Indian Political Science Association

GOVERNANCE AT LOCAL LEVEL : THE CASE OF PANCHAYATS IN WEST BENGAL

Author(s): Dilip K. Ghosh
Source: The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 69, No. 1 (JAN. - MAR., 2008), pp. 7188
Published by: Indian Political Science Association
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The Indian Journal of Political Science

Vol. LXIX, No. 1, Jan.-Mar., 2008

GOVERNANCE AT LOCAL LEVEL :

THE CASE OF PANCHAYATS IN WEST BENGAL

Dilip K. Ghosh
Governance at local level becomes a critical issue with increasing process of
decentralisation at different tiers. With the passage of the Constitution (Seventh third
Amendment) Act, 1992, the panchayats in rural areas are conceived as institutions for

local governance. Twenty nine subjects listed under the Eleventh Schedule are

earmarked by the Constitution for their activities. The present study considers some of.
them. The experiences in West Bengal in this respect are mixed. Though many subjects

are thrusted upon the panchayats, commensurate devolution of functionaries and

funds are not made by the State Government. As a consequence, adequate services

can noi be extended to the common people by the panchayats at different levels. This
is a governance crisis. Coupled with this, the State Government is constituting several
committees at the district, block and gram panchayat level for delivery of services like
primary education, public health etc. This step is in contravention to the statutory
powers and responsibilities given to the panchayats. In fact, existence of many actors
erodes the accountability of them to the people. Again, people's participation in the
affairs of the panchayats is also very low in West Bengal. It is just the bare minimum
fixed as quorum by law. The panchayats have been given the responsibility to implement

various rural development programmes. The utilisation of fund and generation of

employment for the poor is not up to (he very high level (case of EAS and SGRY cited

in the afticle). Thus governance needs to be revamped at local level through the

panchayats by means of building their capacities, both in terms of financial resources

and human resources.

Governance at local level : the case of panchayats in West Bengal

In our federal structure, governance indicates certain relationship and functions distributed

among the different tiers of administrative units having autonomy and interdependencies. The
Constitution (Seventy third Amendment) Act, 1992 conferred on the panchayats in the rural
areas the recognition of institution of self-government. The State Governments were advised to

make necessary laws for endowing the panchayats with appropriate powers, authority and
responsibilities (Article 243G of the Constitution). The provisions incorporated in Article 243G
along with the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule reflect the underlying philosophy that
for delivery of better services to the rural people, the existing system of governing them either

from the State Headquarters or from the National Capital seems to be not so effective. The
crisis of governance in our country and the associated apathy and insensitivity of the functional
agents need not require any elaboration. The Seventy Third Amendment raised a hope through
rejuvenation of the panchayats as people's institutions. It also remains the fact that after more
than a decade of getting effect of the Seventy third Amendment, the directives for empowering

the panchayats remain non-radical towards enabling them to be the institutions of selfgovernment. In spite of many achievements of this Constitutional Amendment like assured
existence of the panchayat institutions, regular election to the panchayat bodies, obligatory
reservation of seats for the people from the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women,
the progress towards decentralised governance is still patchy because of inadequate devolution

in respect of funds, functions and functionaries. The Mid term appraisal of Ninth Five Year

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 72

Plan made observations like this "implementation of the Law has been severely hampered by
the reluctance of most State Governments to make Laws and Rules" that conform to the

philosophy and spirit of 73rd Amendment. The guiding principles of this Constitutional

Amendment were ensuring autonomy to the panchayats through devolution type of

decentralisation, institutionalization of the concept of decentralised planning, involvement of

the local community in decision making and empowerment of the weaker sections of people
in villages. For improving this situation, in Mid term Appraisal of Ninth Five Year Plan, the
Government of India placed two agenda before the state governments for completing devolution.
These are (i) to identify what would be done by the three tiers of the panchayats at their levels

on the basis of the principle that what can be done by the lower level that should be done at
that level and not at the higher level; and (ii) to place all departmental functionaries under the
overall supervision and control of the panchayats at appropriate tier as a measure of devolution

of functionaries. Tenth Five Year Plan also advocated the need for decentralising the overcentralized system of governance for empowering people, promoting people's participation
and increasing efficiency of delivery system. In view of the Tenth Five Year Plan, effective

decentralisation has not taken place in most of the states. As an effect, the panchayat
institutions are 'heavily influenced by the role of the development bureaucracy'. The Tenth Five
Year Plan document pointed out that "the present system is such that even honest panchayati
raj institution representatives find it difficult to carry out their functions". As a strategy, the

Tenth Five Year Plan laid emphasis on implementation of the provisions of 73rd Constitution
Amendment in letter and spirit. The political empowerment of the panchayati raj institutions is
more or less completed in most of the states. Unfortunately, this political empowerment has
not been accompanied by the empowerment in the related spheres. In spite of having a sound
philosophy behind the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution, the State Government,

in general, made the panchayats the implementing agencies of the government sponsored
programmes only. The Mid term Appraisal of Tenth Five Year Plan also makes a mention of
this apprehension in these words, the state governments were expected to devolve functional
autonomy, administrative support and financial resources to the PRIs', but the success achieved
on this front is not at par with the expectations generated with the passage of 73rd Amendment
of the Constitution. This dichotomy prompts us to take up the present study with reflections

from the experiences of West Bengal.

