Institution of Local Self Governance and its Linkages with Tourism

Siudy On InSlitution .. rLOf:aJ Self Gov.,rnaneeand its Linl.ate .. withTour;, ....EQUITABLE TOURISM OPTIONSJULY 2005

Study on Institution ofLoeal Self Governaneeand its Linkages mthTourisln--=:-:EquationsEquitable Tourism 0 ptions23-25, 8th Cross, Vignan Nagar,New Thippasandra P.O. Bangalore - 560 075, INDIATel +91-80-25244988,25344149, Fax: 91-80-25344597E-mail : info@equitabletourism.org,www.equitabletourism.org

In, 1985, EQUATIONS was founded in response to an urge tounderstand the impact of development particularly in the contextof liberalized trade regimes, the opening up of the nationaleconomy, the beginning of the reforms and concomitantstructural adjustment programmes.Campaigning and advocacy on tourism and development issuesin India and the developing world, in recent years our work hasfocused on women and tourism, child and tourism, ecosystemsand communities and tourism and globalisation.We envision tourism that is non-exploitative, where decisionmaking is democratized and access to and benefits of tourismare equitably distributed. We endorse justice, equity, peoplecentered and movement centered activism, democratization anddialogues as our core values.To know more about EQUATIO NS, write toinfo@equitabletourism.org. All comments can be provided toinfo@equitabletourism.org.This research has been carried out by the Ms. Alice Mathew,reviewed and updated by Ms. Kavita Kannan, S. Vidya and VidyaRangan.

BackgrounC: and Context:The passing c..f ?J'd and 74'h Amendment to Indian Con::titutor, isconsidered as landmark in the history of participatory democra cy,which ca me into effect on April 24'h 1993 . . A structural shift has beentaking place from mere representative democracy to participatorydemocracy and thus good governance precepts has beer, put in toopera tional space. The pa nchayats previously were a meresuggestion in the Directive Principles of State Policy whereas the 73'dand 74'h Amendment resulted in the Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRls) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) such as municipalities andmunicipal corporation being conferred constitutional sanction. Thismeans that all activities of PRls and ULBs as stipulated by the Acthave now legal and constitutional status and any violation of this byany body and at any time will be punishable by law. The reasonsbehind this amendment is that in many states, institutions of localgovernance have become weak and ineffective on account of avariety of reasons, including the failure to hold regular elections,prolonged suppressions and inadequate devolution of powers andfunctions.To urism is considered as growth engine for economic developmentand social development. However reality is different and tourismindustry is perhaps the best exam ple of the set.tors, in which needsand aspirations of the local communities have been marginalized,including that of loca l bodies. A closer look to the resources requiredby the tourism industry reveals the fact that tourism industry uses thereources, which fall undel jurisdiction of instituticns of local se lfgovE.:rnance.Hence, it becomes obligatory for the industry to take thE)permission and consent of the local institutions, prior to making theuse of local resources. However the last twelve years of experiencereflects that these institutions are not able to perform the roles andresponsibilities as per their constitutional mandatE:. At times lack Ofpolitical will of state and central government are responsible fer nonperformanceof these institutions, while at opE)rational level diversE;politica l agenda of these bud ies, creation of parallel instituticns, lackof support from the line departments and ambiguity of powers and

fu nctions across various levels of local governance put constrai nts infunctioning of these local institutions.In the light of 73' d and 74 th Constitutional Amendments and tourismdevelopments it is imperative to draw a correlation between theConstitutional Provisions and development of tourism industry andthe present paper attempts towards the similar analysis.The paper is divided into three sections:The first section looks into the importance of tourism industry and itscontribution to the world economy and Indian economy. The sectionalso looks into the various five-year plans in India and its effort inboosting tourism.The Second Section looks into the history of panchayati raj in ourcountry. It looks into the 73' d and 74 th Amendment Acts and the rightsgiven to the Panchayats and Municipalities under the Schedule IXand Schedule IXA. It also deals with the Bhuria Committeerecommendation for self-rule to the tribal population on the basis ofwhich certain provisions under the 73' d Amendment Acts wereextended to the Scheduled Areas.The Third Section, tries to analyze, how in spite of the constitutionalpowers granted to the panchayats, the present tourism policy and theinternational trade agreements, namely GATS negates thepanchayats powers and are not favora ble to the local communities.2

SECTION IRole of Tourism in Economic DevelopmentTourism being heterogeneous, it is seen te have many direct andindirect benefits for the wider sector of the economy. Employment isgenerated not only in the wide range of service sectors directly linkedto tourism but also in retail, construction, manufacturing, andtelecommunications . High percentage of women and young peopleare employed by the small and medium sized enterprises thatcomprise much of the industry. Technological advances are ma kingtravel easier than ever before and increasing numbers of people aretraveling annually to consume ever more varied tourism 'products' inever more far-flung destinations.Tourism has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors sincethe 1960s. In recent decades, the share of international tourism inglobal economic activity has risen steadily. It is one of the top fiveexport categories for 83 per cent of countries in the world TheTourism Satellite Account (TSA), a strategic project for the WorldTourism Organisation has analysed that world over, travel andtourism economy has generated 10.4% of the GOP, 8. 1 % ofemployment and 12.2% of the exports in the year 20(14 . In SouthAsian countries, travel and tourism economy directly and indirectlyaccounts for 5% of the GOP and 5.2% of the total employment .Forecasts indicate that the number of people traveling internationallyis likely to increase from 457 million in 1990 to about 1 ,of 4 million by2020, and that earnings from international tourism is li kely II) risefrom $476 billion (year 2000) to more than $2 trillion by 2020. Inworld over, the projected growth rate per annum (from 2C'Oe,- 2014) is4.5%, while South Asia will experience growth rate of 8.3% perannum in the same period . The prejected growth rates reflect t:,at inSouth Asia the tourism will grow twice to the growth in oHter purts ofworld .3

The Indian ScenarioIn keeping with the general trend the world over in economicdevelopment, the contri bution of the services sector (like informationtechnology, transportation, tourism, financial services etc) to India'sGross National Product (GNP), exceeds the contribution made by theagriculture or the manufacturing industry sectors. It has beenestimated that India's travel and tourism economy directly orindirectly accounts for 4.9% of the country's GOP (The 2004 Traveland To urism Economic Research, WTTC). According to a studyconducted by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), thenumber of tourists arriving in India has gone up from 20,26,743 lakhsin April- Jan, 1999-2000 to 21, 52,848 lakhs in the correspondingperiod of 2000-2001 From 2002 onwards, there has been exponentialincrease in foreign tourist arrivals and from 23.84 lakhs in 2002 itincreased to 33.67 lakhs in 2004. There is 43% increase in fo reigntourist arrivals, compared to 2002 arrivals.The exponential growth of foreign tourist arrivals in 2002 2004, alsocorresponds to the foreign exchange earnings. In 2003-04, there hasbeen 48% increase in foreign exchange earnings from 2001-02(Ministry of To urism, Government of India) The higher earnings are aresult of increase in arrivals combined with high per capita spendingof tou rist in general Tourism is emerging as one of Ind ia's largestexport industries in India offering numerous opportunities.. Forentrepreneurs large and small, and those looking for employment,tourism is a relatively easy industry to enter.Indian approach to tourism developmentThe first conscious and organized efforts to promote tourism in Indiawas made in the year 1945, when a committee was set up by theGovernment of India under the chairmanship of Sir John Sargent,The main objective of the committee was to encourage and developtourist traffic both internal and external by all possible means .. Since,Independence, India has made sincere effort to boost tourism as4

seen in its various Five-Year plans .. During first five year plan period(1951-1956), ministry of transport looked after the subject of To urism.The second five-year plan of 1957-62 earmarked funds exclusivelyfor the development of tourism in both centre and state sector.I n the fou rth Plan (1967-72), under the new arrangement the CentralDepartment of tourism took over planning and development offacilities suitable for overseas tourists, thus enabling it to expand itstourist promotion overseas by making available adequate quantity ofbetter quality and variety of literature in a number of foreignlanguages. During the fifth plan (1972-1977) the main objectivestrategy was to promote 'destinational tourists traffic' that is, thosewho come primarily to holiday in India and not on transit throughIndia. The fifth Plan also laid down criteria for selecting centers fortourism development. The criteria were a) tourism preferences to bedetermined by the existing patterns of travel within the country. b)The actual or potential attraction of a place for tourism beca use of itshistorical or archaeolog ical significance or scenic beauty. c) Itsaccessibility d) its development in relation to the existing or futuretravel patterns of tourists to within the country. e) Its relation to theoverall promotional strategy and the developed programme of theDepa rtment. f) The investment that the State Government concernedwould make at the place for developing the infrastructure such asroads, water and electricity supply, transport facilities, etc.The 6th Plan (1977-82) saw the emergence of first tourism policy andfor the first time, Planning Commission recognized the importance ofboth domestic and international tourism, and its capacity ingenerating social and economic benefits like promotion of nationalintegration and international understanding, creation of employmentopportunities, removal of regional imbalances, increaSing foreignexchange earnings, thus redressing the balance of paymentssituation, etc.The 7th Plan (1985-1990) gave tourism an industry status (exceptionbeing Goa which is yet to consider it as an industry), which impliedthat such business activities would in future be entitled to the same5

incentives and concessions as were applica ble to an export industry.In the Eighth Plan, thrust was on involving private sector by providingbetter incentives and equity support towards the proj ect costs.Another scheme for strengthening tourism infrastructure was thespecial tourism areas (STA) scheme, under which the participation ofcentra l, state governments and private sector was envisaged. Duringthis period Government announced a number of measures in theareas of industrial policy, financial sector reforms and overall macroeconomicmanagement. The initiative taken by the governmentallowed direct fo reign investment up to 51 % in high priority industries,and hotels and tourism and related industries .. Above measures werethe ingredients of the National Action Plan 1992 to practicallyimplement those various concerns tuned towards globalization. TheNinth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) realized that number of middle andlower middle class tourists visiting distant places in the country is onthe increase.The approach to tourism development in the Ninth Plan was oncoord inated efforts by the public and private sector .The major thrustareas in the Ninth Plan were: a) Ind igenous· and Natural HealthTourism b) Rural and Village Tourism c) Pilgrim Tourism d) AdventureTourism e) Heritage Tourism f) Yo uth and Senior Citizens Packagers.The Ninth Plan also suggested giving U export house" status totourism sector. Special emphasis was laid on tourism promotion inNorth East India, inter sectoral coordination and human resourcedevelopment for tourism.The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07)) recognized the factorsresponsible for the inadeq uate growth of tourism sector in India whichare low levels of investments lack of priority given to the developmentof sector and lack of interest on the part of state governments One ofthe key objectives of the Tenth Plan is to facilitate the implementationof Tourism Policy 2002. The Plan has suggested five key strategies toachieve vision of tourism policy, these are: positioning tourism as anational priority, enhancing India's competitiveness as tourismdestination, improving and expanding product development, creation6

of world class infrastructure, and effective marketing plans an dprogrammes. Some of the thrust areas of tenth Plan are' cultural an dheritage tourism, beach an d coastal tourism, promotion of Indiancuisine, village tourism, adventure tourism, fairs an d festivals,development of shopping centers and promoting to aurve dic centers .An Overview to Tourism Policies and PlansIn the last two decades, tourism sector in India has witnessed policyand plan formulations for the development of tourism sector The firstNational Tourism Policy was formulated in the year 1982.The generaltone of the policy was to project India as a world-class touristdestination, with the objectives of developing tourism in India onoriginal lines while using it to preserve the heritage and strengthenour values and culture and bringing its socio-economic benefits to thecommunity by generating higher levels of employment, income,foreign exchange, and revenue for states and by improving habita ts.The national tourism policy of 1982 can only be seen as anaggressive marketing strategy adopted by the government to placeIndia favourab ly on the global tourism map . It cannot be seen as acomprehensive development programme as it fails to address vitalsocial and cultural issues that the bogie of tourism brings along withit.The National Committee on Tourism was set up in 1986 to evolve aperspective plan for tourism development in the country andsubmitted its report in 1988. It elaborate d upon most aspects oftourism and other related issues including Civil Aviation,Organizational Structure, Human Resource Development, etc. Itemphasized the need for India to improve its share in the globaltourist traffic and thereby attract more foreign exchange into theeconomy. The report clearly stresses upon the fact that if tourismcontinue d to grow in such a haphazard manner it would certainlycause irreversible environmental damage To remedy the situation itsuggested that an assessment be ma de of the carrying capacity (ofeach region including the anticipate d environmental impacts that a7

tourism project may have.The national plan for tourism was evolved in the year 1992. The 1992action plan was the centra l government's attempt to place tourismwith in the overall liberalized and privatized fra mework that the NewEconomic Policy prescribed for the country. It elaborated upon theneed to encourage private entrepreneurship, identify locations forconcentrated development of tourism, restructuring institutions formanpower development and undertaking massive marketingcampaignsThe policy adopts a four pronged development strategy for tourismdevelopment - of improving infrastructure, developing areas on aselective basis for integrated development, restructuring andstrengthening the institutional framework and evolving a policy toincrease foreign tourist arrivals and foreig n exchange. The plan alsoidentified 15 circuits and destinations for intensive development.Although the National Committee on To urism was set up with theobjective of providing a holistic view on how tourism ought to developin the country, most of its recommendations have not beenincorporated in the national action plan. In pa rticular itsrecommendation requiring an assessment of the carrying capacity ofregions and submission of impact assessment reports have beencompletely ignored.The National To urism Policy 2002 is considered the result of longdeliberations and discussions among all groups re lated to tourism.The Govern ment, through the National To urism Policy (NTP), hastried to place the To urism Industry within the liberalized andprivatized framework that the Indian Economy has adopted today.With the New Industrial Policy in the background, the NTP hasemphasized that it is the private sector and foreign Investment whichwill alone provide the impetus for pushing the tourism sector, andthereby the economy ahead. The policy docu ment also seeks toenhance employment potential within the sector as well as to fostereconomic integration. The policy has also made defin iteimprovements over the previous ones as the principle of sustainable8

