SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Governance and politics may be big terms and viewed in terms of Assembly and Parliamentary elections, ministries, and bureaucrats but in the day-to-day lives of Goans in 190 odd villages their universe, and their world is their village, interwoven and interconnected with much of their daily lives their work and businesses. And the panchayat runs those villages. Panchayati Raj is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent.
The panchayat minister seems to be taking a view that the panchayat elections can be postponed on the ground that the Supreme Court had mandated that wards have to be reserved for the General Category, Scheduled Tribes, and Scheduled Castes & OBCs, referred to as the triple test. But the Court in the very same judgment had found a way out by saying that if reservations weren’t possible on time, then the elections will have to go ahead on schedule without any delay by declaring all wards as general wards.
Is the govt looking at OBC votes which may go against the ruling party if reservations are not done?
Is this the political reasoning behind seeking a postponement? There are 27% OBCs in Goa. If elections are held without reservations and as general wards, the OBC population which would be denied reservations may go against the ruling party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But should a hypothetical political fallout be the reason to deny people in 186 villages of Goa, elected panchayats for up to six months? And then what is politics? Politics is all about people and people-based governance. So real politics is what people need and want and that definition of politics is far more significant than the electoral definition.
The Supreme Court understood the importance of local self-governance
The Supreme Court has gone into the heart of the local self-governance and said these elections ‘cannot’ be postponed.
Panchayats are a way of life in Goa. Administrators cannot replace elected locals
While MLAs and ministers have taken over much of the work actually meant to be done by the local panchayat body, the local panch and the sarpanch is a vital link in the day-to-day existence of the village folk. They and not administrators appointed by the government need to run panchayats.
Panchayats are all about people’s decisions and they should be final. One cannot run panchayats through administrators appointed by government. It’s equivalent of bringing “President’s rule” in the local self government.
There is a lot of history and basis for Panchayati Raj institutions
The word “Panch-ayat” means assembly (ayat) of five (panch) and raj means “rule”. Traditionally panchayats consisted of elderly and wise people chosen by the local community, who used to settle disputes between individuals and villages. The leader of the panchayat used to be called Mukhya or Sarpanch. They were always meant to be a body of local people who knew each other and would fairly settle issues of the village. This cannot be paused or suspended for a single day leave alone six months.
The panchayat keeps the village moving
It is the panchayat that draws up several village plans, the land use map, and economic development plans through the gram sabha and its resolutions and decisions.
It collects taxes, tolls, and fees locally. It maintains water sources, village wells tanks and pumps, street lighting, and drainage systems. It plays a critical role in agriculture, primary education health, and sanitation.
The panchayat does not function as a government. IT IS THE GOVERNMENT.
Is it therefore fair for self-governance, which is the core of the 73rd amendment which recognised that democracy starts at the grassroots and can only be empowered by people’s participation in local governance, to be denied?
At the same time all classes of people seeking reservations must be sensitive to the fact that postponement of caste-based reservations can be done, but insisting on reservations at the cost of timely panchayat elections would not be fair to the whole of Goa, including those who want reservations.
