Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Oct 20, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Oct 20, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Rural Development Amendments soon to give panchayats more powers Our Bureau
Kolkata , Oct. 19 IN an effort to give more powers to the panchayats, the Union Government has decided to propose two amendments in the Indian Constitution, according to the Union Minister for Rural Development, Mr Kashiram Rana. He was in the city to attend an interactive session with the members of Merchant Chamber of Commerce. He said that his Ministry has also proposed to increase the financial assistance for building houses for the people living Below the Poverty Line (BPL). According to him, the Indian Constitution has categorically given 29 functions to the panchayats. None of the States, however, has given all these powers to the local bodies. Most of these powers are still held by the State Governments. "Some States have given a lot of power to the panchayats but the funds are only allocated by the State Government. This is not the right way for decentralisation of governmental activities. We want to rectify it," Mr Rana said. The matter has already been discussed thoroughly in both the Houses of the Parliament. In the coming Winter Session, the Union Government will place the 73rd and 74th Amendment so that decentralisation of those 29 powers to the panchayats becomes mandatory. At present, Union Ministry of Rural Development is giving financial assistance for building houses to the BPL population. It is Rs 20,000 in plain areas and Rs 22,000 in hilly areas. The Ministry has proposed to increase it to Rs 25,000 and Rs 27,500 respectively. "The matter has been proposed by the Union Government and it is currently under the consideration of the Planning Commission. We are confident that the Planning Commission would accept it soon," he said. Regarding rural road development, he said, till September 2003, his Ministry has spent Rs 10,000 crore and covered 18 States. The present focus is to connect villages with 1,000 population. "In the second phase we will start connecting villages with population of 5,000 and more," he said. He also urged the Indian corporate industry to take active participation in the development of the rural sector. In this context he praised the role played by the Tatas and Goenkas. "The corporate sector has technologies, which can help in making the implementation of rural development programme speedy, low cost and more productive. The technologies can be fine tuned to make them more sustainable for the adoption in the rural areas," he said. Mr K.B. Agarwala, President of the chamber, requested the Minister to consider jute geo-textiles for the development of rural roads as it would be major boost for the ailing jute sector. According to Mr Rana, experts have already approved jute geo-textiles and five pilot projects have been identified in West Bengal for its usage. "If it is successful, then jute geo-textiles would be used else where also," he added.
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