West Bengal has been chosen for its two unique features. First, an alliance of Left
parties under the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxists) has been ruling the

State since 1 977 without any discontinuity; and second, the State Government has involved
the panchayat bodies at village, block and districts since 1 978 with implementation of different

programmes. Since 1978, elections to the three-tier panchayats have been held in every five
year in this State without any interruption. So far six elections were held. In West Bengal, the

State Government brings in a number of amendments to the West Bengal Panchayat Act,
1 973 for making the panchayats pro-people and their functioning democratic. For strengthening

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Governance

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73

the scope for people's participation, the State Government incorporated the provisions of
meetings of gram sansad and gram sabha respectively through sections 16Aand 16B of the
West Bengal Panchayat Act. In the year 2004, the State Government through an amendment

in West Bengal Panchayat Act created the provision to constitute a gram unnayan samiti

under a gram sansad. This has been done to ensure participation of the local people in
implementation, maintenance and equitable distribution of benefits of different programmes.
For establishing organic linkage within the panchayat set-up for effective governance at local

levels, block sansad and zilla sansad were constituted through an amendment of the West
Bengal Panchayat Act in the year 2003. Apart from these legal provisions, through different
executive orders, the State Government in the Department of Panchayat and Rural Development

made it obligatory to constitute beneficiaries' committee in case of any infrastructure

development programme by the panchayats. All these are mad to make the panchayats pro-

people, transparent and accountable.

In this backdrop the present study is undertaken with the following objectives :

(i) to portray the progress of devolution of funds, functions and functionaries to the
panchayats for decentralised governance;

(ii) to assess the effectiveness of the panchayats in ensuring people's participation,

particularly with reference to West Bengal; and

(iii) to indicate the extent of transparency and accountability of the panchayats in their
activities.

Structure of the paper :

The paper is structured in the following manner :

Section I studies the progress in devolution of three Fs (e.g. funds, functions and
functionaries) after 73rd Amendment of the Constitution. In reality the panchayat system has
taken root in the villages, but in general they are not sufficiently strengthened by the State
Government. Issuing of many executive orders and formation of different committees by the

State Government outside the provisions of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 cause
erosion in the functionalities of the panchayats at different tiers. These steps have many
implications for the governance at local level.

Local governance requires high degree of participation of people in planning and

implementation of the programmes. This enhances their opportunities for fulfilling their hopes

and demands. Section II deals with this matter though experiences of working of the public

forums like gram sansad, gram unnayan samiti and gram sabha in West Bengal.

Section III discusses the provisions of the West Bengal Panchayat Act made by the
State Government to bring transparency and accountability in the panchayats. The activities

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 74

of District Council (section 21 4A), is discussed here. For making reflections on accountability

of the panchayats towards the poor, we present in this study the aspects like employment
generation and women coverage in Employment Assurance Scheme and Sampoorna Gramin
Rozgar Yojana as illustration.
Section I

Decentralisation in our country generally refers to a situation of transferring authority

from the national level to any institution or agency at the sub-national level for planning and
implementation of different programmes for the benefit of people, and managing public services

like supply of drinking water, maintenance of primary school buildings etc. It is expected that

once the process of decentralization starts from the top level it should reach the grassroots
level ultimately for empowering the people to participate in planning and decision-making.
Ideally, decentralised governance refers to a situation where the lower bodies in the hierarchy

of administrative units (may be the panchayats or nagarpalikas) are given all powers and
responsibilities and have control over the determination of the goals and targets of the local

plans. Decentralisation encompassing fiscal, political and administrative changes, if

implemented faithfully, can have visible impact on all aspects of development. Let us clarify

three key areas of decentralisation.

Political decentralisation wants to give people and their elected representatives more

power in decision-making. It generates scope for the citizens to know their political
representatives closely and in a better way than the public representatives at the national level
(for example, a village pradhan is better known to the electors in comparison to a Member of
Parliament or a Member of Legislative Assembly). For implementing political decentralisation,

Govt, of India incorporated the concept of gram sabha meeting (Article 243A) in the 73rd
Amendment of the Constitution. In the West Bengal Panchayat Act, there are provisions of

public forum like gram sabha, gram sansad and gram unnayan samiti where the common
people have scope for direct participation in the panchayats' affairs.
Administrative decentralization calls for redistribution of authority, responsibility and
financial resources for ensuring public services by different levels of government starting from

national level to the gram panchayats in the rural areas and nagarpalikas in urban areas.
Administrative decentralisation has three major forms, e.g. dconcentration, delegation and

devolution - each having different characteristics. Dconcentration in literal sense implies

'breaking the bulk' into smaller units. This is simply redistribution of administrative
responsibilities within the central government where there occurs only shifting of work load
from the central office to its branch offices or local offices without transferring any power either

to make decisions or to exercise discretion. This is the weakest form of decentralization. In

delegation, transfer of responsibility for decision-making and administration of schemes/

programmes is there, but authority is not transferred. In devolution authority for decision-

making is transferred. When devolution occurs, the local bodies at the sub-state level hVe

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Governance

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their own recognized geographical boundaries and own set of representatives elected by the
local people to form the board for exercising the power and functions devolved upon them. For
example, the Seventy-third Amendment Act clearly spelt out the subjects (Eleventh schedule)
where the panchayats have to bear the responsibilities and should have the power to discharge
the responsibilities. The Eleventh Schedule includes 29 subjects like poverty alleviation, public
distribution system, primary education etc.

Fiscal decentralization is the core area of making decentralization successful. For

carrying out the decentralized functions effectively and efficiently, the local bodies should
have adequate revenues. It may be own earned or transferred from the central/ state government

in the form of grant-in-aid. Along with sound revenue base, the local bodies must have the

authority to make expenditure decisions. In the Seventy Third Amendment, the provisions
have been incorporated to give authority to the panchayats to strengthen their own resource
base.