development has been highlighted.Increasing India's share in world tourism, to develop tou rism as anenterprise that is government led private sectcr drive n andcommunity welfare oriented, to develop effective linkages and closecoordination among various departments, and developing ecotourismmore than just nature tourism are prime concerns of the NTP 2002.The NTP also recognized the importance to formulating 8 Code ofEthics to guide tourism development.The 2002 policy realizes that the tourism industry functions in ahighly complex fashion and to run it smoothly would require highlevels of coordination among all the involved sectors. The NTPproposes the inclusion of tourism in the Concurrent list of theConstitution in order to allow both the central and state governmentsto play an effective and coord inated role in tourism development. Theefforts of the NTP at realizing sustainability as an important objectiveare commendable. However the policy does not go far beyond statingit as an objective and therefore in terms of actual policy measures,leaves much to be desired There has been significant debate anddiscussion over the move to place tourism in the Concurrent list.Although most states have given their consent, there are few otherswho have voiced their disapproval on various ground. While Keralahas objected to the proposal on the grounds that it will take away thestate government's right to legislate on a large number of subjects inthe state list, Madhya Pradesh has cited its reason as the likelihoodof losing rig hts to legislate on taxation, hospitality and tourismindustry issues. On a more generalized note, state governments thathave objected to the proposition have done so in apprehension that iftourism is placed in the Concurrent list, majority of the legislativepowers will be vested with the central government, leaving very littlefor state initiative The tourism industry has however taken a differentstance insisting that conce rned state governments must give theirapproval immediately.The policy seeks to 'position tourism as a majorengine of economic growth' The focus only on the economic side oftourism is disheartening. Along with its visible economic impacts,tourism has significant social, cultural and environmental impacts,9

which need to be given as much, if not more attention ..The policy has stressed the vital role that foreign investment will haveto play to promote tourism in the countrf. Having said this, it shouldduly acknowledge the specific clauses of the GATS agreement thatrequire the developed countries to extend benefits to the developingcountries with respect to information and service technology.One of the key areas of focus of the NTP has outlined is 'Suraksha' -to ensure the safety and security of tourists by establishing specialtrained police. The policy makers are however oblivious to the factthat in more cases than one it is the safety of the local people that isjeopard ized through tou rism. It is high time the NTP took note ofissues like prostitution, child abuse and child trafficking that havegrown in the shadow of tourism and took steps to check themFive-Year PlansTotal Outlay1951-56 01957 -62 Rs. 336.38 lakhs1962-67 Rs. 800 lakhs1967-72 Rs. 25 Crores1972-77 Rs. 23.62 Crores1980-85 Rs. 187 Crores1985-90 Rs. 210 Crores1992-97 Rs. 990 Crores1997-2002 Rs. 1000 Crores2002-2007 Rs. 2900 CroresThus a look at the above table shows that importance of tou rismplanning in India has increased. This cou ld be traced from thebudgetary allocations, which increased from Rs 336.38 lakhs toRS.1000 crores in the current year. Thus one can not ignore thissector as it has direct and indirect benefits in advancing the overa lleconomic development, improving the standard of living and creatingemployment.Apart from the allocations of the five-year plans, the expenditure ofthe To urism Ministry of the Government of India over the years alsoshows a similar trend.'Gil tourism meet from Oct 17'"', The Business Line. 13/08,200210

EXPENDITURES ON INFRASTRUCTURE(Rs in Crores)YearTourismCivilaviationInformation.-Transport, shipping& water sources1990-91 74.84 76.64 50 1 .17 191 0.641994-95 108.96 136.70 484.51 2238.841995-96 119.14 145.05 576.95 2287.851996-97 106.44 86.71 604.19 3187.431997-98 117.75 136.64 908.51 3783.611998-99 132.62 199.92 1051.99 4453.301999-00 132.34 195.76 1182.89 6306.662000-01 54.44 238.82 1354.78 8416.282001-02 181.19 277.93 1472.00 8376.80Tourism and global regimesMid 80s saw the growing importance of services sector in the worldtrade. With the completion of the Uruguay Round of tradenegotiations and the formation of the World Trade Organisation(WTO), the rules of multilateral trading process (which so farpertained only to the trade in goods) were extended to trade inservices through the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS), which brought all services, including tourism within the WTOnet. India became a signatory to the multi-lateral agreement alongwith the other 148 countries in the WTO, as it did not want to be leftbehind in the ongoing liberalization process. In implementing theAgreement, India has already started, opening its markets to foreignmulti-nationals in various service sectors like computer services,tourism and transport sectors.Within the GATS, tourism has been classified as the Tourism andTravel-Related Services', which includes hotels, restaurants, travelagents, and tour guide services. Under GATS rules, the trade in anyservice sector is defined through four modes of supply, which coversa range of possibilities regarding tourism. These include:11

a) Cross-border supply of the service (i.e. booking tickets throughthe internet, )b) Consumption Abroad (i.e. the movement of the serviceconsumer i.e. the tou rist from the generating to the hostcountry) .c) Commercial presence (i.e a multilatera l corporation setting ahotel/resta urant/travel agency in the territory of another country).d) Cross- border movement of personnel/labour (e.g. movement offoreign managers/guid es/tourism professionals from thegenerating to host country.)Another integral part of GATS schedu les, is the removal of limitationson tou rism service providers, regarding establishment, ownership,employment of personnel and re mittances'. In other words foreigncompanies will have free market access to domestic markets underthe same trading conditions, which exist for loca l companies of thehost country (i.e the principle of National treatment).It is important to note that, keeping the priorities and sensitivities ofdeveloping countries in mind, a section of the GATS addresss theneed to secure 'the increasing participation of developing countries inworld trade'. Accordingly, Member governments have been advisedto achieve this through the negotiation of 'specific market openingcommitments' in the following areas, namely: a) Strengthening thedomestic services capabilities of developing countries throughaccess to technology resou rces of the developed country on acommercial basis; b) improving access of developing cou ntries todistribution channels and information networks; c) freedom fordeveloping countries to deploy key and regular personnel in placeswhere they are supplying tourism services.GATS KEY CONCEPTS• Most Favoured Nation (MFN) Treatment (Article II) - Each membershall accord services and service suppliers of any other Membertreatment no less favourable than that it accords to like services andservice suppliers of any other country. That is, a govemment must notdiscriminate between services or services suppliers of other members12

• ·Market Access (Article XVI) - GATS requires members not to putrestrictions on the ability of foreign investors to enter the market if theyhave made bound commitments in the respective sector .• National Treatmen: (Article XVII) - Under the National Treatmentobligation WTO members commit themselves to treat foreign investors'no less favourably' than domestic investors. This obligation applies toany measure which may have the intended or unintended effect ofdiscriminating against a foreign investor.The Current Domestic and International Scenario:.At ground level several forms of exploitation in the field of tourism istaking place as a result of the domestic and international policies ofthe government. For e.g . In the area marked for tou rism anddevelopment in the Southern states of Tamil Nadu, the LandAcquisition Act is widely used to appropriate land from the poor andmarginalized fa rmers in the name of dubious 'public interest'. Thusland is forcefully taken away and is handed over to hotel chains andother tou rism service suppliers at throwaway prices. In Goa shacksand small restaurants, which provided a source of livelihood for thelocal people of the region, is being taken away by big hotels. Boththese instances show that the government carries forward itsprogramme without consulting the people who live in that region.Even at international level, the governments ongoing programme ofliberalization especially signing the multi-lateral trade agreementGATS, will have negative impact on the tourism sector. An E'.xport-Iedtrade such as tourism does have the potential fo r economic growth,but how far it will benefit the host nations will depend on where theprofits actually go, who controls tou rism industry, and what isperceived by those in power as the fundamental indicator ofeconomic growth: either an additiorlal casino hotel for tou rists or aclean and efficient water supply for local residents. If those profits,whie;h do remain in the host country, are used to clear huge fo reigndebts rather than to benefit local populations, then liberalization willbring few, if any" advantages to the vast majority of localcommunities.13

In theory and on paper, free access for the developing countries tothe resources of the rich (namely technology like the globalreservations system) may seem attractive, but in practice as hashappened in the past, rich and the powerfu l tourist nations will enjoythe full economic hegemony and the poor nations like India wi ll bemere ly servicing the needs and priorities of the dominanttransnational corporations, as has always been the case . Anotherreason for this is that the nations with well-developed tourismsectors, enjoy greater lobbyin g power with International institutionslike the World Bank and INTO .ConclusionTourism in the present scenario is gaining high priority in thedeve lopment of the country. Both nationa l and international agenciesand systems are involved in it . At the same time, the most affectedsection is the local community who are not consulted and are not apart of this development . The entire decision making process fromthe formulation of the structure, functions and the utilization of humanresources, to the financial administration of tourism development isdetermined by the political parties at the centre, bureaucracy and theprivate sector rather than by the local communitiesExplorations need to be conducted on the possibilities of peoples'interventions and throu gh systems on which the people express theirvoice . One such possibility would be to look into the Panchayati Rajsystems in the country. What roles can panchayats play to operatetourism in a just and equitable way? Whether panchayats can get intothe planning process or whether they can regulate tourism?In this context, the next section of this paper will look into the powerand functions of the Panchayat System, with special emphasis on73rd and 74th Amendments . The paper wi ll also try to see whetherthere a·re lacunae in the system and whether given guide lines arecapable of addressing the new economic challenges and therefore,the political cha llenges14

SECTION II:Evolution of Local Self Governing Institutions in CountryIt is widely recognized that self governing village communitiescharacterized by agrarian economies had existed in India from theearliest times. Not only are they mentioned in Rig Veda , which datesfrom approximately 1200 B. C., there is also definite evidenceavailable of the existence of village sabhas ( councils or assemblies)and gramins ( senior persons of the village) until about 600 BC.Prior to the colonial period, these village bodies took the form ofPanchayats, ( an assembly of five persons) which looked after theaffairs of the village. Besides Village Panchayats there were alsocaste panchayats to ensure the persons belonging to a particularcaste adhered to its code of social conduct and ethics. If this was thegeneral pattern in indo Gangetic plains, in the Southern India, villagepanchayats generally had a village assembly whose executive bodyconsisted of representatives of variobs groups and cas+s.During the British rule, the major unit of local government was thedistrict. A single district officer, referred to as the collector, whorepresented the highest status of Indian Civil Service wasmaderesponsible for maintaining peace, collecting revenue, andadministration of justice.. In 1882, attempts were made by LordRiponto involve local people in the rural areas with theadministrative processes, through creation of nominated DistrictBoards.In the post independence period it was Mahatma Gandhi who wishedto give the PRls a democratic basis of their own by investing themwith such powers so that the villages could have a rcal sense of"Swaraj". According to him "greater the power of the Panr.hayat, thebetter for the people" as true democracy "has to be wmked frombelow by the people of every village". His vision resulted in theintroduction of Article 40 in the constitution of India (under theDirective Principles of State Policy), which states that "the stateshall take steps to organize vii/age Panchayats and enr:ow them with15

such powers and authority as may be necessary to function as unitsof self-government". This constitutional directive tended to inspire theUnion Government and State ·Governments, to adopt measures fordevelopment of the panchayats in the country.During the 1950s severa l states made legislations to democratize thestructure and devolve more powers and functions to the panchayats.The Five-year plans included in their programme measures tostrengthen loca l self-government to play a role in local developmentprocesses and to make them more responsive to people's needs andexpectations. In spite of efforts taken by the planning process,fo rmation of panchayats and devolving appropriate powers andfu nctions to them were left to the respective state governments.Some states like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala putappropriate measures to strengthen the local bodies, while manystates did not show their willing ness fo r decentralization process.Various committees were also set up by the Union Government tomake suggestions and recommendations on revita lizing thePanchayat Raj Institutions. One such committee was Ashoka MehtaCommittee whose ma in recommendations were fo r more genuineand effective devolution of powers to the Panchayats. The mostsignificant recommendation of the committee was for the creation ofa two-tiered system of Panchayati raj namely, Zilla Parishad andMandai Panchayat (which is a cluster of villages and is smaller thanthe present block panchayats). The committee felt that the ZillaParishad and not the Panchayat Samiti should be made the primary_. unit in the Panchayati Raj system as the Zilla Parishad enjoys greaterresou rces and leadership to play a substantial development role.For an effective coordination between development and urbandevelopment the committee suggested that the Municipal bodiesshould be given more representation in Zilla Parishad and MandaiPanchayat. As regards taxation, the committee recommended thePanchayati Raj Institutions to have compulsory powers of taxation tomo bilize the necessary resources on their own thereby reducing theirdependence on devolution of funds from the State Government. A16

emarkable feature of the r":,Lht8 Report is its recornmendationfavouring '( pen participation' rf political parties in Pancr.layai rajaffdirs. Due to change in thc government, the recommendations ofthe committee were not accepted However some states like WestBengal,. remodeled its e Panchayat Raj system on therecommendations of Ashoka Mehta committee report.Another committee appointed by the Government was the G. V. RoaCommittee in 1985. The committee's main thrust was on improvingthe representative character and strengthening the capability ofboth the people's representative and the administrativepersonnel in the Panchayati Raj institutions so as to equip them toplay a major role in promoting and managing rural development andlocal affairs.The other committee appointed in 1986 under the noted jurist, L. M.Singhvi advocated giving constitutional status to the Panchayatsto stre!1gthen their position. The P. K. Thungon Committee like theprevious committee recommended fo r the constitu ,tional recognitionof panchayati raj in 1988. It recommended that the Zilla Parish ad bemade the pivotal body to carry out planning and development activityin the district. The most notable recommendation of the Thungoncommittee was about district collector being made Jf::e chief executiveofficer of the Zilla Parishad and the state government to appointofficers of the rank of additional collectors to assist the collector indeve lo pment and regula tory adminiiit ration. Its otherrecommendations were about a detailed list 01 su\.;ject fOi"panchayati raj to be incorporated in the constitution Clild setting up 'fthe state finance commissions to lay down the criteria and guidelinesfr>r devolution of financial resources to the PRls . .It was in this bar.kdrop that on 15 May 1989 the Constitution 64thAmendment hill was drafted and introduced in th!': pmlic:lment Therewere two serious oppositions to the bill : due to its political()vertonesa) the bill overlooked the states and was seen as aninstrument of the centre to deal directly with the PHis and b) that itwas imposing a uniform pattern throughout the country instead of17

permitting individual states to legislate the details, keeping in mindthe local circumstances.In September 1991, the Congress government under Narasimha Roaintroduced the 72nd (Panchayats) and 73'd (Municipalities)constitutional bills. The Lok Sabha passed the bills on 22 December1992 after which the Rajya Sabha passed the two bills, theirsequence changed to 73'd and 74'h respectively. Following theratification by both the houses the President gave his assent on 20April 1993. This culminated in the passing of the Constitution 73'd and74'h Amendment Acts in 1992, which inserted Part IX and IXA in theConstitution. While Part IX relates to "Panchayats", Part IXA relatesto "Municipalities". The provisions in Part IX and IX A are more or lessparallel and analogous in nature.Since 1993, institutions of local self governance , both rural and areenshrined in the Constitution of India like the two upper levels ofGovernment, namely the centre and the states. Thus making Indiathe fifth country to enshrine the local government in the constitutionafter Germany, Japan, Brazil, and Nigeria.73rd Amendment Act: Salient FeaturesMany State governments attempted to translate this Directive Principleinto practice by enacting necessary legislation and creating PanchayatiRaj Institutions (PRls) but with limited success; such efforts wereconfined to selected States. Against this background the need forproviding a firm Constitutional status for PRls became necessary. Andafter a great deal of efforts the 73rd and 74th Amendments to theConstitution have been passed which provide Constitutional status tothe PRls and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). As per the 73rd Amendment,the PRls are the local level institutions comprising of electedrepresentatives entrusted with the responsibility of identifying,formulating, implementing and monitoring the local level developmentaland welfare programmes.3 apex body in the panchayati raj system of local government in India. It is a body at the districtlevel in all states except Assam and Tamil Nadu. Lately states like Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka and Orissa have abolished Zilla Parishad thereby converting the three tiered panchayatiraj into a two layered one.II is the intermediate tier in the panchayali raj system of rural local government in India. ThePanchayat Samiti's term is generally co-terminous with that of a Panchayal.18

