news details |
|
|
| Devolution of powers to Panchayats 'another failed achievements' of Govt | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 13: Among the highlighted achievements of the State government during the last three years is the announcement by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that all power is being devolved to the grassroots level with only the bigger decisions left for the secretariat to take.
The situation on the ground negates this significant assertion. The real dream of devolution of powers to the ground is the empowerment of the Panchayats. After their election to the Panchayats one universal complaint of the Sarpanches and the Panches, irrespective of the party to which they belong, is that they are shabbily treated by the officers at the block, district and the divisional levels.
While most of them have been verbally insulted and humiliated wherever they have gone to highlight public grievances to seek their redressal, some of them have even returned back after being slapped by the arrogant officials. This much for the empowerment of the Panchayats and the devolution of powers to the ground! Many Sarpanches and Panches have been threatening resignations and those in Kupwara district of the Valley even recently threatened to resign en mass. In a system where even the engagement of an RT is decided directly by the ministers, the empowerment of the poor Sarpanches and Panches cannot even be imagined. Yes, there is of course one sphere of rural activity where the Panchayats are really enjoying powers and that is the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, the NAREGA. The amounts under this most prestigious national programme which are meant to be spent to guarantee minimum working days to the rural unemployed are being spent in the most callous manner. In most cases the money is spent on non-existent development works in the Villages with the Sarpanches and Panches at many places sharing the spoils with the engineers of the rural development department at the block levels.
In a State where the entire administrative machinery remains plagued by corruption that has established strong roots because of its patronage from the highest level, the empowerment of the poor cannot be imagined, it is only adding insult to injury to ridicule the rural populace by telling them they are being empowered through the devolution of powers to the Panchayats.
So far, there is not a single incident that would prove that the powers have either been actually devolved to the Panchayats or that the elected representatives at the village level are being treated seriously by the government officials. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