In West Bengal through an amendment in 1994, the State Government made provisions

in section 207B of the West Bengal Panchayat Act (WBP Act), for transferring of powers,
functions and duties to the panchayats. All 29 matters are devolved to the panchayats. For
discharging their functions democratically, the State Government made provisions of constituting

five upa-samitis in gram panchayats (section 32A of the WBP Act), ten Sthayee Samitis
(standing committees) in panchayat samitis (section 124) and in zilla parishads (section
171). The upa-samitis (sub committees) in gram panchayats and sthayee samitis in panchayat

samitis and zilla parishads cover all 29 matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. The lists of
sub committees and standing committees are given in Annexure I and II respectively to show

the coverage of 29 matters under the Eleventh Schedule.

The Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, Government of West Bengal

ha? completed activity mapping exercise in respect of several matters like agriculture,
agricultural marketing, animal resources development, cottage and small scale industries,
forestry, health and family welfare, fisheries, food and civil supplies, mass education extension,

backward classes welfare, women and child development and social welfare and information
and cultural affairs. The State Government will issue necessary orders for operationalising the

activity mapping followed by matching devolution of funds in favour of the panchayats at

appropriate tier. In section 207 A of the West Bengal Panchayat Act inserted through amendment

in the year 1 992, the State Government already created the provision to place its officers and

employees at the disposal of the gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads as
and when necessary. But the progress in this respect is not that much substantial. At the
district level, the District Magistrate has been made the Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad
and at the block level, the Block Development officer is designated as Executive officer of the

Panchayat Samiti. Except these two, since 1992 it was not possible to place services of
officers and employees of different functional departments at the disposal of the district and

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 76

block tier panchayats. In the West Bengal Panchayat Act, the State Government made
necessary provisions (sub section 2 of section 207A) for protecting the interests of the
government employees whose services may be placed at the disposal of any tier of the
panchayat structure. This sub section clearly mentions that "the officers and employees
whose services are so placed at the disposal of the Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti or
Zilla Parishad, shall continue to be the employees of the State Government and their salary,
allowances and other benefits shall be met from the Consolidated Fund of the state". The main

obstacle is the lack of sharpness in the reform measures of the State Government towards
empowering the panchayats as well as the mental rigidities of government employees to work

under the panchayats. There is no problem in accepting a Minister as the head, but hesitancy

crops up to work under a sabhadhipati (chairperson of a zilla parishad) or a sabhapati

(chairperson of a panchayat samiti) or a pradhan (chairperson of a gram panchayat). For
emerging as institution of local self-government it is desirable that along with functions, funds

and functionaries also are to be placed at the disposal of the panchayats. Mere assignment of

functions does not pay more. The gram panchayats, in particular, require placement of
functionaries from different departments to cope with the assigned duties and responsibilities.

In West Bengal there are only two clerical employees in a village panchayat to assist
the pradhan and members in bearing the burden of activities. Recently the State Government
has created one additional post in this category for assisting the village panchayats. Considering
the activities entrusted to the village panchayats and their involvement in different social spheres

of the rural areas, this arrangement also may seem to be inadequate. At the block level,
though government officials are available, in most cases the intermediate panchayats have
very little control over these employees. The services of block level personnel of the departments

like public works, rural electrification, non-conventional energy, irrigation and waterways etc.

are yet to be placed at the disposal of the panchayats. It is of high priority to consider the
strengthening of the village and intermediate panchayats in view of the responsibilities and
tasks assigned to them. Sometimes it is also argued that if the panchayats are made effective
institutions in view of the ever increasing assignment of works, "ideally the PRIs should have

the authority to create posts, make recruitment to such posts and control the employees".
(Panchayati Raj Update, February 2002). After the passage of Seventy Third Amendment Act
of the Constitution, it becomes a common practice to say that the panchayats will 'do this' or

do that'- as if the panchayats are the panacea for alt ills.

The formation of parallel bodies dealing with functions given to the panchayati raj
institutions erodes the effective functioning of the panchayats. For example, on one hand at

the gram panchayat, the State Government through provision of the WBP Act (Section 32A)

created five upa samitis. Siksha-O-Janasasthya (Education and Public health) is one of these
five upa samitis. The motive behind formation of such upa-samitis is to ensure democratic

functioning of the gram panchayats. The Rule 66 of the West Bengal Panchayat (Gram
Panchayat Administration) Rules, 2004 makes allotment of subjects for each of these five upa

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Governance

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samitis. Regarding the powers of upa-samiti, Rule 67 has the following provision also :

"Every upa-samiti shall prepare schemes and perform the functions of the Gram
Panchayat in relation to the subjects allotted to it within its budgetary provisions. It shall be

responsible for implementation of the works and schemes of the Gram Panchayat and those
assigned to it by different departments of the State Government

According to the laid down rules, 66 and 67, Siksha-O-Janasasthya upa samiti has the
prirnary.responsibility to propagate primary education within the jurisdiction of a gram panchayat.

In addition to the legal provisions in the West Bengal Panchayat Act and the Gram Panchayat
Administration Rules, the State Government through executive orders created Village Education
Committee (VEC) at the village level for overseeing the functioning of primary education and

delivering the necessary services. Similarly, at the panchayat samiti level by section 124 of
the WBP Act there is a committee in the name of Shiksha, Sanskriti, Tathya-O-Krira sthayee

samiti (Education, Culture, Information and Sports standing committee). At the district
panchayat tier also there is the same provision. This creates overlapping of functional areas.
Unbundling of various activities in this sector helps to identify the criss-crossing of the areas.
Activity matrix 1 is prepared to explain this. Effect is erosion of accountability of different tiers

of governance.