73'd Constitutional Amendment: Some definitions"District"a portion of territory, region or locality notified under the statutes ofthe state."Gram Sabha" means a body consisting of persons registered in theelectoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of Panchayatat the village level."Intermediate level" means a level between the village and district levelsspecified by the Governor of a State by public notification to be theintermediate level for the purposes of this Pali;"Panchayat" means an institution of self-government for the rural areas ."Panchayat area" means the territorial area of a Panchayat;"Population" means the population as ascertained at the last precedingcensus of which the relevant figures have been published;"Village" means a village specified by the Governor by public notification tobe a village for the purposes of this Part and includes a group of villagesso specified.This means that all activities of PRls as stipulated by the Act havenow legal and constitutional status and any violation of this byanybody and at any time, would be punishable by law. Constitutionalstatus vide Article 243 of Part IX of the Constitution which came intoeffect from April 24, 1993 made it mandatory for all States topromulgate their own new acts conseq uent to the 73rd ConstitutionalAmendment Act or amend their old ones by April 1994.By virtue of the Constitutional Status bestowed upon the PRls, it nowhas the potential to revolutionalize the way we have been seeinglocal self-governance. It is not only a system of participative selfgovernance but .it ensures political empowerment to the poor,marginalized, and the oppressed, which traditionally in our countryhave been the Scheduled Castes, the Schedu led Tribes, and thewomen.1) Constitutional Status to peoples' participation: The Actincorporated the concept of Gram Sabha (the assembly of alladults in the village/s). It was to comprise of all personsregistered as voters in the Panchayat area at the village level.The state legislature was to statutorily entrust the Gram Sabhawith powers of general supervision over the elected gram19

Panchayat and authorize it to approve the annual plan for the villageand income-expenditure statement of the village panchayat. The'Gram Sabha', consisting of all eligible voters, has been made thesoul of the Panchayat institutions to discuss and decide their ownproblems, and to further people's participation in variousdevelopment programmes in a democratic way. This will fostermaximum accountability and transparency of administration andpublic awareness.2. Uniform institutional structure: Keeping in view the provisionsof 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, State panchayat Raj actshave been constituted which incorporate a three-tier system ofPanchayat Raj, consisting of Zilla Panchayats at the District level,Panchayat Samitis or Kshetra Panchayats at the intermediatelevel & Gram Panchayats at the village level However, thePanchayat at the intermediate level can be constituted in a statehaving a population not exceeding 20 lakhs.3. Direct Election: The Act provides for direct elections of all themembers in the Panchayats at all levels; whereas indirectelections of the chairperson at the intermediate and districtlevels. The mode of elections of chairpersons at the village levelhas been left to the state government to decide. Thus will boostlocal people's initiative and enhance their involvement in thesystem, through the electoral process.4) Representation for Women and socially marginalisedcommunities in governance: The legislature provides for thereservation of seat in every Panchayat for the SCI S1's inproportion to their population at each level. Likewise, seats havebeen reserved for women. Not less than one-third of the totalnumber of seats to be filled by direct election are reserved forwomen and these seats are to be allotted by rotation to differentconstituencies in a Panchayat. In respect of backward classes anenabling provision has been made in the Act. Posts ofchairpersons in panchayati raj institutions at all levels have beenreserved for the scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes in20

proportion to their percentage in the total population of the area.Similarly, not less than one-third of the offices of chairman are tobe reserved for women. These too are to be on rotation basis.Opportunity for the emergence of a new leadership: Allowingpersons who have attained the age of 21 years to be eligible forcontesting elections in Panchayat bodies will provide opportunitiesfor the younger generation to participate actively in thedevelopment process and share power5) Regular Elections: The Act provides for a normal term of five­Years for a Panchayat. The act also lays down that a Panchayatcannot be dissolved before its normal term by resorting toamendment of any law in force. In case of any dissolution, a newpanchayat is to be re-constituted before the expiry of the fiveYears term or within six months from the date of dissolution.6) Provisions of a State Election Commission and bar tointerference of courts in electoral matters : The Act providesfor conduct of elections under the overall supervision of the StateElection Commission consisting of a State Election Commissionerto be appointed by the governor. The State ElectionCommissioner is responsible for the superintendence, directionand control of election to the panchayats including preparation ofelectoral rolls. To ensure the independence of the commission,the State Election Commissioner can be removed only in thesame manner and on the same ground as a judge of a HighCourt. The state legislatures have the power to make provisionswith respect to all other matters relating to or in connection with,elections to the Panchayats.7) Powers and Functions: The Panchayats have been empoweredwith such powers and authorities as are necessary to enable themto function f'lS institutions of self-governance. Under the Act thestates legislature has the legislative powers to confer in thePanchayat such powers and authority so as to enable them toprepare plan and implement schemes for economic developmentand social justice on various subjects including those mentioned21

in the Schedule XI. The decision-making powers of panchayati rajbodies are extensive and contain 29 items all concerning theirday-to-day lives. The functions conferred on the panchayati rajinstitutions are the following:1. Agriculture, including agricultural extension.2. Land improvement, implementation of land reforms, landconsolidation and soil conservation.3. Minor irrigation, water management and watershed development.4. Animal husbandry, dairying and poultry.5. Fisheries6. Social forestry and farm forestry.7. Minor forest produce.8. Small-scale industries, including food-processing industries.9. Khadi, village and cottage industries.10. Rural housing11. Drinking water12. Fuel and fodder13. Roads, culverts, bridges, ferries, waterways and other means ofcommunication.14. Rural electrification, including distribution of electricity.15. Non-conventional energy sources.16. Poverty alleviation programme.17. Education including primary and secondary schools.18. Technical training and vocational education.19. Adult and non-formal education.20. Libraries21. Cultural activities.22. Market and fairs.23. Health and sanitation, including hospitals, primary health centresand dispensaries.24. Family welfare.25. Women and child development.26. Social welfare, including welfare of the handicapped andmentally retarded.27. Welfare of the weaker sections, and in particular, of the scheduleCastes and Schedule Tribes.28. Public distribution system.29. Maintenance of community assets.8) As far as the financial powers enjoyed by the Panchayats areconcerned, the state legislature has been given the power to:22

1. authorize the panchayats to levy, collect and appropriate suitablelocal taxes, duties, tolls and fees in accordance with suchprocedure and subject to such limits;2. assign to a panchayat such taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviedand collected by the State Government for such purposes andsubject to such conditions and limits,3 provide for making such g rants-in-aid to the panchayats from theConsolidated Fund of the State: and4. provide for constitution of such Funds for crediting all moneysreceived respectively by or on behalf of the panchayats and alsofor the withdrawal of such money therefrom, as may be specifiedin the law.9) With regards to the financial powers, the Governor of the state isentrusted with the power to constitute a Finance Commission toreview periodically the financial position of the panchayats andmake recommendations regarding the distribution of netproceeds of duties, taxes, tolls, fees etc. between the states andthe panchayats and between the panchayats at diffe rent leveland assignment and appropriation of the taxes, duties, tolls,fees, etc., what taxes, duties, tolls and fees may be assigned tothe Panchayats, grants-in-aid to the panchayats from theconsolidated fund of the state.10) The state legislatures may by law make provisions with respectto the maintenance of accounts and the auditing of suchaccounts.Ground RealitiesExcept for three North Eastern states (having tribal councils) and twourba n Union Territories ( UTs), all the states/ UTs coming underpurview of this Act have amended their respective pa nchayat Acts inconformity with the Centra l Act. Followed by amendments inConstitution and State Acts, the decentralized institutions have comeinto being. Even afte r 13 years of enactment of 73rd Amendmerlt Act,the reality of decentralized institutions of self governance remeJincritical. Some of the key concerns are as:23

• Though the provision talks about reseNation for women it fails toinclude provision fo r conducting training programmes and suchother programmes to bring them at par with their malecounterparts. It is generally seen that women do not have anyclear idea about their powers under the Act. They also do notattend meetings. Being illiterate they generally affix their thumbimpressions to pa pers on major decisions taken at the meetings,which they have not attended.• In spite of a provision for compulsorily conducting of elections tothe Panchayats after every five years, in many states elections aredue and wherever elections have taken place it wascharacterized by caste and social cleavages making it very difficultto establish effective loca l governments. In Garhwal and Kumaon,Panchayat elections were last held in 1988. The next electionsshould have been held in 1993. In Bihar, elections were last heldas long back as in 1978-79. Orissa though not in the same league,followed closely. Here the Government showed surprisingdexterity in dissolving the local bodies in August 1995, but fa iled toexhibit similar promptness in reconstituting them allowing in effect,the bureaucracy to run them. Elections, which were to be held inFebruary 1996, were postponed twice - first in November 1994, onthe pretext that ballot boxes were not available and again in May1996 at the joint request of the political parties.• The recently held panchayat elections in Bihar after a gap of 23years were marred by violent clashes between caste groups whichgoes on to prove that political parties view pa nchayat election asthe equivalent of exit polls and a barometer to measure theirpopularity Panchayats elections thus becomes a mini version ofthe assembly and Lok Sabha polls with political parties exploitingcaste affiliations by extending support to individuals. The politicalparties are to a large extent blamed fo r postponing panchayatelection because for the fear of facing the panchayat electorate.They do not want to conduct panchayat election during themidway or towards the fag end of their of their term. No party whois aspiri ng to come to power would like to be dishonored by losingseats at various levels of the panchayats. Therefore the political24

parties, both ruling as well as the opposition join hands inpostponing election. The State Election Commission alsosometimes succumbs to the pressure tactics of the Stategovernments. Therefore if the local govern ment has to besuccessful, fundamental reforms will have to take place. The stateElection Commissioner who is entrusted with the responsibility ofconducting Panchayats elections should be constitutionallyempowered to take action against those that attempt to politicizelocal government bodies and state governments that do notconduct elections on time.• The reference to the Eleventh Schedule in the 73rd Amendmentsays "the state governments may entrust schemes under subjects,which are listed in the eleventh schedule, to the Panchayats." Thatis, it doesn't confer any entitlement or rig hts on the Panchayatsover the subjects But rather, that the Panchayats can beappointed as medi ators of various departments of the Centre/stategovernment at the latter's sweet will, to run some scheme whichthey have devised on their behalf.• Although the Gram Sabha has become the soul of anydecentralization debate since 1995, it has not achieved thestatus and position it ought to have. Though the gram sabhahave the power to identify beneficiaries for various povertyalleviation programmes, propose an ann ual plan, discuss thebudget and audit reports and review progress, in most of thestates, their decisions are not binding as it only enjoys anadvisory role. Only few states like , Haryana, Punjab, Orissa andTa mil Nadu have given the sabha the powe r to approve thebudget. The success with regard to holding meeting of the gramsabha is mixed. West Bengal had a better record. In 1995, 63 percent of the statutory meeting was held. In Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, field reports showed that many people did not knowabout the dates of the gram sabha meetings. Moreover, as themeetings are held at panchayat headquarters, people from dista,ltvillage find it difficult to attend them. Attendance is high wherl abeneficia ry list is to be discussed. Generally losers in the25

panchayat elections mobilize support to oppose the developmentplans in the Sabhas. To revive the gram sabha and to make it aneffective instrument of grassroots democracy, effective measuresneed to be taken like land reforms etc.• Under the 73rd Amendment, the states legislature has thelegislative powers to confer to the Panchayat such powers andauthority so as to enable them to prepare plans and implementschemes for economic development and social justice on varioussubjects mentioned in the Schedule IX. But this can be put inpractice only if some kind of professional and technical expertise(from the state and the centre) is accompanied by it Without suchguidance, developmental activities can go in a haphazardmanner.74th Constitutional Amendment Act: Salient Features :Similar to the provisions under 73rd Amendment, provisions exist inthe Constitution Seventy -Fourth Amendment Act, 1993 on"Municipalities" applicable to urban areas. Provision in Schedule IX Aare very much similar to provisions in Schedule IX especially withregards to reservation of seats, Finance commission, ElectionCommission, etc.Ta king in account, the necessary provIsions required forstrengthening the institutions of urban local self-governance, the 74thConstitutional Amendment has fo llowing salient features.I) Definitions and formation of Urban Local Bodies of variousurban areas: (243Q.) There is provision for " Nagar Panchayat"for an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area.Similarly Municipal councils are for smaller urban area, whileMunicipal Corporations are for larger urban area. A NagarPanchayat is mainly a transitional area, an area that istransformed from a rural to an urban area. Such an area isbasically rural in character, which over a period of time developurban characteristics. Such an urban local body would have to5The powers and fu nctions of the Panchayats are described in the eleve nth scheduleconcerning the 29 Items which primarily deal with their day today fu nctions.26

perform both rural and urban functions. Nagar Panchayats evennow exist in some states. Municipal Councils are constituted in asmaller urban area while fo r larger urban areas municipalcorporations are constituted. Demographic and other conditions,which are determining fa ctors fo r constituting a particular ty pe ofMunicipality, diffe r from state to state. It is left to the state todetermine which ty pe of municipality will be constituted fo r eachurban area. The areas for different ty pes of urban bod ies wouldbe specified by the Governor taking into account: population ofthe area; density of population; revenue generated by the localbody; and percentage of employment in non-agriculturalactivities; the economic importa nce and other fa ctors .2) The Act makes it obligatory fo r every state to constitute suchunits. But if there is an urban area or part of it where municipalservices are provided or proposed to be provided by an industrialestablishment in that area then considering also the size of thearea and other factors the governor may specify it to be anindustrial township (for e.g. Bokaro Steel City). For such an areait is not mandatory to constitute a Muncipality.II) Composition of Municipalities.( 243 R): A larger proportion ofmembers in the Municipality are elected members chosen bydirect election from the territorial constituencies in theMunicipa l area and fo r this purpose each Municipal areis divided into territorial constituencies also known as wards. Inaddition to the elected members, there are some nominatedmembers. 3) All the seats in a municipality are fi lled through directelection of members chosen from territo rial constituencies in themunicipal area and for this purpose each municipal area aredivided into territorial constituencies known as wards. Each seatrepresents a ward in the Municipality. Besides the seats fi lled bydirect elections, some seats may be filled by nomination ofpersons, having aptitude in municipal administration. For thispurpose the state legislature may specify the conditions andprocedure for nomination of such persons. But the person soappointed does not enjoy any voting right in the meetings of theMunicipality.27

