New Delhi, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today called for ending “sarpanch-pati” culture in panchayats,
the practice of husbands of women sarpanches exercising undue influence, as he
pitched for a leadership role for elected village representatives to alleviate
poverty and promote education.
Recalling a political event in which someone told him that he was an SP
(sarpanch-pati), Modi said, “this business of SP is going on. Law has empowered
women. When law has given them the rights, they should also get an opportunity.
Bring to an end this SP culture. They (women) should be given the opportunity.
They should be promoted.”
Addressing the National Panchayati Raj Day function here, the Prime
Minister also expressed concern over school dropouts and felt that panchayats
can play a role in arresting it. Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister
said,”India lives in the villages. We need to think of how to develop our
villages. Even in the remotest village, the dreams of the people are big. Think
about what you can achieve in the next 5 years for your village.”
Referring to his visit to
an all-women Gram Panchayat in Gujarat when he was Chief Minister, Modi said
that the sarpanch told him there that her motto was to ensure that no one
remains poor in the village. “Has Panchayats in our country ever thought that
there should be no poor left in our country. If one village brings out five
persons out of poverty in a year, what a big change will come in the country,”
he said.
Modi said issues such as
education of children in the village and their vaccination should be given
special attention by panchayat members.
The Prime Minister suggested that the sarpanches should take a lead in
organizing meetings of all working and retired government employees belonging
to a particular village once in a while and ensure community participation to
bring about a turnaround in a village in all respects. Noting that all these
works are not linked with constraints of budgets, he said, “We will not be able
to develop our villages as long as we do not have a feeling of respect and
pride towards them…we have to motivate people, provide leadership.” He said
this required a firm resolve, rather than any budgetary provision. He gave some
suggestions in this regard, such as celebrating a birthday of a village. He
urged Panchayat members to work with a five-year vision with concrete
development plans to bring about positive changes in their villages.
The Prime Minister gave
away the Annual Devolution Index (States) Awards, and E-Panchayat Awards, and
congratulated the Zila Parishads and Gram Panchayats who were being felicitated
on the occasion.
The Prime Minister urged panchayat members to motivate all government
officials in their village to spend at least one hour a week with school
children. “Then you will see how the combination of budget and leadership
brings about the turnaround,” he said.
About reservation for
women in Panchayati Raj Institutions, he said this does not exist in many
countries and they get surprised to know that it already exists in India.
Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Chaudhary Birender Singh said seats
for panchayat representatives belonging to women, SC and ST should be reserved
for two terms (10 years) instead of the current one term of five years.
The minister also rued that a number of states have not delegated powers
to the representatives of panchayats despite laws mandating it. He said that
while the country is fortunate that it has a structure of Panchyati Raj to
provide good governance, “it’s a matter of concern that most of the village
panchayats lack technical infrastructure”.
Singh also underlined the
need to prepare the panchayats to play a central role in the nation’s
development.
Lauding the Prime Minister’s initiatives, Singh said the panchayats have
been provided 3.5 times more money under the 14th Finance Commission in
comparison to what they were given earlier, which will enable them to get a
whopping Rs 2,00,292 crore money in the next five years. “Each panchayat will
get Rs 15 lakh annually. The big ones will get up to Rs 1 crore. So much money
was never given to panchayats in the last 60 years,” Singh said. Minister of
State Panchayati Raj Shri Nihal Chand was also present on the occasion.
(Source- www.newsroompost.com)
एक टिप्पणी भेजें