Gram Sarkar

The present Gram Sarkar Act has shed the prefix 'Swanirvar', perhaps both because of the need to keep it as an auxiliary body of Union Parishad and to get rid of the romantic idea of making each village 'Swanirvar'. In terms of structure it is similar to the one envisaged under the Gram Parishad Act of 1997. Under both the Acts, ward and not a village, is the operational unit. It has the advantage of avoiding physical overlap in jurisdiction and giving the new unit a size that has potentials of economies of scale, to some extent. Above all, a ward-based village organization complements the Union Parishad, rather than exists parallel to it. It was the bureaucrats' solution to the complex issue of having a village body as required by political authorities. The fact of the matter is, irrespective of political parties in power, the government of the day would always want to have a local government system in its own image. The reason is obvious. Local government bodies and community based organizations are conduit of whatever resources are channeled to the people at the grassroots. They can influence public opinion in favour or against in a significant way. The structure and composition of these local government bodies are important to political parties. That is why with every change of government there is a reappraisal and restructuring of local government bodies. This is encouraging in so far as it demonstrates continuing interest by powers that be. But it is not conducive to the sustained growth of local government.

With the present resource base at local levels and potentially available centrally allocated fund, a village level organisation is not viable. But the political directive to have a village body has to be implemented, whatever the arguments against. The bureaucratic solution, proposed in the draft of the 1997 Gram Parishad Act, was found acceptable to the existing government and approved. The Gram Parishad instead of being an independent local government body was integrated with Union Parishad through the Wards. Through this provision the Ward members were given a role in the new organisation that coincided with their jurisdictions. By making him/her ex-officio head of the Gram Parishad the 1997 Act gave legitimacy and greater acceptability to the new organisation. Grouping all the villages in the Ward under the Gram Parishad also ensured cohesion and a reasonable territorial size for planning and implementation of schemes.

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The Gram Parishad Act of 1997 is an interesting and significant case study on the collaborative relationship between political masters and civil servants. The politicians' compulsion is to strengthen their power base through development activities, particularly through resource allocation. The bureaucrats strive to accommodate this political requirement within the overall development frame work and a longer time frame. It is the bureaucrats' duty to be responsive to politician ministers' desires and directives but this is to be accomplished keeping the long term interests in view. To go for an independent tier of local government at the village level would have adverse impact on Union Parishad, both structurally and financially. So a compromise was found in this form of a ward level village organisation that would be seen to complement the Union Parishad and integrated into its existing structure. The provision that funds required for delegated function would be provided to the Gram Parishad by the Union Parishad was in conformity with this hierarchical arrangement. It is gratifying that Gram Sarkar Act of 2003 has also adopted the strategy for the structure of Gram Sarkar and its source of financing. For once, there was no need to reinvent the wheels.

It is seen that the present Gram Sarkar Act has adopted the same structure as that of the Gram Parishad Act of 1997 which augurs well for support from the main opposition party. But the similarity between the two Acts ends here.

As regards composition of the Gram Parishad the prevailing government opted for an arrangement between direct election and nomination. The provision under the present Act on the other hand, is clearly for nomination. The 13-member body of Gram Sarkar will have, besides the Gram Sarkar Prodhan (the Ward member), three women representatives, two farmers, one male VDP member, one worker representative, two farm worker representatives, one freedom fighter, one teacher and one businessman. Officials from various government departments, financial institutions, cooperative societies, Ansars and NGOs will be non-voting members of the Gram Sarkar. This is a fairly large body, with members having disparate backgrounds and motivations. But more than the number of members, much will depend on the consideration for which they are selected and the manner of this selection. If the basis is solely on partisan considerations, then the credibility to the public will be weakened and acceptability to other parties will in all probability be found wanting. If the government has a short-term objective and goal in having these village level bodies, then of course, it can ignore reactions from other quarters. But if the objective is strengthening of the local government system, selection of the Gram Sarkar members will have to be, as much as possible, on non-partisan basis. According to many, this is asking for the moon. Looking at the brighter side, even under partisan dispensation, if Gram Sarkars are able to perform a meaningful role and make themselves useful to local people, they will have a chance of continuing in future without interruption.

The Gram Sarkar has been assigned many responsibilities and functions, many of which overlap with Union Parishad. Even if funds are available there will be duplication of activities between the two levels. But the crux of the problem will be lack of funds and limited resource base at the local level. As it is, even Union Parishads are exclusively dependent on government grants for development activities and also for administration. It has been provided under the Gram Sarkar Act that Union Parishad will provide funds to a Gram Sarkar to operate its activities. The Gram Parishad Act of 1997 also made the same arrangement but it assigned only a few and very specific type of activities. The main function given to Gram Parishad was to convene two half-yearly meetings to propose a list of development schemes for consideration of Union Parishads and subsequently for feedback on the implementation of schemes approved. This planning function involves nominal expense but provides a realistic basis to local level planning. The other function given to the Gram Parishad was the registration of births and deaths. This being a statutory function of Union Parishads it was provided that required fund would be supplied by them. The other functions were implementation of schemes under the Union Plan falling in the jurisdiction of the Gram Parishad and maintenance of law and order. All these function and responsibilities have been assigned to the Gram Sarkar but many other functions have also been added. There is need for streamlining and rationalising these, as otherwise frustrations will become inevitable.

In the past too much emphasis was given on training the functionaries of local body for which donors were only too eager to provide funds. What they require most urgently are development of infrastructure (office), equipment and access to fund, local and external for development schemes. But even before that stage becomes relevant the Gram Sarkar requires a more concise and pragmatic list of activities to be undertaken by it. If the beginning is made with a modest role that requires a minimum of budget, it may pave the way for an enhanced role in future. Gram Parishad did not progress beyond legislation. Gram Sarkar is set to become operational within a few days. It carries a heavy load of expectations on its shoulders. The government can only fail at the cost of its credibility.

Hasnat Abdul Hye is a former secretary, novelist and economist.