III) Constitution and composition of Wards Committees, etc(2435) : The 74th Amendment Act also gives provision for thefo rmation of Wa rds Committees, consisting of one or more wards,within the territorial area of a Municipality having a population ofthree lakhs or more. The Legislature of a State may, by law, makeprovision with respect to (a) the composition and the territorialarea of a Wa rds Committee;(b) the manner in which the seats in aWa rds Committee shall be filled.IV) Powers and Functions of Urban Local Bodies (243 X): The74th Amendment Act, gives the those powers and authorities tothe Municipalities which are necessary to enable them tofu nction as institutions of self-government. The powers andfunctions devolved to the municipalities can be grouped intofollowing major heads:(i) The preparation of plans for economic development and socialjustice;(ii) The performance of fu nctions and the implementation of schemesas may be entrusted to them including those in relation to thematters listed in the Twelfth Schedule;The Committees with such powers and authority as may benecessary to enable them to carry out the responsibilities conferredupon them including those in relation to the matters listed in theTwelfth Schedule.The 12th Schedule of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act ofIndia, defines 18 new tasks in the fu nctional domain of the UrbanLocal Bodies, as follows:•Urban Planning including town planning.•Regulation of land use and construction of building.•Planning for economic and social development.•Roads and bridges.•Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes•Public health, sanitation conservancy and solidwaste management.• Fire services.28

•Urbanforestry, protection of the environment and promotion ofecological aspectsSafeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society,including the handicapped and mentally retardedSlum improvement and up gradation.Urban poverty alleviation.Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects.Financial Status : In addition to the basic powers and fu nctions,the 74th Amendment Act also outlines the provision to imposetaxes by, and funds of, the Municipa lities. As per the Article 243X-, the legislature of a state may, by law,-(a) Authorize a Municipality to levy, collect and appropriate suchtaxes, duties, tolls and fees in accordance with such procedureand subject to such limits;(b) Assign to a Municipality such taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviedand collected by the State Government for such purposes andsubject to such conditions and limits;(c) Provide for making such grants-in-aid to the Municipalities fromthe Consolidated Fund of the State; and(d) Provide for constitution of such Funds fo r crediting all moneysreceived, respectively, by or on behalf of the Municipalities andalso fo r the withdrawal of such moneys there from. As may bespecified in the law.V) State Finance Commission: (243Y) The Finance Commissionconstituted under article 243-1 is also authorized to review thefinancial position of the Municipalities.and makerecommendations to the Governor on-The principles which should govern- the distribution betweenthe State and the Municipalities of the net proceeds of thetaxes, duties, tplls and fees leviable by the State, which maybe divided between them under this Part and the allocationbetween the Municipalities at all levels of their respective29

shares of such proceeds;•The determination of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees which maybe assigned to, or appropriated by, the Municipalities• The grants-in-aid to the Municipalities from the ConsolidatedFund of the State• The measures needed to improve the financial position of theMunicipalities• Any other matter referred to the Finance Commission by theGovernor in the interests of sound finance of the Municipalities.The actions to be taken on the recommendations are laid before theLegislature of the State.VI) District Planning Committee: (243ZD): As per 74thConstitutional Amendment, in every State at the district level aDistrictPlanning Committee will be constituted to consolidate theplans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in thedistrict and to prepare a draft developmentplan for the district asa whole. The Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisionwith respect to(a) The composition of the District Planning Committees;( DPCs)(b) The manner in which the seats In such Committees shall befilledHowever it is clearly mentioned in the act that not less than four-fifthsof the total number of members of such Committee will be electedmembers of Panchayats at the district level and elected membersof the Municipalities in the district. The composition of the DPC will bein proportion to the ratio between the population of the rural areasand of the urban areas in the district.The State Legislature also has the authority to assign the functions toDistrict Planning Committee and the manner in which theChairpersons of such Committees shall be chosen. Every District30

Planning Committee while preparing the draft development plan hasto consider :(i ) Matters of common interest between the Panchayats and theMunicipalities including spatial planning, sharing of water andother physical and natural resources , the integrated deve lopmentof infrastructure an d envir onmental conservat ion ;• The extent and ty pe of available resources whether financial orothe rwise;• Consult such institut ions and organ isations as the Governor may,by order, specify.The Chairperson of every District Planning Committee shall fo rwardthe development plan , as recommended by such Committee , to therespective State Gove rnment .VII) Committee for Metropolitan p/anning. ( 243 ZE)-There is also a prov ision for the formation of Metropolitan PlanningCommittee in every metropolitan area to prepare a draft developmentplan for the Metropolitan area as a whole.The Legislature of a State may, by law, ma ke provision with respectto the composit ion of the Metropolitan Planning Committees and themanner in which the seats in such Committees shall be filled .However the act also says that not less than two-thirds of themem bers of such Committee will be elected mem bers of theMunicipalities and Chair persons of the Panchayats in theMetropolitan area in proportion to the ratio between the population ofthe Municipalities and of the Panchayats in that area . The functionsrelating to planning and coordination for the Metropolitan area areassigned to such Committees .Every Metropolitan Planning Committee will prepa re the draftdevelopment plan and has to cons ider :6 Status of the Panchayatl Raj in the States and the Union territories of India 2000,Institute of Social Sciences. p1431

(i) The plans prepared by the Municipalities and the Panchayats inthe Metropolitan area;(ii) Matters of common interest between the Municipalities and thePanchayats, including co-ord inated spatial planning of the area,sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, theintegrated development of infrastructure and environmentalconservation;(iii) The overall objectives and priorities set by the Government ofIndia and the Government of the State;(iv) The extent and nature of investments likely to be made in theMetropolitan area by agencies of the Government of India and ofthe Government of the State and other available resourceswhether financial or otherwise;The Metropolitan Planning Committee should also consult suchinstitutions and organisations as the Governor may,by order, specify. The Chairperson of every Metropolitan PlanningCommittee shall forward the development plan, as recommendedby such Committee, to the Government of the State.X) Bar to interference by courts in electoral matters (243ZG) -The validity of any law relating to the delimitation ofconstituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituenciesshall not be called in question in any court. No election to anyMunicipality shall be clIed in question except by an electionpetition presented to such authority and in such manner as isprovided for by or under any law made by the Legislature of aState.Members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MP's and Members ofState Legislative Assemblies representing constituencies, whichcomprise wholly or partly the municipal area concerned are alsovoting members of the Municipality. The Chairperson of theCommittees (apart from Wa rd Committees) will haverepresentation in a Municipality with voting rights.32

viii) To provide adequate representation of Schedille Caste andSchedule Tribes and of women in the Municipal bodies, provisionhas been made for reserving seats for them. But the number ofseats so reseNed for SC/ST is to be in proportion to their totalpopulation in the municipal area and such seats are allotted byrotation to different constituencies in a municipality. Out of the totalseats to be filled by direct election, not less than one-third seatsare to be reseNed for women belonging to SC/ST. Not less thanone-third (including seats reseNed for SC/ST's ) of the total seatsto be filled by direct election in every election in every municipalityare reseNed for women and such seats may be allotted byrotation to different constituencies in a municipality. This is amandatory provision.The state legislature by law prescri bes the manner in which theoffice of chairpersons is to be reseNed fo r SC/ST's andwomen. The state legislature in a similar manner prescri bes bylaw the manner of reseNation of the offices of the chairpersonsof Municipality. The state by law also reseNes seats or officesof the chairpersons of Muncipalities in favour of backwardclass, which is an optional provision.4) The term of office of every municipality is five years from thedate of appointment. If dissolved before its term (according tolaw in force), elections are to be held within six months. Noamendment of the law in force can dissolve the municipalitybefore the expiry of its normal term. The State Government orits agencies have done this to take away the possibility ofarbitrary suspension or supersession of Municipalities. If theState Government decides to dissolve a Municipality before theexpiration of its normal term it has to give the Municipality areasonable opportun ity for being heard.5) The qualification fo r being a member of state legiSlature andfo r being a member of municipality are same, the onlydifference being that a persons who have attained the age of 21years are eligible to be a member of a municipality, while theconstitutional requirement is that for the election to the StateLegislature of a state, a person must have attained the age of33

25 yrs. A member of the Municipality can be disqualified on thesame ground as the member of the state legislature.6) The State Election Commission enjoys the power ofsuperintendence, direction and control of the preparation ofelectoral ro lls for, and the conduct of all elections to themunicipalities As per the provisions in the Constitution the statelegislature of a state may, by law, make provisions with respect toall matters relating to or in connection with, elections tomunicipalities. A state election commissioner appointed by theGovernor is to head the commission. The Governor of a state canprovide staff to assist the commission to carry out the electionprocesses.Some state governments did not adhere to the spirit of theconstitution and violated the princi ples of decentralization bymaking collectors chairpersons and in some others ministers(who are their nominee) of the OPC. However the dominant trendhas been to assign this post to democratically elected head ofthe district level panchayatThough constituting a OPC is a mandatory function of everyState, in practice only few states like Kera la and West Bengalhave taken decentralized planning seriously others have shown avery slow approach.Insights from Ground Realities :The above provisions, have tried to give autonomous status tothe Panchayats and the Muncipalities. Yet there are certaindisturbing factors, which have creeped into the effectivefunctioning of the Panchayati raj institution. Ministers at the centreand the various departments in the states concerned with variousdevelopment schemes and programmes such as agriculture,health, education, women and child development and welfare aresetting up parallel structures (creating registered societies), at thedistrict level, thus trying to bypass the role of panchayats.District Rural Development Agency (DRDA): Although Kerala,Madhya Pradesh and Karnata ka have abolished OROAs and34

merged them with Zilla Panchayats now there i a move to reviveDRDAs. The latest move in the Ministry of Rural Development is tomake a Member of Parlialment the head of DRDA with the DistrictCollector as its secretary.Watershed Development Programme (WOP): the Ministry ofAgriculture and Ministry of Rural Development implement theseprogrammes. Though there is no difficulty in allocating fu nds in thedistricts to the Zilla panchayats it is not being done. Theimplementing agency therefore should receive funds from Zillapanchayat and thus ensure that the responsibility of theseprogrammes remain with Zilla panchayat, which is a democraticallyelected body.Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC): this committeeworks under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and excludesthe involvement of local bodies. Though there is a greater role fo r thePanchayati Raj Institutions in the area of afforestation and socialforestry and minor fo rest produce in scheduled areas, JFMCoperates independently of local elected bodies.Another lacunae in the act is that, the District Planning committeeshas been implanted strangely in the 74th Amendment act, becausewithout executive functions they will not in any sense be institutionsof self-governmentDespite lacunas, new progra mmes came into being. Participatoryand sustainable Local Level Development Planning with the slogan:'Planning by the people and for the people' taking place in Kera lapanchayats and municipalities. About 40 percent of State funds hasbeen allocated for the panchayats and Nagar Palikas institutions tobe used exclusively by it for productive service, social service sectorsand infrastructure in the ratio 40:30:30 in rural areas is somethingwhich other states could follow.In order to prevent any kind of misappropriation by therepresentatives (where the representatives used their position to getofficial sanctions by submitting false vouchers and bills), the right toInfo rmation was introduced. This has led to transparency where35

every state is to open their records to public. The right to information. is getting momentum, where every citizen has the right to informationand on payment he or she could demand and receive details of theexpenditure on the work done over the last five years in his or hervillage and all the documents could be photocopied as evidence, touse it in future. Ta mil Nadu, Goa, and Kerala have already followed it.States like MP and U.P. has opened many departments ofPanchayati Raj to public eye.The new panchayati raj has opened up vistas for better flow ofinformation. Information, which was earlier, considered the domain ofonly the dominant classes has percolated to the panchayats, thusbringing in transparency.Self-governance for the Scheduled Areas:As per the 2001 census tribal population constitutes about 8. percent of the total population of India and majority of them arepositioned in rural areas. Most of the tribal societies have their owncustomary laws, their own mode of living, organization, traditions,cultural mores, etc. and are total cut off from the rest of the society.The tribal people have a strong community organization thusfo rmation of fo rmal institutions like Panchayats created ananomalous situation. These formal institutions often came in conflictwith the tribal customary laws and traditions. Whenever these fo rmalinstitutions tried asserting its authority, confrontation took place. Theformal institution fa iled to recognize the vibrant tribal communitywhich has been managing its affairs in accordance with its traditionthrough ages, meeting effectively the challenges, which have beencoming in its way. The ongoing confrontation between tribal peopleand the formal system was ignored and often treated as law andorder problem. Thus it was felt to bring a system whereby the tribalcould exercise their freedom without any intervention from outsidefo rces and to create a structure, which would be in consonance withthe traditional system and yet encompass the modern elements asenvisaged in various parts and Schedules of the Constitution.A committee conSisting of Members of Parliament and Experts underthe chairmansip 9f Shri Dilip Singh Bhuria, was created to suggest an., ';"36