Activity Matrix 1 : Primary Education Sector and different actors : West Bengal

, State Zilla Panchayat Gram VEC

1

Enrolment

Dropout

of

children

reduction

3 Campaigning for
universalisation

of

education

4 Hiring/ firing of ^

teachers

5 Ensuring quality of ^ V V V >/

services

6 Checking of V ' V V V V
attendance

of

teachers

Procurement

teaching

of

aids

8 Maintenance of V V V
school

buildings

9 Supervision of school ^ ^ ^ ^
construction,

10.

Awareness

if

any

generation

From the activity matrix 1 it can be seen that except hiring/ firing of teachers, in all

areas there exist more than one actors. As the State Government bears the total expenditure

of salary of the teaching and non-teaching personnel, the power of engaging teachers and

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 78

dismissing them rests with the Government. The panchayats are not in a position to run a
primary school. The reality is that more than 90 percent of the allotment in primary education

are spent for meeting the salaries of the employees (both teaching and non teaching).
Involvement of more than one actors in an activity certainly leads to erosion of their accountability.

For example, in general, the checking of attendance of teachers during school time remains
the most , eglected activity. Again, neither the department officials viz. Sub Inspector of Schools

at the block level nor District Inspector of Schools (primary) nor the panchayat representatives
at different tiers can be held responsible for low enrolment or dropout. Even the village education

committees formed with a view to establishing community ownership of the primary schools

bypass their assigned responsibilities. For improving the present scenario, it is necessary
that the areas of control need to be defined in clear terms along with the specification of
activities what the panchayats should do and what they should not do. Formation of parallel
bodies in the identical functional area is in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. The

37th Report of the Standing Committee an Urban and Rural Development (2002) of 1 3th Lok

Sabha highlighted the issue of overlapping functions and recommended that "all the parallel
bodies and programmes working in various States should be brought under the overall monitoring

and supervision of Panchayats at appropriate level".

Like primary education, in health sector also a number of parallel committees are
formed through executive orders of the State Government in spite of many provisions in the

West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 under power and responsibilities of three tiers of the
panchayat structure. For example, in case of the gram panchayats, section 19 of the WBP
Act mentions that their duties include taking of preventive measures in respect of malaria,

small pox, cholera or any other epidemic. Section 20 of the WBP Act contain the provision
that a gram panchayat shall perform such functions as the State Government may assign to
it in respect of rural dispensaries, health centres and maternity and child welfare centres. By

means of rule 66 of the West Bengal Gram Panchayat Administration Rules, 2004, Siksha-OJanaswasthya Upa Samiti of a gram panchayat, shall deliberate upon and deal with the health

sector subjects like rural dispensaries and health clinic, immunisation and family welfare
programmes, public health and sanitation, and prevention of communicable diseases etc. For

the panchayat samiti and zilla parishad, there is a standing committee in the name of
Janasasthya-O-Paribesh Sthayee Samiti (Public Health and Environment standing committee)
whose primary responsibility is to look after the services of the public health sector and to
implement the schemes / programmes entrusted by the State Government. With this statutory

provisions, the State Government through executive orders has constituted two committees
at district and block level in the name of District Health and Family Welfare Samiti and Block

Health and Family Welfare Samiti respectively. These committees are designed as apex
bodies of the existing set up of Health and Family Welfare Department at district and block
level. The purpose behind creation of these two committees is to give them the responsibilities

for coordination, supervision and implementation of all health sector programmes. For the

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Governance

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district committee, Sabhadhipati of the zilla parishad and for the block committee, Sabhapati

of the panchayat samiti are made the chairperson respectively. In addition, in the year 2005,
the State Government has decided to constitute Rogi Kalyan Samitis (Patients' Welfare Society)

in all health institutions from district hospitals to block primary health centers for proper

management, monitoring and supervision. Here also, the Sabhadhipati of the zilla parishad

and the Sabhapati of the panchayat samiti are made the chairperson of the District Rogi
Kalyan Samiti for district hospital and Block Rogi Kalyan Samiti for Block Primary Health
Centres/ Rural Hospital respectively. From the composition pattern of these newly formed

committees it can be seen that representation of the people's representatives becomes less
in these committees than in the standing committees of the zilla |>arishads and panchayat
samitis. Even the activities to be performed by these committees as defined by the government
orders are nothing new. Already the panchayats have the authority and responsibilities to look
after these matters. Proliferation of the committees only hampers the respective accountability

of the agencies to the people at large. The utter consequence is the failure of the delivery of
health services for the benefit of the poor who largely depend on the services from the government

infrastructures, like sub centres at village level, primary health centre at gram panchayat level,

Block Primary health centre or Rural Hospital at block/panchayat samiti and so on. The
activity matrix 2 is constructed for showing the participation of different actors in the functional

domain of the public health system. The space of the panchayat institutions in this sector is
very limited. The dominance of the State Government is overwhelming.

