PANCHAYATIRAJ SYSTEM

The System:

Panchayati Raj Institutions – the grass-roots units of self-government –

have been proclaimed as the vehicles of socio-economic
transformation in rural India. Effective and meaningful functioning of
these bodies would depend on active involvement, contribution and
participation of its citizens both male and female. The aim of every
village being a republic and Panchayats having powers has been
translated into reality with the introduction of the three-tier Panchayati
Raj system to enlist people’s participation in rural reconstruction.

Nodal Agency:

In the State level, Panchayats & Rural Development Department

of the Government of West Bengal is the Nodal Agency for
Implementation, Supervision & Monitoring of the major poverty
alleviation programmes in the rural areas of this State and at the
District-level, Zilla Parishad is the implementing agency for the
same.

Under three-tier system of democratic decentralization, Zilla Parishad

is the apex body at the district level followed by Panchayat Samitis
at Block level as second-tier and Gram Panchayats, the third-tier.

ZILLA PARISHAD

Information

The Zilla Parishad, Hooghly is functioning at its own office

building "Zilla Parishad Prasasanik Bhavan" at the district head-quarter
Chinsurah after constitution of Zilla Parishad. The Parishad consisting
of 47 members of Zilla Parishad constitution. These total 47 members
include Sabhadhipati, Sahakari-Sabhadhipati & 9 Karmadhakshyas.
This Zilla Parishad has constituted 10 nos. of standing
committees i.e. Sthayee Samities. Chairman of the standing committee
have been elected by and from among the elected members of
Parishad for reviewing the schemes.
The respective standing committees of the Parishad deals with
the matter assigned to them. There is provision for holding 3 – 4 Zilla
Parishad meetings in a year.
 Besides the Savapatis of Panchayat Samities of this district are
the Ex-Officio Members of the Hooghly Zilla Parishad. Moreover, all the
MPs and MLAs of the district Hooghly are also the Ex-Officio members
of the Zilla Parishad as per West Bengal Panchayat Act 1973.
The District Magistrate & Collector is the Executive Officer of Zilla
Parishad, ADM(P&RD) is the Additional Executive Officer and then
Secretary, Deputy Secretary & Additional Deputy Secretary are the
other officers of the Administration of the Zilla Parishad.
The Executive Officer is the administrative head of the Zilla
Parishad and Secretary is the drawing & disbursing officer of the Zilla
Parishad.
The Organizational Structure is given in the diagram below.

Responsibility

The various Rural Development Works carried at the Villages,

Gram Panchayats, Block and District levels are planned, implemented,
monitored and maintained by the Zilla Parishad. These works are
monitored on the State Level by the Panchayats & Rural Development
Department of the Government of West Bengal and on the National
level by the Govt. of India. The Z.P. at the district level is responsible
for the development and welfare works carried through the central,
state share and its own funding. Zilla Parishad supervises the works of
Panchayat Samities as well as Gram Panchayats within its Jurisdiction.

PANCHAYAT SAMITIES
There are 18 Panchayat Samities in the district. Each Panchayat
Samiti is functioning with the Community Development at the Block level
created by the government in the Panchayats & Rural Development
Deptt.

Each Panchayat Samiti consists of official and elected members. The

official members are the Block Dev. Officer and the Officers of various
State Govt. Deptt. ordinarily stationed at the Block level. The official
bearers include the Panchayat Samiti members and the Pradhan of the
Gram Panchayats. Savapati is the head of the body and is elected
directly by the Panchayat Samiti members. And BDO of the respective
block is the Executive Officer of the Panchayat Samity.

The main functions of the Panchayat Samitis are planning, execution

and supervision of all developmental programmes in the Block . It also
supervises the works of Gram Panchayats within its Jurisdiction.

GRAM PANCHAYATS

Gram Panchayat is the primary unit of Panchayati Raj Institutions. The

district has 210 Gram Panchayats. Each Gram Panchayat comprising
some villages and is divided into mouzas. The election of Pradhan,
Upa-Pradhan & members are conducted according to the provisions of
the West Bengal Panchayat Election Rules. Pradhan as the head of the
GP is elected by the G.P. members.

The Organizational Structure of the Gram

Panchayat :-.

There are 210 Gram Panchayats in this district

under 18 Panchayat Samitis.