alternative system to be built on the foundation of traditional institutionsthat existed in tribal areas. The committee wa'2 to suggest stepstowards:a) Harmonization of Fifth, Sixth, Eleventh and Twelfth Schedule of theConstitution as they intrude upon the Panchayat Raj institutions; b) toformulate the salient features of the law that may be ta ken up forenactment by Parliament for extending the provisions of the Part IXof the Constitution to the Schedu led Areas referred in Clause 1 ofArticle 244 of the Constitution subject to exceptions andmodifications as may be necessary under Article 243 M (b); c)variations and modifications in other articles releva nt to the FifthScheduleAreas.The recommendations were as follows :•The committee felt that while shaping the new Panchayati Raj law intribal areas, the traditional structure should be blended with themodern structure and due attention should be pa id to theuniq ueness of tribal societies and tribal areas since most of themhave their own customary laws, cultural traditions, mode of livingetc. Since the triba l communities have been living independently foryears they have exercised control over and access to naturalresources. The Gram Sabha and village councils have been theirvibrant institutions in the field of administration, religion, politics,economic, justice etc.• While drafting the law, the committee felt that the advantages of boththe fifth and the sixth schedules should be kept in mind. The fifthschedule should be the treated as the foundation and the designand contents of the sixth schedule should serve as a referencefra me for a district within the broad ca nvas of the fifth schedule.However, ethn ic, regional and other related variations should begiven due consideration.• At the state level the tribe's advisory council, envisaged in the fifthschedule as a consultative body, needs to be reformed tc r;1z:, kc itmore effectiv(. and functional. The chief minister of the state shouldbe its chairman and its meetings should be held once in every threemonths.•At the central level, the central advisory council to be revitali=eG,to serve the purrose of tribal policies and programmes and rpr,r'c;37

advice in disputes between a state government and the Tribesadvisory council or between the District Council and the tribesadvisory council which should be binding. The prime minister couldchair its meetings and its members may be the ministers for welfare,home, and rural development and the deputy chairperson of thePlanning Commission.• Many of the existing administrative boundaries were created duringthe colonial times. After independence, the boundaries exist in thesame shape and size. The committee therefore recommended thatboundaries should be reorganized on the basis of its geography,ethnicity and demography. The whole process the committee feltshould be completed and finalized within a couple of years.• The oral traditions and milieu is to be kept in mind while formingcooperative organizations among the triba ls. (The tribal societiesare characterized by communitarian and cooperative spirit, visiblein many of their activities like shifting cultivation, house constructionetc).• To assign Minimal role to the lower functionaries like the police,excise, forest and revenue that have shown least inte rest in thetribal society and have acted in an authoritarian manner. Thereforethe committee felt they should be made to work under the control ofconcerned panchayats to prevent further exploitation of the tribalcommunity.• The committee felt that there should be no barrier for the gramSabha to carry forward its traditional role. Further, a gram Sabhamay delegate functions like execution of development works to itstraditional body.• A number of small villages or hamlets to have a village Panchayat,known by different names such as gram panchayat, anchal or parhaor pargana panchayat. This tier is to resemble the lowest tier in the1992 act and its members may be elected directly.• Constituencies could be delimited for election of members to theintermediate and district Panchayats. The district level panchayatmay be called autonomous district council (ADC).• In certain districts, the population of the scheduled tribes is less than50 percent of its tota l population, but it may be concentrated in a part38

or parts of the district, say in some blocks or a sub-division or subdivisions.Therefore SUb-district Council may be constituted forsuch areas called the autonomous sub-district councils(ASDCs). However this recommendation should be regarded as aninterim arrangement, awaiting reorganization of administrativeboundaries.• For the organizational structure of the autonomous district council,the committee recommended the adoption of a broad frame-designof ADC's contained in the sixth scheduled areas namely; Assam,Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura There should also be scope forsetting apart seats (not more than five) in the District Council fo rminority tribal communities, who cannot find representation throughthe election process. Such nominations should be made inconsultation with the governor.• Lok Sabha Scheduled Tribe MP's should be associated withintermediate level of Panchayat and with the district council. But therepresentation should not be restricted to Scheduled Tribe MLAs ,even non-ST MLAs should be associated with both tiers.• Since the Scheduled and the Tribal area consist mostly oftribals, thedifferent tier of panchayats therefore should have more ofscheduled tribe members. Further the chairman and the vicechairmanshould be scheduled tribe.• The sixth schedule confers legislative, executive, judicial, financialand developmental responsibilities to the district council. Thedistricts in the Scheduled Areas should adopt the sixth scheduleformat, and expand it to include subjects that are indicated in theEleventh Schedule of the constitution.• The legislative powers of the ADCs in the fifth scheduled areas aremore or less similar to the sixth scheduled with some amendments.For the administration of justice the committee recommendedfo rmation of a traditional Jury-based legal system. It recommendednon-interference of police in cases not involving non-heinousoffences. The gram Sabha should handle such cases.The sources of funds fo r the panchayats in the scheduled areasshould be same ·as the sources of finance mentioned in the 73'dAmendment for the Panchayats.• Funds received from sources other than panchayats should be kept39

as "charged" category as opposed to "Voted" category to avoidmisutilization or diversion of funds.• To prevent mismanagement of fu nds occurring in the tribal sub-planfields, the tribal sub-plan fu nds (whether pertaining to State Plan orspecific central assistance or any other) pertaining to differentsectors of development should be placed under ADC's fordistribution among panchayats in the districts. Moreover the stateand the centre should devise method for direct allocation of fu nds totheADCs.• All government servants and officials concerned with thePanchayats in the scheduled areas and located within itsjurisdiction should be under its control.• As per the provisions under the sixth schedule a commission mustbe appointed by the governor to examine and report on mattersrelating to the fu nctioning of ADCs. The committee recommendedthat in such a commission representation of scheduled tribesshould be there.• The tribes advisory councils and autonomous district councils in theScheduled Areas should be given the powerto review the relevanceof the existing laws and their applicability and to exclude anyirrelevant laws if any and to include any law that may be useful.• The law passed by the parliament will supercede such and anylaws, which have been enacted in pursuance of the 73' d and 7 4thConstitution Amend mentActs .• Inspite of an attempt to schedule out the scheduled areas sta rtedearlier, the process still remains incomplete. The committeetherefore recommended the inclusion of the left out tribal pockets inthe scheduled areas.•The framework of the Sixth Schedule to be looked afresh in thenorth-eastern reg ion in the light of the suggestions made by thecommittee.The above recommendation of the committee ta kes into accountprovisions of the fifth and sixth schedules and the 73'd Constitutionamendment. It has given due importa nce to the social, economic,political, and cultural aspect of the tribal society. It has also taken note of40

the tribal areas not included in the fifth and sixth schedules of theConstitution.Based on the Bhuria committees recommendations for self rule to thetribal population, Parliament extended certain provisions in the 73'dAmendment act meant for the Panchayats to the Scheduled Areas.Accord ingly, a bill was introduced in the Parliament on 19 December1996 and subsequently, the President's gave his assent on 24December 1996 after which it became a part of the Constitution.Scheduled Areas under the fifth Schedule includes dhra Pradesh,Jharkhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan. The tribal areasunder the sixth Schedule include Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagalandand Tripura in the North Eastern region.The outstanding features of the Act (extension of ScheduledAreas) includes the following:The most notable feature of this act is that the Gram Sabha has beenmade the nucleus and the soul of all activities. Though 73'd Amendmenthas a provision fo r the constitution of the gram sabha but it is the Statelegislatures, which has been endowed by law to define the powers andfu nctions of the Gram Sabha. The extended act however, has made theGra m Sabha the soul of the democratically decentral izedadministrative structure, the symbol of tribal identity, traditionalcustoms and practices, and community assets. Any of the statelegislation on the Panchayats for the tribal areas has to be inagreement with the customary law, social and religious practices, andtraditional practices of community resources.A village has been recognized as a habitation or a group of habitationsor hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising of community and managingits affairs in accordance with the traditions and customs. Since the tribalsettlements are scattered and they live in small units, each unit can bedeclared as a village.The mandatory provisions of the extended Act are:1) Every village is to have a Gram Sabha consisting of persons whosenames are included in the electora l rolls for the Panchayats at thevillage level. Every Gram Sabha is empowered to safeguard andpreserve the traditions, customs and cultural identity of thepeople, community resources and settling local disputes41

through customary methods. The Gram Sabha under theextended act is to approve plans, programmes and projectsmeant for social and economic development of the villagepanchayat prior to its implementation by Panchayats at thevillage level. The gram Sabha has been empowered to identify andselect beneficiaries for poverty alleviation and otherprogrammes. This provision reduces the chance of misuse ofpowers by the bureaucracy and the politicians.2) Every village panchayat has to get a certificate from the GramSabha for the utilization of funds meant for projects andprogrammes for social and economic development, povertyalleviation and other programmes.3) Acquiring land for development projects and rehabilitation andresettlement of persons affected as a result of any projectundertaken in the scheduled areas has to be done in consultationwith either gram Sabha or the Pa nchayat at the appropriate level.Planning and implementation of the project has to be coordinated atthe state level.3) Planning and management of minor water bodies in the scheduledareas have to be managed by the Panchayats at the appropriatelevel.4) For grant of license or lease of land for the purpose of mining minorminerals, the recommendation of the gram Sabha or the panchayatat the appropriate level is mandatory. Grant of concessions for theexploitation of minor minerals by auction has to be given on therecommendations of the Gram Sabha or the panchayat at theappropriate level. This is a measure taken to prevent illegal miningand overexploitation of natural and economic resources.5) Besides the above mandatory powers the gram sabha or thepanchayat at the appropriate level enjoy other mandatory powerssuch as: i) to enforce prohibition or to regulate and restrict the saleand consumption of any intoxicant; ii) the ownership of minor forestproduce and management of all types of village markets; iii) toprevent alienation of land and to take appropriate action to restoreany unlawfully alienated land of a scheduled land of a scheduledtribe in the scheduled areas; iv) to exercise control over local plansand its resources including tribal sub-plans.42

6) As per the extended Act, Reservation of seats in the scheduledareas at every panchayat has to be in prooortion to the population ofthe communities in that panchayat for vv hom reservation is to begiven under part IX of the constitution. Reservation of seats at alltiers of panchayats for the scheduled tribes shall not be less one-halfof the total number of seats; the act provided further that all seats ofchairpersons of panchayat at all levels shall be reserved for thescheduled tribes.7) In case there is no representation of scheduled tribes at theintermediate or district level then the state government cannominate a person to represent such tribes but the number ofpersons to be nominated can not exceed one-tenth of the totalmembers to be elected in the panchayat.8) The state legislature while endowing powers to the Panchayats hasto ensure that Panchayats at the lower level do no assume thepowers and authority of any lower level panchayat or the gramsabha.9) Thus we see that the extended Act gives the Gram Sabha immensemandatory powers. It gives them independence, freedom andautonomy to take their own decisions and manages their own affairs.The provisions are designed to protect the tribals from exploitationand help in their genuine development and self-reliance. Byassigning the gram Panchayats power to approve plans,programmes and projects for the social and economic development.It has tried to reduce the chances of misuse of power mainly bypoliticians and bureaucracy in the management and implementationof development programmes. It brings in transparency andaccountability in the system and leads to closer monitoring by thelocal people. It would have been better if provisions had been madewhere Gram Sabha could identify schemes and locations for anyprojects.10) The extended act has taken cognizance of the longstandingproblems of the tribal people in matters of indebtness, landalienation, displacement, alcoholism, right on water, forests andother natural resources. The permission of the Gram Sabha or theappropriate Panchayat has been made mandatory with regard toacquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation of any tribal lands.11) The extended provision has tried to look into the perennial problems43

of the locals like enfo rcing prohibition, ownership of minor fo restproduce, preventing alienation of land, managing village markets,control over money lending, control over institutions dealing withsocial sectors and their functionaries and control over local plansand resources including tribal sub-plans. This provision th usprotects tribals fro m exploitation and help in their genuinedevelopment.ShortcomingsThere are Lacunae within the act, it applies to only the fifthscheduled areas; it does not include the sixth schedule areas.Moreover there are many tribal areas that have been excluded fromboth the schedules, thus preventing them from reaping theadvantages mentioned in the special co nstitutional provisions.1) The Act does not mention anything about taking away landbelonging to the local population by the centra l government in thename of national interest. For e.g. in order to carry out anydefense programme like testing of missiles, or conducting nucleartests, the government can act arbitra ri ly and can conduct tests onthe land belonging to the tribals. Though as per the constitutionalact, this is a clear violation or misuse of tribal property. Thegovernment in such cases often gets away by saying that it iscarrying on the programmes in the name of national interests.Security of the nation is given precedence in such cases.2) The rights over land and resources in the fo rest regions where thetribal populations had historically lived had been taken away bythe Indian Forest Act 1927 and the subsequent land acquisitionacts (both colonial acts). The shedule five areas and thePanchayati raj had not reinstated this right back to the tribalpeople.Conclusion: The 73'd and 74th amendments are a milestone in thehistory of the rural local government. It is an act of Political andadminist.ative decentralization, thus releasing the loca l populationfrom control by politicians and bureaucracy. The amendment hasmade an attempt to make the local bodies more broad based torescue them from possible domination by the socially andeconomically dominant fe udal lords.44