Activity matrix 2 : Public Health Sector : West Bengal

c tivitv State Zill Panchayat Gram DHFW BHFW

1 Fund for construction of ,
infrastructure

2 Maintenance of ,
infrastructure

3 Salaries of staff (all ^

categories)

4 Purchasing of equipments
and

supply

of

medicines

5 Training etc. for capacity

development of those ^

engaged in delivering

services

6 Monitoring of attendance ^
of

doctors

etc

7 Monitoring of attendance

of health department V V V V V

personnel other than

doctors

8 Monitoring of quality of ^ ^ ^ ^
services

delivered

9 Monitoring and

supervision of ICDS V V
centres

and

their

staff

Note : DHFW Committee - District Health and Family Welfare Committee

BHFW Committee - Block Health and Family Welfare Committee

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 80

From activity rhatrix 2 the minimal role of panchayat bodies in respect of delivery of

health services can easily be visualized. More or less the whole affair in the health sector is
controlled by the official functionaries, Disease surveillance is another area where the State
Government tries to integrate the village panchayats and block panchayats with the health

system. To begin with, the State Government identifies nineteen diseases where the gram
panchayats should exercise strict vigilance and communicate the occurrence of diseases to
the primary health centre and/ or block primary health centre (BPHC) for immediate curative

measures. The diseases are acute diarrhoeal diseases, blood dysentery, typhoid, sexually
transmitted diseases, hepatitis, encephalitis/ meningitis, malaria, kalazar, pneumonia,
poliomyelitis, measles, diphtheria, whopping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis, hydrophobia, small

pox, leprosy and AIDS. The question is how the gram panchayats can discharge this
responsibility without any assigned employees at their disposal. The unresolved problem
again crops up - functions are given to the panchayats without adequate placement of
employees at their disposal. Practically the panchayats at different tiers have very little control
over the government employees working in their respective jurisdiction. For example, a gram
panchayajt pradhan cannot stop the payment of monthly salary of an ANM for unauthorized

absence from duty, or cannot take disciplinary action against an errant state government
employee working in the gram panchayat's jurisdiction. The field reality is that no local choice
or flexibility is there to integrate departmental schemes into local development plans. People's
choices follow government's agenda, not the other way round. Recently the State Government
takes initiatives to involve self-help groups (SHGs) in the villages for helping the gram panchayats

in disease surveillance and immunisation programmes. These SHGs will act under the leadership

of the gram panchayats. It is proposed by of the State Government that one SHG can take
care of up to 1 00 families. Modus operandi of this linkage is yet to take place as this is still in

pre-implementation phase.

From the discussions it can be easily understood that the functional role of the panchayats

in different tiers is very limited. The grassroots reality is that in many cases the awareness of

the panchayat representatives regarding the basic problems of their respective area is very
shallow. This limitation can be widely seen if any one takes the trouble to browse through
plans prepared by the gram panchayats/ panchayat samitis for economic development and
social justice in their areas. The plans are nothing but listing of a few schemes and broadly
related to infrastructure development only. The fulfilment ot basic minimum need seems to be

a low priority area. In the next section aspect on people's participation in the affairs of the

panchayats is discussed with reference to various legal provisions enshrined in the West
Bengal Panchayat Act, 1 973 (alongwith its subsequent modifications).

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Governance

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Section II

People's participation is not at all a new concept in the process of development in our
country. From the very First Five Year Plan it was emphasised that the participation of people
was very much urgent to make the development successful : "A democracy working for social

ends has to base itself on the willing assent of the people and not the coercive power of the

state ... the ignorance and apathy of large numbers have to be overcome". Conceptually,
people's participation does not mean only enlistment of the support of the people; but it
means their active involvement also in different stages of formulation and implementation of

plans and programmes. Experiences tell that this involvement of people in the process of
development is still lacking very much - this is true for the rural and urban areas both. The
Constitution (Seventy third Amendment) Act, 1 992 created the provision for a public forum like

gram sabha. According to the constitutional amendment, 'gram sabha means a body consisting
of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of a

panchayat at the village level". Article 243A of the constitution specifically mentions that "a

gram sabha may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the
Legislature of a State may by law, provide". In West Bengal, the State Government went one
step forward after the effect of 73rd Amendment and created a forum in the name of gram

sansad at each and every village constituency of the gram panchayat.

Agram sansad consists of all electors of a gram panchayat constituency. It is obligatory

on the part of the gram panchayats to convene meetings of gram sansads twice in a year
under their respective jurisdiction - one in the month of May and another in November. The

sub section 6 of section 1 6A clearly lays down that a gram sansad shall guide and advise'the

gram panchayat with regard to the schemes for economic development and social justice
undertaken or proposed to be undertaken in its area and identify or lay down principles for
identification of the schemes which are required to be taken on priority basis for. economic

development of the viliage. The WBP Act gives wide importance to th gram sansadis for
evolving people's participation in the activities of the gram panchayats. Another public forum

in a gram panchayat is the Gram Sabha (section 16 B of WBP Act). The jurisdiction f a gram

sabha is coterminous with the area of a Gram Panchayat. According to the provision of WBP
Act, the meeting of Gram Sabha is to be held once in every year (in the month of December).

The State Government is very keen on harnessing people's participation; but participation is
not a physical ingredient. When added to a programme it will ensure that the excluded sections
will begin to participate, feel empowered and raise their voices to alter the programmes according

to their needs. In fact, participation is a process and it blooms gradually and ultimately creates

a sense of belonging to the community and the panchayats. So far, this belongingness of
common people with th panchayats is lacking. The average attendance of people in the gram

sansad meetings (table 1) since 1996 shows the bare minimum attendance to satisfy the
quorum.

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 82

Table 1 : Average attendance in Gram Sansad and

Gram Sabha meetings : West Bengal

Y ear Gram Sansad Gram Sansad Gram

ear
1996

11

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Source : Annual Administrative Report of Department of Panchayats & Rural Development, Govt, of West
Bengal for different years.

Note : Ail figures are in percentage.