Map of the District with GP-Boundary is given on

the left side.
 Gram Sabha

The Gram Sabha is the most powerful foundation of decentralized

governance by ensuring elected representatives are directly and
regularly accountable to the people. The aim of the government has
been to strengthen the Gram Sabha by introducing favourable policy
changes. However, the Gram Sabhas are yet to become operational
entities and to do justice to their potential for making the Panchayat
system truly self-governed and a bottom-up structure.

Some of the key features in relation to Gram Sabhas are as follows:

The quorum for a Gram Sabha meeting remains one tenth & it is
essent ial to have one-third of the quorum as women members.
The Gram Sabha will work as a supervisory body, and audit and
regulate the functioning of Gram Panchayats.
Recommendations of the Gram Sabha will be binding on the Gram
Panchayat.
The Gram Sabha can approve as well as audit expenditure up to
three lakhs.
The Panchayat Karmi (Panchayat Secretary appointed by the
Panchayats but drawing salary from the state government) can be
removed from his/her post only if the Gram Sabha approves it.
All the villages within a Gram Panchayat can have separate Gram
Sabhas.
The Gram Sabha will have the right to recall the Pradhan after two
and a half years of commencement of his/her tenure.

The key roles entrusted to the Gram Sabha are microplanning, social
audit of Panchayat functioning, ratification of Panchayat accounts,
balance sheets, identification and approval of beneficiaries, and
supervisory and regulatory functions.

The following indicators were chosen for assessing the prevailing

situation in the field:

Participation and level of awareness of the Gram Sabha.

Issues of discussion and the process of decision-making.
Pattern of leadership.
Capacity of Gram Sabhas.
 Transparency and accountability of the three tiers (GP, PS & ZP) to
the Gram Sabha.

The Organizational Linkage

The Organizational linkage of the three tier Panchayati Raj

System is given below in a diagram.

Gram panchayat
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municipal setup by state in India

Gram panchayats are local governments at the village or small town level in India. As
per 2002 there were about 265,000 gram panchayats in India. The gram panchayat is the
foundation of the Panchayat System. A gram panchayat can be set up in villages with
minimum population of 300. Sometimes two or more villages are clubbed together to
form group-gram panchayat when the population of the individual villages is less than
300.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Sarpanch / Chairperson
• 2 Sources of Income
• 3 Gram Sabha
• 4 Principles of decentralisation
• 5 References

• 6 See also
 [edit] Sarpanch / Chairperson
The Sarpanch or Chairperson is the head of the Gram Panchayat. The elected members of
the Gram Panchayat elect from among themselves a Sarpanch and a Deputy Sarpanch for
a term of five years. In some places the panchayat president is directly elected by village
people. The Sarpanch presides over the meetings of the Gram Panchayat and supervises
its working. He implements the development schemes of the village. The Deputy
Sarpanch, who has the power to make his own decisions, assists the Sarpanch in his
work.

The Sarpanch has the responsibilities of

1. Looking after street lights, construction and repair work of the roads in the
villages and also the village markets, fairs, festivals and celebrations.
2. Keeping a record of births, deaths and marriages in the village.
3. Looking after public health and hygiene by providing facilities for sanitation and
drinking water.
4. Providing for education.
5. Implementing development schemes for agriculture and animal husbandry.

[edit] Sources of Income

The main source of income of the Gram Panchayat is the property tax levied on the
buildings and the open spaces within the village. Other sources of income include
professional tax, taxes on pilgrimage, animal trade, grant received from the State
Government in proportion of land revenue and the grants received from the Zilla
Parishad.

[edit] Gram Sabha

All men and women in the village who are above 18 years of age form the Gram Sabha.
The Gram Sabha meets twice a year. Meetings of the Gram Sabha are convened to ensure
the development of the people through their participation and mutual co-operation. The
annual budget and the development schemes for the village are placed before the Gram
Sabha for consideration and approval. The Sarpanch and his assistants answer the
questions put by the people. The different problems and difficulties of the people are also
discussed in the Gram Sabha. All decisions of community development should take in
Special Gramsabha only.

[edit] Principles of decentralisation

Dr S B Sen committee, a committee appointed by the Government of Kerala in 1996, had
suggested the following principles, which was later adopted by the Second
Administrative Reforms Commission, for local governance :-
• subsidiarity
• democratic decentralisation
• delineation of functions
• devolution of functions in real terms
• convergence
• citizen centricity