But the question that remains to be answered is wh ether a mereconstitutional provision is an adequate substitute for politicalwill to decentralize and devolve powers to the local bodies?Added to this, international commitments in the form of GATS furthernegates the ground principles and make mockery of the system.Despite all this internal and external inherent weaknesses stillPanchayats are the only space available for the local population toeffectively intervene, expand and tilt the balance of power in favor ofthem.To urism is one sector where Pa nchayats can effectively intervene inservices sector, especially when tourism projects are appropriatingspace and resources, including land, water, natural resources etc.that is meant for local indigenous community under the customarylaws. Proactively, Panchayats could also raise voices against noninclusionof local concerns in planning implementing and monitoringof tourism projects. It is in this backd ro p we turn our attention to, thenext section, which will also try to explore whether Pa nchayats canoverride the policies pursued at the national and international levelSECTION IIIAnalysis:Present day tourism promotion by any Government is purely fo reconomic reasons because it assumes that tourism generates hugeforeign exchange and creates direct and indirect employmentopportunities in services associated with it. It ra rely brings into focusthe ill affects associated with the tourism industry. It fails to addressthe problems of the people who gets actually affected and displacedas a result of tourism industry Both national and international policiesdo not give enoug h space in their policies to address the problems ofthe indigenous community at places where tourism is promoted.However the govern ment made some effort to bring in greaterdecentralization of power to the Pa nchayats and thereby to the localpeople through 73,d and 74'h Constitutional Amendment Acts. Itendowed the Panchayats with power and authority as to enable them45

to function as units of self-government. They were given power toimplement plans for the socio-economic development of their reg ion inletter, but in spirit it is not so. But as this section reflects that in spite ofthese measures, whenever a tourism project comes up in a local area,the Panchayats do not enjoy enough power because the national andinternational policies contravene them and act as a stumbling block inexercising those minimal powers Thus negating the true spirit ofdecentralization.The focus of this section therefore, will be to analyze, how in spite ofthe granting Constitutional status to the Panchayats, the presenttourism policy and the globalisation processes and international tradeagreements namely GATS negates the Panchayats' powers and arenot favorable to the local inhabitants.The methodology for analysisTa bles have been created so as to focus the rights and responsibilitiesof the Panchayats as per the 73'd and 74'" amendment. This is followedby the requirements of tourism development, tourism policies and theinternational agreement GATS . Possible anomalies between these arealso marked as remarks in the adjacent columnTa ble 1 Panchayat Rights and tourism expectationsRights and powersof the PanchayatsRequirementsof the Tourism IndustryRemarksLand i m p r ovement, Requires land to b u ild For acquisition of any landimplementation of la nd hotels, lodges. resorts , within the territorial area ofreforms. Reg ulation of landswimming pool, casinos, a Panchayat, tourismuseand construction ofbuildings.golf course etcindustry needs permissionof the panchayatsAcq u i r i n g I and fordevelopment proj ects andRequires land to build Requires the permission ofre habilitation and resettlement hotels, lodges, resorts, the Panchayats.of persons affected as a result swimming pool, casinos,of any projects underta ken in golf course etc. and toScheduled areas has to becarry out other projectsdone in consultation withrelated to tourismeither Gram Sabha or thePa nchayat at the appropriatelevel. (thus the tribal peopledoes not have to wa it fo r theconcerned authorities to act inthe vita l matter of landexploitation).Minor irrigation, watermanagement and wate rsheddevelopment.46

Panchayat at the Requires land toappropriate level. (thus build hotels, lodges,the tribal people does resorts, swimmingnot have to wait for the pool, casinos, golfconcerned authorities to course etc. and toact in the vital matter of carry out otherland exploitation). projects related totourismMinor irrigation, watermanagement andw a t e r s h e ddevelopment.Requires water forthe purposes relatedto the hotel industryRequires the permitof the PanchayatsRequires the permitof the PanchayatsPlanning andmanagement of minorwater bodies inScheduled Areas.Water supply fordomestic, industrial andcommercial purposes.For regular supply ofwater it depends onthe rivers, ponds,lakes, streamsRequires water fo r variouspurposes related to thehotel industry. (bath ingwashing, drinking,swimming, cleaning etcRequires the permitof the PanchayatsRequires the permitof the PanchayatsRoads, culverts, bridges,ferries, waterways andother means ofcommunication.Basic infrastructurerequired to facilitatetourism. For the smoothmovement of the touristsRequires the permitof the PanchayatsPlanning for Social and Requires proper healtheconomic development. facilities, sanitation,garbage disposal system,regular water supply, fuel,drainage system, markets,fa irs etcRequires the permitof the Panchayats47

Minor forests produce opening the forests to R e qui res the(community resources) tourists. Biilding resorts permission of theinside the forest. Providing Panchayats.Safari to have a close lookat the animals. Bonfire etc.Minor forests produce(community resources)opening the forests to R e qui res thetourists . Biilding resorts perm ission of theinside the forest. Providing P a n c h a y a t sSafari to have a close lookat the animals. Bonfire etcRecommendation of the GramSabha or Panchayat ismandatory for grant of licenseor lease of land for the purposeof mining minor minerals.requires lime, granite, R e qui res themarbles, stones, blue metal permission of thefor laying roads, stone P a n c h a y a t s .slabs for construction, sandetc.Rural electrification, includingdistribution of electricity.Requires street lights.Though generation ofelectricity comesunder the purview ofthe state, since it's astate subject. But,permit of thePanchayat isrequired for streetl i g h t i n g .Solid waste management Requires proper and safe e x p e c t s t h egarbage disposal system. pan c h ay a t s toprovide.Health and sanitation, Requires proper drainage, e x P e c t s t h eincluding hospitals, primary precautionary health panchayats tohealth centres and measures to curb p r o v i d ed i s p e n s a r i e s . contagious diseases.Spra ying disinfectiveliquids. and sprays.48

Cultural Activities Organizing festivals of expects thelocal and indigenousdeities, entertainmentactivities, circus, fairs,bullock rallies etc.panchayats toprovideUrban forestry, protection of Consumption of natural permit of thethe environment and reSOl,liCes. panchayat is neededpromotion of ecologicalas it belongs to themaspects. and the y haveacquired natural rightover it as a result ofstayi ng thereyears.Welfare of the weaker section Have no interest in it, on expects theand in particular Schedule the other hand they are panchayats toCaste and Schedule Tribes. exploiters of women and providechildren.Wo m e n a n d c h i I d have no interest in it, on expects thedevelopment. the other hand they are panchayats toexploiters of women andprovidechildren.fo rMaintenance of community roads, street lights and expects theassets roadside trees and parks. panchayats toprovideMarket and fairs. Local public market(Sunday markets andweekly markets), fishmarket, vegetable market,local handicraft, jewellery,shells and pearls etc.LabourMay or may notdepend on the labourof the locals as theyhave their own set ofprofessional staff andcaterers.49

Cultural Activities Food May or may notdepend on them.Travel Culture (to see theculture of the indigenousgroups inhabiting there.Requires theconsent of thePanchayats.Ta ble 1 First and the second Column lists out the mandatory powerand functions of the Panchayats given under the ConstitutionalAmendment Act namely 73'd and 74th and the requirements of thetourism industry respectively. A comparative study has been madebetween the above tables. The table makes it very clear that tourismindustry is very much dependent on the Panchayats because theyuse the resources, which fa ll, within the Panchayats territorial area.Hence it becomes obligatory on them to take the permission andconsent prior to making use of them. Panchayats revenue sourcesmainly comprises of house tax, property tax, vehicle tax, andentertainment surcharge and fee for licensing the industries includingtourism industry. When other sources of revenues are limited theylook for these sources to accomplish mandatory and developmentalfunctions assigned to them. This has invariably forced thePanchayats to issue licenses for some unwanted and hazardousindustries to tide over the financial crisis in the absence of revenuesupport in the form of subsidies from the state exchequer andconsolidated fund.Purely for monetary benefits Panchayats allows industries liketourism, to come up in their region. While granting permission, thePanchayats too has certain expectations.• The Panchayats expects the tourism industry to pay tax whenthey occupy their land. Though the amount is very meager to takecare of the socio-economic development, the Panchayats furtherexpects a greater role in the industry itself as it leads todisplacement of people and privatize their major source ofl ivelihood and other naturally acquired scenic beauty.50

• The Panchayats also expects proper management and land use,which is not detrimental to the environment and mainly aimingtoward s the preservation and conservation of their naturalresources and heritage.• Since the hotel industry depends on the same source for water,which the Panch ayats depend on, the Panchayats expectsbeforehand to be informed about the source, the volume ofreq uirement, as they do not want to be deprived of the basicsource and facilities, which belong to them.• As far as fo rests and usage of mineral resources are concerned,the state accepts the community's right over minor forest produceand minor minerals. Wh en opening the Minor fo rests to thetourism industry, the locals expects the full ownership of thenatural products such as bamboo, gum, honey, coir, fruits, herbalmedicines belonging to the forest as they enjoy customary rightsover it. But it is widely seen that the locals do not have access tothe forests and its prod ucts , once an industry is set up.Apart from the above expectations, the right to info rmation, which isgaining support in many states, makes it obligatory for any industrylike tourism to inform beforehand to the Panchayats about anyproject from its initial stage to its completion.• The Panchayats have the right to know about the master plan,budget and plan outlay of a project. The Panchayats also ought toknow what ro le they are going to play from its planning stage tothe impleme ntation and monitoring.• The Panchayats also expects economic benefit, employmentopportunities and some vocational training and education fo r itspeople to get familia rized with the latest technology anddevelopment.• Other expectations, which the Panchayats expects from the51

tourism sector, are to keep in mind the uniqueness of the loca ltradition and cultureThough the above are the expectations of the Pa nchayats, itbecomes the duty of the tourism industry to follow these guidelineswhen setting up a project. But it is widely seen that whenever tourismprojects comes up in a local area, the locals are not involved orconsulted mainly on the premise that they are uneducated and lackthe expertise and know-how. Some menial jobs are given to themand outsiders occupy all high profile, prestigious and sophisticatedjobs. In most cases it is also seen that land is forcibly taken away bythe states in the name of dubious public interests and given away tobig hotel chains, e.g. Goa, where shacks were removed and bighotels were set up in its place. Ta ble 2 will further make it clear thatthe tourism policy of the government too does not accommodate therights of Panchayats.Ta ble 2 Rights of Panchayats and tourism policyRights and powersof the PanchayatsLand improvement, implementation ofland reforms.Present To urism policy( to be reviewed)It is highly capital intensive.Investments runs into crores.Regulation of land use and constructionTechnological and efficiency intensiveof buildings. (absence of labour). IntroduceAcquiring land for development projectsand rehabilitation and resettlement ofpersons affected as a result of anyprojects undertaken in Scheduledareas has to be done in consultation52professionalism excellence th roughtraining and re-training of humanresources. Optimum use of e-commerce and e-mails, use of internet,setting of tourists information Kiosks,keeping abreast with the latest globaltechnologies to help facilitate andpromote tourism.

.---- - - ---r---- - -with either Gram Sabha or the Big Highways (which are generallyPanch ayat at the appropri ate level. fu nded by World Bank, Asian(thus the tribal people does not have to Development Bank etc.)wait for the concerned authorities to actin the vital matter of land exploitation).Minor irrigation, water managementand watershed development.Planning and management of minorwater bodies in Scheduled Areas.Water supply for domestic, industrialand commercial purposes.Roads, culverts, bridges, fe rries,waterways and other means ofcommunication.Planning for Social and economicdevelopment.Expand foreign tourists arrivals, mainlyhigh spending tourists who needs fivestaraccomodation, swimming pool, golfcourse, casinos etc.Focus on Soochna (information),Swagat (welcome), Suraksha (security)of the tourists.Adoption of new technology (kiosks, ITetc.)To achieve necessary linkages andsynergies in the policies andprogrammes of all concernedDepartments/agencies by establishingeffective co-ordination mechanisms atCentral, State and District level. Thefocus will therefore be to developtourism as a common endeavor of allagencies vitally concerned with it at theCentral and State levels, public sectorundertakings and the private sector.To encourage Peoples participation intourism development includingPanchayati Raj institutions, nongovernmentalorganizations andenterprising local youths to createpublic awareness and to achieve awider spread of tourists facilities.Minor forests produceresources).(communitySteps will be taken to work towards theintegrated development of all the touristcircuits of the country with theinvolvement of all the infrastructuraldepartments, state govern ments andthe private sector and to facilitate directand easy access to those places frominternational destinations.53

Recommendation of the Gram Sabhaor Panchayat is mandatory for grant oflicense or lease of land for the purposeof mining minor minerals.Rural electrification, incl udingdistribution of electricity.Solid waste managementHealth and sanitation, includinghospitals, primary health centres anddispensaries.Diversify To urism products in such away that it supplements the mainstreamtourism.The principle of sustainabledevelopment stipulates that the level ofdevelopment does not exceed thecarrying capacity of the area. It will bethe Government's policy to ensureadherence to such limits throughappropriate planning instruments,guidelines and enabling regulationsand their enforcement.Foreign investments and incentives tomaintain the high quality standards inservices, hotels and tourism relatedindustries.Being a global industry it requires theparticipation of various internationalagencies and collaborators with othercountries.Cultu ral Activities Government support fo r specialprogrammes and schemes for thedevelopment of North-Eastern States,Himalayan region and island States!union territories with a view to achieveoverall economic development of theregion, a measure consideredn ecessa ry to remove regionalimbalances.Urban fo restry, protection of the It seeks to streamline the tourism policyenvironment and promotion of in such way so as to avoid adverseecological aspects. Urban forestry, impact on the natural environment andprotection of the environmentpromotion of ecological aspects.and cultural heritage.Welfare of the weaker section and inparticular Schedule Caste andSchedule Tribes.Women and child development.Maintenance of community_ assets.Market and fairs.54

A look at Ta ble 2 separately shows that Rights and powers of thePanchayats and present tourism policy runs contrary to the Panchayatsexpectations, thus belying the rights granted to them. Even though ittalks about encouraging peoples participation, and developingnecessary sy nergies and co-ordination at Central, State and Districtlevel in order to develop tourism, it has left no space fo r it. It is highlycapital intensive, technology and efficiency intensive, caters to highspending tourists who wants five-star accommodation, talks aboutadopting new sophisticated technologies, talks about encouragingforeign investments to maintaining high quality standards in services,related to hotel and tourism industries and encourages big highwayseach of these in no way involves the participation of the localcommunity. The ambiloquy policies of the government are more orless caters to the expectation of the hotel industry. It is more in tune withthe ongoing economic liberalization process. It favors easy access tomultinational corporations thus further reducing the chances of thePanchayats to intervene in the tourism sector. It fails to address theissue of removing regional imbalancesTa ble 3 Rights of the Panchayats and GATSRights and Powersof the PanchayatsLand improvement, implementation ofland reforms.Regulation of land use and constructionof buildings.Acquiring land for development proj ectsand rehabilitation and resettlement ofpersons affected as a resu It of anyprojects undertaken in Scheduledareas has to be done in consultationwith either Gram Sabha or thePanchayat at the appropriate level.GATSGATS allows foreign service suppliersfu ll access to domestic marketsprovided a country commits to openingup its sectors.Tour operators, hotel enterprises andother tourism-and travel- relatedcompanies from one country will beable to set up operations in othercountries.In the hotel sector, GATS will facilitatefranchising, management contracts,technical service agreements, licensingand patents.55

Minor irrigation, water managementand watershed development.Planning for Social and EconomicdevelopmentMinor forest produce (communityresources)Recommendation of the Gram Sabhaor Panchayats is mandatory for grant oflicense or lease of land for the purposesof mining minor minerals.Solid Waste Management56If National Treatment is granted fully,foreign companies will be able to selltheir services under the same termsand conditions as domestic companiesand suppliers.Subsidies and tax benefits, which aremajor incentives for development ofdomestic industries, will have to beshared with the foreign suppliers. Inother words it takes away the right ofselective promotion enjoyed by thedomestic industries.Reduction of local equity share willpromote further concentration andintegration. Relaxing the terms andconditions for the foreign suppliers andtreating them at equal footing will placethe local providers at a disadvantage.Services sectors under GATS include:Business and professional services,communication services (postal,telecommunications, audio visual),construction and related engineerservices, distribution, education,environmental services (water delivery,energy, refuse disposal), financialservices, including banking andinsurance, Health related and socialservices, tourism and travel relatedservices, recreational, cultural andsporting services, transport services.Sectors in which India has committedone can expect foreign directinvestment.GATS mainly talks about efficiency inservices and professional management.Availability of outdated and depletedtechnology and lack of technical Knowhow,puts the locals at a disadvantage.Import of technology is expensive andclosing the gap between the localproviders and the foreign providers willbe a difficult task.