The provision of WBP Act (sub section 4A of section 1 6A) states that one tenth of the

total number of members shall form the quorum for a meeting of a gram sansad i.e. there
should be a mandatory presence of 1 0 percent of the members of gram sansad to validate the

meeting. In the matter of organising gram sansad meetings, a noticeable trend among the
gram panchayats is to avoid such meetings through adjournment. For adjourned meetings,
there are no system of quorum. Through this practice, the gram panchayats can have chance
to sidetrack the interaction with the local people. This was legally permissible till 2003 when

the amendment of the clause regarding attendance in adjourned gram sansad meetings was
passed. The new provision made it obligatory that at least one-twentieth of the total number of

members in any gram sansad should remain present in the adjourned meeting. In this way,
the State Government tries to bridge the gap in the existing provision regarding attendance in
adjourned meetings of gram sansads. But the earlier provision of 'no quorum shall be necessary
for an adjourned meeting' remains unchanged in case of gram sabha meetings. This dichotomy

needs to be redressed for making the panchayats people centric. The State Government is
very much keen to consolidate the functioning of the gram sansads. In this respect it needs to

be mentioned that of all the states in the country, Madhya Pradesh prescribes the highest
quorum at one third for the gram sabha meeting with the progressive additional provision
requiring that at least one third of those participating in these meetings should be women. The

attendance of women in gram sansad meetings or gram sabha meetings in West Bengal is
very minimum. It does not differ substantially even if there is a woman panchayat member in
any gram sansad. The crux of the problem is that people in general do not take any interest in
the affairs of the panchayats. Only during the election they go to the polling booths for casting

their votes. On an average, in the panchayat elections around 85 to 90 percent of the total
votes are polled. During a gram sansad meeting only 10 to 12 percent of these voters come to
attend the meeting. This indicates the aversion of the common people towards these meetings.

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Governance

at

Local

Level

83

They believe that nothing will come out from these meetings. This is amply narrated in the

Report of the Second State Finance Commission (2002) :

. . the attendance in the meetings of the Gram Sansad declined when the participants

found that their aspirations could not be fulfilled by the Gram Panchayats. It seems that a
vicious circle is operating here. Because of their experience of not receiving funds promised
in the past, no planning activity is undertaken till funds actually flow to the Gram Panchayats

For such type of functioning in the panchayats, the people gradually are losing their
faith in their activities and prefer to remain silent. As the most of the panchayats in West
Bengal virtually have no funds of their own and availability of untied funds in their hands is also

not certain, they have no other alternative options than to keeping hands off from action and
waiting for arrival of funds. Again, the panchayats implement mostly the centrally sponsored

schemes/ programmes where funds are very much tied in nature and practically no scope
remains for any alteration on the basis of the local demand. For improving the scenario, the

State Government amended the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 in June 2003 to form
Gram Unnayan Samiti in each and every gram sansad (village constituency). This is introduced

for ensuring active participation of people in implementation of development programmes,

selection of beneficiaries and prioritisation of schemes to be implemented by the panchayats.

The formation of gram unnayan samitis (GUS) in different districts is gaining momentum,
though not uniformly. At the end of the month of July 2005, out of total 451 54 gram sansads in

the state, gram unnayan samitis were constituted in 24348 only - in percentage, around 54
percent (Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, Govt, of West Bengal). In case of
formation of gram unnayan samitis, the State Government specifically mentions that not less

than one-third members of the Gram Unnayan Samiti shall be women. This has been done to
widen the representation of women in this committee of villagers. For ensuring representation
from different sections of the society, provisions are made to include representatives from nongovernment organisations, other community based organisation like village education committee
etc., self help group, servicing or retired teacher etc. Only criterion is that the members to be

elected to the GUS should be the members ofthat gram sansad, that is their names should
appear in the relevant voter list of that village constituency. According to the provisions made

in the West Bengal Panchayat (Gram Panchayat Administration) Rules, 2004, the gram
panchayat member elected from a gram sansad shall be the chairperson of its gram unnayan
samiti. This provision has been made to maintain the organic linkage among gram panchayat,

gram sansad and gram unnayan samiti. For upholding the democratic spirit, the person or

persons securing the highest second vote in the preceding panchayat election has been
included as the member of the GUS. The gram unnayan samiti has been entrusted with many
activities ranging from promoting the livelihood opportunities forali adult members to preparation

and implementation of perspective plan for five years and annual plan for every year. The State
Government is very much ambitious regarding the functioning of the GUS. It is expected that

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 84

if the GUS functions properly, then a vibrant village society will come up in each and every

corner of the State where the people can take charge of themselves with the government
functionaries as facilitators in the process.
To broad base the functioning of Panchayat Samiti, the State Government through an

amendment of the West Bengal Panchayat Act in 2003, brought in the concept of block
sansad (Section 1 1 5A). A block sansad includes all members of the gram panchayats under

the administrative jurisdiction of a block and all panchayat samiti members. This creates
scope for all the panchayat members of the block area to know the activities of the panchayat

samiti, share their experiences and exercise their views in respect of the programmes and
policies of the panchayat samiti. In the line of gram sansad meetings, it is provided that every

panchayat samiti shall hold an annual and a half yearly meeting of Block Sansad and one
tenth of the total number of members shall form a quorum for such a meeting. Similarly, a

provision is made in the West Bengal Panchayat Act to constitute a Zilla Sansad (Section
1 63A) where there are three categories of members : (a) pradhans of all gram panchayats in

the district, (b) Sabhapatis, Sahakari Sabhapatis and Karmadhyakshas (Chairpersons of

standing committees)of all Panchayat Samitis of the district and (c) all members of the Zilla

Parishad. In Block Sansad and Zilla Sansad, electors have no scope to participate directly.
All these changes in the WBP Act are made with a view to strengthening the process of
decentralisation and making the governance of panchayats more responsible, transparent
and accountable to the people.
Section III

For making the activities of the panchayats transparent and democratic, the Government

of West Bengal has introduced the section 214A in WBP Act in the year 1994 for creation of
a District Council for Panchayat in each district. The chairperson of this Council is the leader
of the recognized political party in opposition having the largest number of members directly

elected. This Council has the power to examine the accounts of the panchayats within its
territorial jurisdiction. By virtue of the provisions of the WBP Act, they can use their authority

to monitor the schemes in implementation.

