the initiation of door-to-door garbage and plastic collection. People's voluntary participation in this area to be encouraged to discourage discarding of wastes in public places like road-sides etc. All garbage bins placed in the village to be removed, as there shall be no need for such bins to be ravaged by stray animals. The Panchayat to promote a garbage treatment and recycling plant for the village with respect to the wet and dry garbage. Panchayat to encourage organic vegetable farming and work towards the formation of the village co-operatives for farm produce such as home grown vegetables etc. The maintenance of the village roads, water supply, electrical supply, communication system (telephones) and other essential services to be the prime concern of the Panchayat including effective street lighting. Law and order to be ensured through the effective co-ordination of the Panchayat and the Police authorities. The resolutions passed by the Gram Sabha to be executed in letter and spirit. All building projects in the village which are multi-unit projects shall be placed for the scrutiny of the Gram Sabha before being forwarded to the Authorities for approvals. If necessay a special Gram Sabha may be called for this purpose depending on the urgency. Hill cutting, filling of agricultural fields and large scale tree cutting to invite immediate action by the Panchayat. Special attention to be given to Noise, air, water and land pollution, breeding of mosquitoes vide septic tanks and other ill effects that bother the village people, including the menace of stray animals and clearance of carcasses of dead animals from public places. These few points could be the 'FOCUSED VISION' by which the Panchayats of GOA may work to the absolute satisfaction of all its citizens, without exception.