-Health and San itation, includinghospitals, primary health rentres anddispensaries.Cultu ral Activities.Will be able to move staff to a foreigncountry and base them withoutrestrictions.Will be allowed to effect internationaltransfers and payments for currenttransactions without restrictionsWelfare of the weaker section and inparticular Schedule Caste andSchedule Tribes.Women and Child development.Maintenance of community assets.Markets and fairs.A look at the Table 3 separately further shows that the internationaltrade agreement, namely GATS does not accommodate localaspirations and overrides the powers enjoyed by them. Under GATSproviders of travel and tour related services try to expand their businessin destination countries and thus compete with the local providers whois in no way able to put up a fight with the foreign providers. Technologytransfer is expensive and Involves crores of money, putting thedeveloping countries at a disadvantage. Availability of outdated anddepleted technology and lack of technological know-how, thus fails toclose the gap between the local providers and the foreign operators.Under the National Treatment, treating the domestic and foreignsuppliers equally will place the locals at a disadvantage. Subsidies andtax benefits, which are major incentives for development of domesticindustries, will have to be shared with the foreign suppliers In otherwords it takes away the right of selective promotion enjoyed by thedomestic industries. Reduction of few local equity shares will no doubtpromote further concentration and integration. Relaxing the terms andconditions for the foreign suppliE:is and treating them at equal footingwill place the local providers at an inconvenience. Highways, oversizedhigh-end airports may be far from the reach and needs of the localcommunities who may wish to participate in the benefits of tcurism.Thus we see present economic priorities and tourism policy of thegovernment is more in consonance with the international agreements57

and in no way a c c ommodates the local community. If the consensus isin favor of giving maximum benefits of development and greaterparticipation and involvement of the local people, its time to take a hardlook at our present policy framewo rk. The Planning Commission hasacknowledged that after all these years of State prog rammes, thepau perization, exploitation and disintegration of tribal communitiescontin ues. The State Acts should endow the Panchayats with allpowers: legislative, executive and judiciary so as to enable them tofu nction as units of self-government and decide their own destinywithout any intervention from above. However in reality states adopt avery skeptic attitude towards the Panchayats and is seen as anextended administrative structure rather than treating them as a unit ofself-govern ment. A close look at the below table will further reveal theattitude of the state.58

Behavior of the States in devolving in powers to the Panchayats:StatesUltimatum givenon Amending the ActDate and Year ofEnforcement ofAct by different StatesSubjects devolved by StateLegislature to PanchayatsRemarksAndhraPradeshApril 24, 1992Panchayati Raj Act, 1994replaced the AndhraMaintenance of governmentroads and buildings, provision ofThe State government hasfailed to devolve powers to thePradesh Gram Panchayatstreet lights, supply of drinkingpanchayats and has goneAct, 1964 and the Andhrawater,sanitation, primaryahead creating parallelPradesh Mandai PrajaParishad and ZillaPranalika Abhivrudhieducation, cooperatives,agricultural development andhousing (Eight subjects to thestructures to carry out ruraldevelopment programme. Arecent instance to show this isSameeksha Mandals Act,Gram Panchayat) . Communitylaunching of a new programme,01CD1986, in 30 May 1994.development, agriculturaldevelopment, animalnamed 'Janmabhoomi' on 1January 1997 to promotehusbandry and fisheries, ruralparticipatory planning andhealth and sanitation, landdevelopment, irrigation, roads,electricity, education, antipoverty programmes, womenand child welfare (Twelvesubjects to the MandaiParishad)development in rural areas. Theprogramme incorporated theongoing prajala vaddaku pal ana(administration on the doorstep) and the Shramdan(voluntary labour) schemes.However, in bypassing theelected representatives of,different tiers of the Panchayats,the new programme has provedto be no different from various

Q)ospecial schemes and projectsof the union and stategovernments fo r ruraldevelopment and the MPs andMLAs Area DevelopmentScheme. It therefore violatesthe spirit, of not the lette r, of the73rd ConstitutionalAmendment, which givespivotal place to these bodies inplanning and implementingprogrammes of economic andsocial development in thevillage.Bihar April 24, 1992 The Bihar Panchayati Act,1993, repealed the OldPanchayati Raj Act, 1947,and the Bihar PanchayatSamiti and Zilla Parish adAct, 1961 .The Eleventh Schedule of theConstitution gives twenty-ninesubjects to Panchayats. TheBihar act assigns thirty-onefu nctions to gram panch ayts,twenty-seven functions tosamitis and twenty-fourfunctions to parish ads, subjectto such conditions as may beprescribed by the governmentfrom time to time.A conspicuous omission of theact is non-inclusion of landreforms in the Panchayati list.Witb their proximity to land,village Panchayats could,perhaps, contribute significantlyin land reforms. There is a lot 0overlapping of fu nctionsibetween the three tiers .Besides, the Panchayats do nohave exclusive jurisdiction,

CJlt-Gjrat r - April 24, 19921·· ----The Gujarat PanchayatAct,1993, came into force on15th April 1994 replacingthe Gujarat panchayat Act,1973.independent of the statEgovernment over the fu nctiomearmarked for them. Undesuch circumstances most of thEfunctions will continue to bEperfo rmed by the linEdepartment of the statEgovernment. The new act keepthe Panchayat under strong gripof the state government units,thus failing to help them emergeas units of self-government.The act though reflects a betterunderstanding of thEdemocratic norm fo r interpanchayat control of upper tieover the lower tier of thePanchayati Raj Institutions.However, the act also gives thEstate government con currenpower to control ovePanchayati Raj Institutionsthrough competent authority orits nominated officers . Thishampers the growth 0

decentralized democracy atthe grass root levels.Theincreasing influenceof theMLAs and MPs further affectsthe fu nctioning of thePanchayats.Karnataka April 24, 1992 The Karnataka act of 1993Gram Parishad were mandatedThe act is no different from thecame to force on 10 May1993, is considered ato provide sanitary latrines tohouseholds and communityearlier legislation of 1983; itfailed to establish Panchayatslandmark in the history oflatrines, maintain water supplyas units of self-government andlocal government in India,works,achieve universalmade it an agency of State(J)Nas it demonstrated fo r thefirst time the willingness of aenrolment in primary schoolsand universal immunization,government. The schedules ofthe act of 1993 defines thestate government to divestamong others. The talukfunctions of the three tiers ofitself of substantial powerspanchayat were obliged toPR only in general terms; thereand fu nctions in favor ofimprove water supply and to getis no clear division ofsub-state institutions, washalf-yearly reports on theresponsibility among the tiersreplaced by the Karnatakaact 1983.fu nctioning of gramPanchayats. Establishment ofin overlapping fu nctional areas.The general approach of thehealth and maternity centres,social forestry and prevention ofdevolution under the 1993 actfollows the previous act of 1983drilling of irrigation wells in theof segregating 'regulatory' andvicinity of drinking water wells'development' function at thewere the obligatory fu nctions ofdistrict level and below, theZilla Parish ads.development functions being

0>Wentrusted to the appropriate tierof Panchayats. Resourcetransfer is mostly tied toprogrammes and activities;untied fu nds are not enough forthe Panchayats for launchingtheir own initiatives. Thepercentage of Panchayatsshare from the plan outlay andthe state's resources havebeen stagnating lower thanwhat they were in the lateeighties. In areas like, ruralelectrification, publicdistribution system and ruralhousing where there has beenno devolution at all. There is ananomaly of the DeputyCommissioner continuing to bein charge of Members ofParliament Local AreaDevelopment Scheme, whichis itself and aberration in thecontext of Panchayati raj andrelief of natural calamities,even though the implementing

staff are all with thePanchayats. The areadevelopment bodies like theHyderabad-KarnatakaDevelopment Board, MalnadDevelopment BoardandMaidan Development Boardcontinue to fu nction. Theirfunction overlap with those ofthe PRls.Kerala April 24, 1992 Kerala enacted the KeralaThere were 126 items for villageThe degree and extent of theen.j:>.Panchayat act, 1994, whichcame into force on 23 April,1994. The first elections toPanchayats , twenty-nine itemsfor block level Panchayats andeighty items fo r districtdecentralization process inKerala has been gigantic. It hasgiven powers and fu nctionsthe new three-tierPanchayats.along with institutions and staffPanchayat Raj set up wereand resources have beenheld in September 1995transferred to the local bodies.and the Panchayats cameThe government did not wait forinto being on 2 Octoberthe capacity of th e local1995.government to be built up as apre-condition fo r transfer ofpowers and responsibilities. Insectors, which looked into theminimum needs of the locals,like providing minimum needs

en(J1j- - ·r -Ta mil April 24, 1992NaduAfter a lot of wavering,Ta mil Nadu under theADMK rule fell in line withthe Constitution (Seventylikeshelter, drinking water,sanitation facilities andco nnectivity, the localgovernment has performedbeyond expectations. In othersectors like agriculture, animalhusbandry, health andeducation, they have been goodmodel to be adopted by otherstates. Yet there are some greyareas, the Eleventh Schedule ofthe Constitution actually doesnot carve out the fu nctionaldomain of the Panchayats. Itonly lists out th e developmentalareas where such localgovernments could have role inplanning for economicdevelopment and social justiceand in the implementation of_uch plns_ _ _ __ _'_ 'Planning, approval of budget, Of the 29 subjects mentioned inselection of beneficiaries of all the XI schedule only twoschemes, auditing the subj ects have been allocated.Panchayats annual statement One is the land developmentand its implementation.and Market and fairs.

0)0)After a lot of wavering,Ta mil Nadu under theADMK rule fell in line withthe Constitution (Seventy­Third Amendment) Act andpassed the Tamil NaduPanchayat Act in 1994. Itcame into fo rce on 22 April,1994.Development officials workingin the Panchayat bodies aredeclared as governmentofficials and they do not comeunder the purview of localbodies. As a result, the localbodies cannot supervise theiractivities. Compared to theearlier act 1958 with the newact, one finds that there wereadequate powers in the earlierlaw for the local bodies tosupervise regulate and controlthe officials working with them.The district collector's arbitrarypower to suspend and dissolvethe gram Panchayats is againstthe spirit of decentralization.The Centre and State haveintroduced schemes like, AnnaMarumalarchi Thittam scheme(Anna re naaisance scheme)and Namakku Name Scheme(we for ourselves), which tries tobypass the Panchayats powersand works against the localinterests.

MadhyaPradeshApril 24, 1992The MadhyaPradeshPanchayat Raj Adhiniyam,1993, was passed by theState Legislature on 30Management of publicmarkets/melas (fair),emergency relief and workrelating to rural development,The fu nctions of the GramPanchayat in this act are mainlymunicipal in nature. Thoughschool management and theDecember 1993 and cameagriculture, welfare of weakerrural healthcentres wereinto effect on 25 January1994 replacing the earlierPanchayat Act of 1990.Elections to the Gramsection, school managementand the rural health centres.transferred to Panchayats with anew post of Chief MedicalOfficer (CMO) to look after thehealth programmes under thePanchayats and ZillaZilla Panchayats. However, inparish ads were held in Mayand June 1994.actual practice the CMOremains a government official0>---Idirectly answerable to hisdepartmental superiors but forcertain fu nctions, he moves thepapers to the chief executiveofficer of the Zill Panchayat.Similarly schools continue to beof government.WestBengalApril 24, 1992West Bengal enacted theWest Bengal PanchayatiAct in 1994.West Bengal's Panchayati raj isa success story. Theinstitutionalization of Panchayatdemocracy along with landreform arethe two mostimportant achievements of theLeft Front government that has

encoachievements of the Left Front govemment th athas been in power in the state continuously fo rmore than two decades. In the management ofpoverty alleviation programmes the states recordhad been better than that of other states as th estate had been given the entire responsibility ofimplementation of all such programmes. ThePanchayats of West Bengal are not mere paperorganizations but have been given sUbstantialresponsibility in rural development works,particularly in the implementation of povertyalleviation programmes. As a result, these localbodies are today an independent part of th edelivery system of the state govern ment in theru ral areas. One disturbing feature of WestBengal's Panchayats is their failure to raise localresources. No attempt is made to raise non-taxrevenue, or to generate local contribution or toaccess institutional finance. With no resources oftheir own even to balance their revenue budget,effectiveness of these bodies depend totally uponthe grants of the state government. The dream ofPanchayats emerging as institutions of 'selfgovernment'thus facilitating genuinedecentralization of govern ance still remains adream.