In the process of discharging their responsibilities and exercising their authority, the
West Bengal Panchayat Act makes the following provisions for empowering the District Council.

The provisions laid down in sub section 2 of section 214A include :

(i) scrutin isation of the accounts of the panchayats for satisfaction of the Council in the
matter of spending of money for the purpose for which it was allotted;
(ii) examination of the expenditure for visualising whether the expenditures incurred conform
to the rules governing such expenditure and according to the financial propriety of such

expenditure;

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Governance

at

Local

Level

85

(iii) examination of the accounts of stores and stocks maintained by the panchayats; and
(iv) making suggestion to the panchayats for removing the difficulties, if any, in giving
effect to any provision of the West Bengal Panchayat Act or the rules made there
under.

These provisions are mad with a view to bringing transparency in the activities of
panchayats in district, block and village tiers. At the same time the intention of the State
Government is to give respect to the opposition members in functioning of the panchayats.
The reality is that the meetings of the District Council are not regularly held. Low representation
of other political parties in the panchayat bodies in comparison to the combination of the Left
Front may be an influential factor. For example, after the Sixth Panchayat General Election in

2003, Left Front has occupied 86.82 percent of total seats of Zilla Parishad while Indian
National Congress has 9.40 percent seats, All India Trinamool Congress 2.24 percent and
BJP only 2.28 percent seats. The zilla parishads mostly do not involve them in monitoring the
process of implementation of different programmes. Neither they are allowed to act as watchdog
nor they serve as 'ears and eyes' of the poor, for delivering benefits of these programmes. The

utter consequence of such style of functioning leads to stunted growth of district councils as
institution for bringing transparency in the activities of the panchayats. The Annual Administrative

Report 2005-06 of the Department of Panchayats and Rural Development of the State
Government mention that in four districts, the District Councils have failed to meet even for a

single occasion during the year 2005-06. The districts are Bankura, Purulia, Dakshin Dinajpur
and Malda. Weakening of the District Council as an institution of overviewing the activities of

the panchayats at different tiers may disturb the governance issues like responsiveness to the

people's demands, maintenance of financial norms etc.

For presenting the accountability aspect of the panchayats, in this study we discuss
the implementation of two wage employment programmes viz. Employment Assurance Scheme

(EAS) ceased to exist with effect from September 25, 2001 and Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar
Yojana (SGRY) introduced there from. In West Bengal, all rural development programmes
including poverty alleviation programmes (both self and wage employment programmes)
administered by the Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, are implemented
through three tier panchayat structure. These panchayat bodies not only implement the
programmes in the villages, but also identify the recipients of the programme benefits. This

policy of the State Government makes the panchayats accountable to the people so far as
delivery of programme benefits is concerned. The employment generation and women coverage

under these two programmes are focused here.

In West Bengal, EAS was expanded in a phased manner. Initially in the year 1993-94,
it was started in 128 blocks out of total 341 blocks in the State. From 1997-98 all blocks of the

State were covered with universalisation of the programme throughout the country. Initially
EAS was conceived as a demand driven programme, but with the restructuring of programme

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The Indian Journal of Political Science 86

with effect from 1st April, 1999, specific targets of employment generation for the districts
were made. This restructuring practically diluted the assurance of 1 00 days of employment in

a year given in the programme. Table 2 presents the macro scenario in the State.
Table 2 : Performance of EAS : West Bengal
Total funds Total ' , Total employment
Percentage of ,

Year available expenditure generated

1993-1994

4931.25

1994-1995

11741.31

1995-1996

1996-1997

15812.63

18730.06

1997-1998
1998-1999

17953.21
17519.62

1999-2000
2000-2001

20395.59
16669.18

2001-2002

9856,21

10805.10

11411.40
10031.17

12828.73
11979.87

20442.69

9190.10

Total

Source : Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, Govt, of West Bengal.

From table 2 it can be seen that fund utilization is not high in spite of involvement of the
panchayat institutions in planning and execution of the works. Due to low utilization of available
funds, the demand for further allocation often gets reduced. Further, low expenditure of available

funds means low employment generation for the poor. This disturbs the interests of the target

groups for whose livelihood the programme was launched. The guidelines of the programme
indicate that a ratio of 60:40 to be maintained between wage and material costs. In practice,
mostly this ratio was disturbed (table 3). In course of restructuring the programme, it was
stipulated that 70 percent of the district allocation would be earmarked for the intermediate tier
of the panchayat structure. The remaining 30 percent could be utilized by the district tier. The

success or failure of EAS, therefore, depends heavily upon the activities of the panchayat
institutions at district and block tiers. Regarding the safeguards for women's interests in the
programme, it was never possible to achieve the target of 30 percent share of women in total

employment generated. In table 3, these two aspects are reflected.

