Editorial
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| | Powerless Panchayats | | Anger at grassroots on the boil; it would be dangerous to ignore | | All initiatives taken by the government in the name of ameliorating the existing conflict of Jammu and Kashmir, it seems, would only end by accentuating the conflict further by generating more frustration and anger. An evident sample of this was seen by rural development minister Ali Mohd. Sagar, in Kupwara, when he was not allowed to speak by the disgruntled members of the panchayats and had to leave the venue of the meeting in a huff. And the reasons for the increasing anger are not difficult to locate. The panchayat elections would soon be two years old and so the expectations of the people, at the grassroots, that had given an unprecedented verve to the polling process has metamorphosed into despair and deep rooted anger and alienation. The inspiring force behind electioneering was not to project that people had reposed faith in Indian democracy, as was showcased by both the state and central governments, soon after the 2010 summer agitation, but to rally for genuine devolution of powers so that people at the grassroots could be involved in the decision making process about their own day to day development related issues. Unfortunately, two years on, that process of devolution remains nowhere in sight; power continues to wrest in the hands of the politicians and bureaucrats, who with their well embedded network have developed vested interest in maintaining the monopoly. This is not for the first time that panches and sarpanches have shown a rash display of their anger. They have been silently agitating for devolution of powers since over a year and in recent months, there have been several occasions when they have lodged street protests, addressed press briefings and rallies and have even threatened to resign. Some resignations, particularly in South Kashmir, have already been tendered but that was apparently over alleged threats by unidentified gunmen. The anger is now on the boil and demonstrates that the entire electioneering process aimed at mollifying anger has only ended up flaring it and invoking a deeper distrust in the functioning system of democracy, which tends to centralise authority in the hands of a few and forbids a culture of accountability and transparency.
The devolution of powers is denied by the government in the name of an anaemic Panchayati Raj Act and on the pretext that the elected panches and sarpanches have not been given the requisite training. The absence of training cannot be used as an alibi for non-devolution or disempowering panchayats, since it is a well grounded fact that the exercise of responsibilities is, in itself, the optimal mode of training. At the same time, Article 370 cannot be employed as a means to stonewall the creation of an effective law that can make the role of panchayats more meaningful in a multi-tiered system of governance. If the special status of Jammu and Kashmir comes in the way of applying the 73rd and 74th amendments in constitution of India to J&K, there is nothing stopping the state from ausending the state constitution and coming out with adequate provisions that could even excel the panchayat laws of other states. There is also nothing to stop the government from ensuring that key officials, heading the lowest rung of administration in rural areas, are trained to act as guides and are responsive enough to local sensibilities and needs rather than allow them to continue with the old tradition of centralising authority at ground level in their own hands. There is much that the government can do immediately even within the existing law, though a long term plan for framing better laws needs to be also set into process. The government needs to take lessons from recent incidents manifesting the rage of the panchayat members and deal with it in an effective manner, rather than parroting evasive answers. |
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