From the above table it is clear that most state governments have notshown much vision on enacting new Panchayati raj laws. Theexceptions being West Bengal and Kerala where decentralization ofpower has been extensive and genuine. A part of the fa ult lies in thesystem, a part in the immediate social environment but a largepart is to be attributed to the controlling state government itself.Inadequacy of funds available to local bodies and creation ofparallel structures to take over the mandatory powers of thePanchayats has been a chronic problem before all local bodies.Powerfu l groups based on caste and economic status dominate thelocal governmental bodies. Though, the states have accepted the73'd and 74th Amendments in letter rather than in spirit, in many StateActs, civil servants are indirectly given powers over the elected bodythus making the devolution of powers and functions to thePanch ayats go at a snail pace.The bureaucracy and politicians still enjoys financial and economicpower vis-a-vis the elected representatives at the panchayat level. Tomaintain such a position, the argument they put forward is that inmost of the villages and districts, the feudal elements and landowning sections are still dominant and that their chances of misusingthe political and economic power are higher. Further, the argumentthey put forward is that the voices of illiterate Schedule Castes,Schedule Tribes, women and other marginalized sections may notcarry the same weight while deciding important matters even if theyoccupy important positions in the Panchayat Raj Institutions. Theseare the flimsy grounds, which bureaucrats use to wield power.The above arguments only goes to prove that there has beenreluctance on part of state-level politicians to recognize theimportance of the local governance- their autonomy, their powers andtheir area of functioning-, which is again creatirlg problems indevolving powers. Ministers , MLAs and senior political leaders aremore wurried that the power they enjoyed so far will wane ifPanchayats and municipalities become really rowerful. State-levelleaders do not like the emergence of local level ledership, as itwould pose challenge to them in due course.68

This leads us to probe into the issues of federalism and look into thequestion of what makes the states behave in a different manner.There is no doubt that the federal structure of the constitution hasmiserably fa iled to distribute powers equitably to the states and thePanchayats. It only promotes over centralization of powers in thehands of Union Government, which In turn makes the states relucta ntto devolve powers to the Panchayats. The Sarkaria Commissionrecommendations, which favors state autonomy at length needs tobe thoroughly implemented and practiced. When States enjoy fu llautonomy, it will automatica lly lead to the devolution of power to thelocal government. The behavior of the states in devolution of powerto the Panchayats will come without relucta nce and inhibitions. Inaddition, measures should be ta ken to amend the constitution toaccord status to the Eleventh Schedule and to treat it at par with theCentral list, State list, and concurrent list.This will help embolden the Panchayats rights, as they know bestwhat is good fo r the development of their reg ion. Dece ntralizationshould be practiced in true spirit. Apart from this the right toinfo rmation should be followed by every state to maintaintransparency and prevent any kind of exploitation.There have been instances, which showed that inspite of limitationsand arbitrary attitude of the States, panchayats played a crucial ro lein challenging the autocratic nature of the State and bureaucracy, andalso challenging the liberalization process, ta king shape in the formof multinationals collaborating with their Indian pa rtners to start theirIndian ventures. MNCs when initiate a project shows no concern forthe life , culture, environment and long term effect of the industrialwaste on the natural resources such as water and soil.A recent case in the point is the Thapar-Dupont Company, whichdid not get permission from the Panchayats from a Keri villagePanchayat in Goa. The Company was not allowed to start work andwas issued a show cause notice. Though the company went on anappeal against the Panchayats order but had to submit to thePanchayat, as the Keri village Panchayat stood firm by not allowingpermission. If Panchayats have a power in deciding cases as was70

done in Dupont case .In another instance , the Government of Karnataka le ased out landsin sched uled are as for minin g operations to non-tribals withoutconsult in g them, thus contraven in g the fifth schedule of theConst itut ion . The Adiv as is in An antagir i mandai of vizag distr ict inAndra Pradesh were victims of powerful economic lobbies- themining industry. Sm all pr iv ate min ing companies were in occupat ionof trib al lands and were usin g tribals as laborers . The tribals in Borr aPanchayat who have been living in these hills for centur ies (the Borracaves which are world famous geological format ions of stalact itesand st alagmites date back to the pre-histor ic age) were den ied titledeeds to their own lands . On the othe r hand minin g compan ies weregiven leases by the state since the 1960s on trib al and forestlands .The first company to enter the are a was Birla Per iclase, which is acompany of Ind ian Rayon and Industr ies. The company was given ale ase of 120 acres of land in a small interior village calledNimmal ap adu , for exp loiti ng calc ite , one of the principal raw mate rialsfo r their Se a Water Magnesi a plant near Bh iml i.The tr ib als of Bo rra Panc h ayat with the help of an NGO, namedSamata put up a fight directly against the state as it was found outth at the le ases were against the land transfe r re gul ations of thescheduled are a (the LT R Act 1 of 1970) and started question in g thele gal ity of these le ases . A stron g peoples movement was bu ild upand a legal battle was fought to question the states right to grantmin in g leases in the scheduled are a to pr ivate compan ies as thele ases amounted to tr ansfer of tr ibal lands to non-tr ibals.Public interest liti gation was filed in the high cou rt of Andhr a Pradeshin 1993 on the grounds that the government was also a 'pe rson' (nontribal) and hence does not have the powe r to gr ant le ases in ascheduled area to non-tribals . A st ay order was granted and for thefi rst time after independe nce , the tr ib als of Borra Panch ayatcult ivated thei r own lands . In 1995 the stay order was lifted and thecase was dism issed by the High court. This prompted th e Samata totake the issue of tribals to the Supreme Cou rt. In July 1997, thehistor ic judgment was made which declared th at mining le ases in the71

Scheduled areas were against the land tran sfer reg ulations, andtherefore, null and void. The Court recognized the 73'd ConstitutionAmendment Act and the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Extensionto Scheduled Areas) Act by stating that the Gram Sabhas shall becompetent to safeguard and preserve community resources andthereby reiterated the need to give the right of self-governance totribals. The court also recogn ized that the Government couldn't leaseout lands in scheduled areas for mining operations to non-tribals as itis In contravention of the fifth schedule of the Constitution.The legal victory was a great reassurance of democratic space totribal and constitutional rights. Mining activities in the scheduledareas of A.P. immediately came to a halt and the companies weredirected to close down their work. Tribals could take back their landsand practice agriculture and are living a life of dignity since the order.Apart from the above insta nces there are other insta nces like theBalco case and the Enron issue, which again goes to prove that thatthe Panchayats can assert their rights whenever their rights are takenaway unconstitutionally. Monitoring of all such projects and thepower to terminate them fo r non-fu lfillment of obligations- should behandled directly by the communities concerned, perhaps in the formof prevailing self-government institutions like Panchayats. Becauseas bitter experience shows that asking administration's cut off fromthe people to enforce regulations ensures nothing but graft,inefficiency and resounding fa ilure.From experience it is also seen that some Panchayat are proactivelyexpanding the space even within the available spectrum and havebeen effectively addressing multi-faceted issues including livelihood,employment generation, effective use of loca l resources andprotecting the environmental resources. It is clearly established fromthe first term of Panchayat Raj (Between 1993- 2001 ) thatPanchayati have done extensive work on addressing infrastructureissues of villages such as laying metal roads, rural electrification,street lights, water supply and providing cremation grounds.72

The need of the hour is bottom line planning should be doneaccord ing to local specificities, effective and meaningfu l participationin the decision making process, control over resources for equ itableand sustainable use of such resources, implementation ofdev elopment pro g ra mmes and monitoring the extent ofimplementation, by themselves. In nutshell- all powers and functionsto plan, implement and monitor including -executive, legislature andjudicial spheres which is the intent of the true local self-governance.Considering the constitutional status, clear demarcation of subjects inthe XI Schedule, participatory democratic structure to the gramsabha, Panchayats have scope to expand their domain ofgovernance and effectively assert their rights in deciding their owndevelopment.This all goes to prove beyond doubt that whenever projects, liketourism comes up in a loca l area, Panchayats have the true potentialto exercise their constitutional powers assertively to question theparadigm of development.BIBILIOGRAPHY:Primary Sources:1. Governmen t of India, Ministry of Tourism, (1998), Draft NationalTo urism Policy September 1 998, Draft National To urism Policy,September 1 998.2. Gender and Tourism: Women's employment and participation inTo urism, Summary of the report prepared for the UN Commissionon Sustainable Development 7'h Session, New Yo rk, April 1999.Secondary Sources:1 ) Somnath Chib "Essays on Tourism" edited by Ratna Sahai,Cross Section Publications Private Limited, New Delhi, 1989.2) Bhatia, A. K. "Tourism in India: History and Development',Sterling Publishing Private Limited, New Delhi 1978.3) Bhatia, A.K. "Tourism Development: Principles and Practices",73

Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi, 1996.4) Smith L. Va lene, (ed.) Smith and Wi lliam R. Eadi nton "Tourismalternatives: Potentials and problems in the development oftourism" , The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.5) Colin Michael Hall, " To urism and Politics: Policy, Power andPlace", Bookcraft (8ath) Limited, 1994.6) Durga Das Basu, "Introduction to the Constitution of India",Prentice Hall of India Private Limited, N ew Delhi, 1998.7) Dr. B. D. Sharma, " Tide Turned, Th e Making of Tribal Self-Rule inthe first Central Law in the wake of Bhurial Committee Report,Published by Sahayog Pustak Kutir, 1997.8) Dr. B. D. Sharma, "Whither Tribal Areas? ConstitutionalAmendments and After', Sahayog Pustak Kutir, 1995.9) "Status of Panchayati Raj in the Sta tes and Union Te rritories ofIndia 2000', Published by the Institute of Social Sciences,Concept Publishing Compa ny, New Delhi, 2000.10) Dr. B. D. Sharma " Globalisation: Th e Tribal Encounter', Har­Anand Publ ications, New Delhi. 1995.11) Pran Seth, "Successful To urism Managemen: Fundamentals ofTo urism" , Sterling Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi, 1999.12) "Kerala : Exploring Future Frontiers in To urism Developmenf' ,Department of To urism, Kerala, Equations, Bangalore, July, 2000.13) To urism Policy of India : An Explainatory Study, Equations,Bangalore, 1995.14) Nirmal Mukarji, "The Third Stratum", Economic and PoliticalWeekly, May 1, 1993, pp. 859-62.15) Edward Mathias, "Panchayati Raj Institutions and Role of NGOs" ,Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, 2000.74

16) Raj Singh, " Panchayati Raj Manual: A Socio- Historica/- cum­Legal Perspective", Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 1996.17) Mathur, S. N. "Nyaya Panchayats as instruments of Justice",Institute of Social Sciences.NEWSPAPER AND CLIPPINGS:1; The Hindu, "Righ t to Information Act will be brought in soon",Bangalore Publication, 25 February, 2001 .2. The Times of India, "Power to Panchayat", 24 April, 2001 .3. Economic Times, 13, March, 2001.4. Fair Trade in To urism, The magazine of To urism Concern's FairTrade in To urism Network, Issue 1, Spring 2000.5. EQUATIONS, Briefing paper on the GATS , December, 2000.Glossary:1. Local Self- Government It implies the management of localaffairs by the local peopleIt deals with problems of the localcommunity like health, sanitation, water supply, primary education,construction and maintenance of loca l tracks and roads, streetlighting, drainage, disposalof sewage, upkeep of parks andgarden, establishment of libraries and reading rooms and othersuch activities.2. Panchayat The word Panchayat is derived from the Sanskritword panch. As the word suggests it means five and hence hastraditionally been used to cannote an assembly of five elderly andrespectable persons of the village. The word is now used to referto rural loca l government.3. Gram(a) : Village.4. Gram Sabha: It is the bottom level body in the Panchayati rajsystem. It is perceived as the primary body of Panchayat rajsystem designed to facilitate direct participation of the people inlocal activities. It is a statutory body and consists of assembly ofall adults residents in the village.5. Panchayat Samiti: It is the intermediate tier in the Panchayati rajsystem of rural local government in India.75

6. Zilla Parishad: It constitutes the apex in the Panchayati rajsystem of rural loca l government in India.7. Di.s trict: means a district in a State or a portion of territory, regionor local ity, notified under the statutes of the state.8. Intermediate level: It means a level between the village anddistrict levels specified by the Governor of a State by publicnotification.9. Panchayat area: means the territorial area of a Panchayat.10. Population: It means the population as ascertained at the lastpreceding census of which the relevant figures have beenpublished.11.Metropolitan area: It means an area having a population of tenlakhs or more comprised in one or more districts and conSisting oftwo or more municipalities or panchayats or other contiguousareas, specified by the governor by public notification to be ametropolitan area.12. Municipal area: It means the territorial area of a municipality asnotified by the governor.13. Nagar Panchaya: It is mainly a transitional area, an area that istransformed from a rural to an urban area. Such an area isbasica lly rural in character, which over a period of time developurban characteristics. Such an urban local body would have toperform both rural and urban functions. Nagar Panchayats evennow exist in some states.14. Municipal Councils : It is constituted in a smaller urban area.15. Municipal corporations: It is constituted for larger urban areas.It is the topmost of urban local government. It is set up under aspecial statute by the state legislature.16. Constitution: It is a body of fundamental principles accord ing towhich a state is governed .76

17. Directive Principles of State Policy: It is enshrined in thefourth part of the Constitution. They are unique and novel in sofar as they describe the ambitions and aspirations of the framersof the Constitution. It is not a legal part of the Corstitution and isnot enforceable by any court of the country.18. Eleventh Schedule: It lists out the powers and rights of thePanchayats as may be necessary to function as a unit of selfgovernment.19. Twelfth Schedule: It lists out the powers and rights of theMunicipalities as may be necessary to function as a unit of selfgovernment.20. Fifth Schedule: The major features of the Fifth Schedule areTribes Advisory Council, Governor's power to adapt laws passedby parliament and State Legislatures and making regulations forthe Scheduled Areas having the force of law, and extension ofthe executive power of the Union Government to the giving ofdirections to a State for administration of Scheduled Areas. Itprovides for Scheduled Area of a State, an enabling frame forlegislation in the form of regulations, tribal consultativemachinery in the form of Tribes Advisory Council and ispaternalistic in its design. It contains the potential to become apotent instrument for prevention of exploitation anddiscrimination as well as for governance of Scheduled Areas intribal interests. The fifth Schedule includes eight states namely,Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.21. Sixth Schedule: It pertains to the Tribals in the North EasternStates. It deals with constitution of autonomous district councilsand autonomous regions specifying for them legislative, judicial,executive, developmental and financial powers and functions. Itspells out in different spheres the concept of self-managementfor autonomous councils and regional councils at the districtsand regional level respectively The tribal areas under the sixthSchedule include Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura inthe North Eastern regioil.77