Table 3 : Women coverage and wage-non wage costs ratio in EAS

Women Short fall in w Excess expenditure in Man-days that
Year coverage women coverage . non-wage component could be generated
(in percentage) (in percentage) wage cos ra o (Rupees in lakhs)
1997-1998

1998-1999

1999-2000

26.20

19.31

21.82

2000-2001

2001-2002

23.24

25.25

Source : Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, Govt, of West Bengal.

Note : (i) Excess expenditure in non-wage components = (Actual expenditure in non-wage components) (Total expenditure in EAS multiplied by 40 percent), where 40 percent is the allowed share of
non-wage components in total expenditure

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Governance

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Local

Level

87

Obligatory share of women - Actual share in the year

(ii)

Shortfall

in

women

coverage

Actual share in the year

Table 3 amply reflects that EAS failed to fulfill the expectations of the poor in the rural

areas. Due to absence of proper monitoring mechanism, in all the years since universalisation

of the programme, 60:40 ratio between wage and non-wage costs could not be maintained.
Direct impact of non-adherence to this ratio resulted in denial of employment to the rural poor.

For making a workfare programme good and beneficial, it is expected that the share of wage
bill in total costs, that is labour intensity of the programme should be higher than the normal

prescription. In West Bengal, EAS programme fell short of this characteristic. If the excess

expenditure on non-wage components could be avoided and limited to 40 percent of total

expenditure, more employment for the poor could be generated (column 6 of table 3 shows
this). Two tables in this section bear the proof of mode of functioning of the panchayats in the
interests of the poor in villages.

Experiences of fields bring out the important factors limiting the success of wage
employment programmes in the rural areas. These include weak technical support structure
at the gram panchayats, conflict in prioritization of schemes and preparation of beneficiary

lists for engagement in work, late arrival of funds at gram panchayat and panchayat samiti
from the district, local conflicts over selection of work sites and weak monitoring system at

the level of panchayat samiti and above. Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) also
does not bring in any significant improvement in the ills of EAS. SGRY is being implemented
under two streams. In stream I, the zilla parishads and panchayat samitis are the implementing

agencies while gram panchayats are involved with implementation of stream II. The funds for
stream I are allocated between the district tier and block tier in the ratio of 40:60. The stream

II (gram panchayats) receives 50 percent of the total allocation in SGRY in a district. Therefore,
the success of SGRY depends heavily on effectiveness of village and block tiers of the panchayat
structure in the state.

Table 4 : Performance of SGRY : West Bengal

r

1. Total funds available 24887.43 23839.80 26987.00 22693.35 22331.11 22363.80

(Rs.

in

lakh)

2. Total expenditure 14226.23 15273.41 19432.41 15959.32 16455.82 18634.72

(Rs.

3.

Percentage

of

in

expenditure

lakhs)

57.32

4. Total employment
generated 171.87 212.77 224.91 243.19 233.40 225.97
(in

lakh

man

days)

5. (a) Percentage of food

grains lifted vis--vis 74.63 89.25 89.38 95.63 79.58 83.59
released

by

Govt,

of

India

5. (b) Percentage of food

grains utilized vis--vis 91.98 81.50 72.12 96.79 97.69 70.37

lifting

6. Share of women in total

employment generated 21.17 21.25 22.37 19.35 20.11 26.39

(in

percentage)

Source : Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, Govt, of West Bengal.

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The

Indian

Journal

of

Political

Science

88

From table 4 it can be revealed that SGRY also is suffering from low expenditure both

in respect of cash and food grains. It also fails to ensure the due share of women in the
programme benefits. Thus, the experiences of wage employment programmes where the
panchayats are the principal actors, largely reflect the inadequate accountability of these
institutions to the poor.

Concluding the study

From the discussions so far made, it can be said that in respect of local governance the

panchayats have mixed results. In spite of many provisions in the West Bengal Panchayat
Act, the extent of autonomy of the panchayats is quite limited. The panchayats in three tiers

are turned into implementing agencies of different programmes assigned by the State
Government. Even after the Constitutional recognition conferred upon the panchayats, they
simply become the extension counters of the block offices in different villages. This perhaps is

not the philosophical background behind this Constitution Amendment. The panchayats in
West Bengal have to "rely principally on grants from state or central governments, the allocation
of which is either based on political or bureaucratic discretion, or inflexible formulae based on

very crude measures of local need". (Bardhan and Mookherjee, 2004). Therefore the present
practice of utilising the panchayats without giving them sufficient untied funds and functionaries

cannot lead to their emergence as institutions of local self-government. For local governance
they need the support of the State Government for building their capacities, both in terms of

financial resources and human resources. The panchayats should be allowed to function in
their domain with as minimum intervention as possible from the State machinery in the
secretariat, collectorate and block offices. The ideal role of the bureaucracy would be to
facilitate the process of empowering the panchayats, not the other way round.
References :

1 . Bardhan, Pranab and Mookherjee, Dilip - Decentralization in West Bengal : Origins,

Functioning and Impact, 2004.
2 . Department of Panchayats and Rural Development, Government of West Bengal - Annual

Administrative Reports, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.

3. Government of West Bengal (i) The West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 (as modified
upto the 31st January, 2004). (ii) The West Bengal Panchayat (Gram Panchayat
Administration) Rules, 2004.

4. Lok Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi Thirty-Seventh Report of the Standing Committee on
Urban and Rural Development, of 13th Lok Sabha, August, 2002.

5. Planning Commission, Government of India - (i) Mid term Appraisal of Ninth Five Year
Plan.(ii) Tenth Five Year Plan, Volume I. (iii) Mid term Appraisal of Tenth Five Year Plan.

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