JS Chahal
Jammu and Kashmir is the crown state of India, courtesy its location in north most or the Great Himalayan geography. The Jammu and Kashmir comprises of two distinct regions and each region has sub-regions marked with diversities in terms of Geo-climatic conditions, endowments of natural resources, and politico-economic aspirations. Faced with these challenges defies any centralized or uniform model of governance instead demands multi-level institutional governance to cater to the needs of different regions and sub-regions and guard against the feelings of deprivation and underdevelopment. Jammu and Kashmir has a long history of Panchayati Raj. It was Introduced in 1935 by Maharaja Hari Singh, the Preamble of the act, states “It is expedient to establish in Jammu and Kashmir state the village Panchayats to assist in the administration of the civil and criminal justice”. Every village or a group of villages had a Panchayat comprised of Panches numbering 5 to 7. Majority of them were nominated, the Sarpanch was also nominated by the Wazir-i-Wazarat (Deputy Commissioner). But the system was in no sense close to the concept of people’s empowerment because the act prescribed restrictive qualifications like education and property for the voters as well for the contesting candidates. Only three percent population could vote and stand for the election. It 1941, the Village Panchayat Act 1935 was amended and the scope of Panchayats was enlarged to cover civic and development functions. The system was in tune with the feudal set up meant to further penetrate the feudal values in the countryside and to marginalize the National Conference.
Local government in India refers to governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state. 73rd Constitutional Amendment passed in 1992, gave recognition and protection to local governments and powers of rural localities have been formalized under the Panchayati Raj system. After the abrogation of Article 370 there has been an increased focus on developing local governance and empowering the local leaders all across Jammu and Kashmir this includes the Sarpanches and punches at grass root level who are pivotal in transforming the fortunes of their local communities.
To understand the problem that was faced by Panchayati Raj institutions in Jammu and Kashmir it is necessary to comprehend the 73rd amendment. The amendment envisioned the Panchayati Raj system as a three tier system with elected bodies at village taluka and district levels the objective was to create local institutions that were democratic, autonomous, financially strong and capable of formulating and implementing plans of their respective areas and providing decentralization of administration to the people. 73rd amendment paved the way for the establishment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as bodies of local self government bodies and the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act 1989, provides for the establishment of Panchayats at the state level. It is based on the notion that people need to have say in decisions that affect their lives and local problems are solved best by the local solutions.
73rd amendment paved the way for the establishment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as bodies of local self government bodies and the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act 1989, provides for the establishment of Panchayats at the state level.
The three-tier system was not available in Jammu and Kashmir in the pre 370 period. The Article 370 gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The home ministry issued the executive order under which District Development Councils (DDCs) will be set up. The DDC along with the other two bodies, the Halqa Panchayats and the block development councils (BDCs) will complete the three-tier structure in Jammu and Kashmir. ‘Halqa’ means the area comprising a village or the contiguous number of villages determined by the government. Every DDC consists of the directly elected members from territorial constituencies in the district and chairpersons of all BDCs of the district. Once assembly elections are held, members of the legislative assembly whose constituencies lie within the district will also be DDC members.
The problem lay in the fact that the 73rd amendment did not mandate the transfer of governance functions like provision of education, health, sanitation and water instead the amendments listed the functions that could be transferred and left to it to the state legislature to actually devolved functions. There had been reluctance on the part of Jammu and Kashmir Legislature over the years to devolve these functions. Local governance was constitutionally recognised but it wasn’t empowered financially panchayats as without the devolution of functions and finances this resulted in development at the lowest level lagging behind. They had been waiting for decades to develop from nearly constitutional and democratic institutions into governance institutions. The abrogation of article 370 and the changes in legislator therein has helped the the transformation to take place.
Abrar Sheikh is a Sarpanch of Sopore district and explains the best, he has been a Sarpanch for last several years but never had an authority or real financial powers. He couldn’t even construct a playground for the school in my own mohalla because of the delay in receiving funds, things are different now after the abrogation of article 370. The government is now generally interested in empowering them and giving them financial powers, funds get direct directly credited to accounts thereby enabling them to execute developmental projects as per the needs of a village.
The President of All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat conference, Mr Anil Sharma has also stated that Article 370 was a barrier that did not allow the proper implementation of Panchayati Raj in Jammu and Kashmir and had caused a lot of huge loss to grass root level democracy. Therefore, Abrogation of Article 370 was in good spirit.
With a renewed focus on local governance in Jammu and Kashmir important steps have been taken to empower the local governance post Abrogation of Article 370. There has been an evident flip in development activities at the village level spearheaded by the village Panchayats. The local authorities now have the powers to check their needs and requirements in specific to their village. Moreover they have started receiving funds for developmental projects of the area directly into their bank accounts. The back to village programme has also been given momentum by this plan to establish a well funded local government which clearly delineated functions.
The previous election of local functionaries led to mass participation and the election of several functionaries however a few seats still remain vacant. The Panchayat elections aimed that local governance is achieved not only at the village and block level but also at the district level, in short the 73rd amendment will implement in true letter and spirit with power elected bodies at the village district level as was envisioned in the in amendment after the abrogation.
The DDC and Panchayat elections held recently have already opened up political space in Jammu and Kashmir. After the abrogation of article 370 there is a need to have mass participation in all the elections in the upcoming times to ensure the best local representatives are elected with the local government bodies having a keen insight into local priorities these representatives will usher in an era of better governance and development. It will truly transform the future of Jammu and Kashmir. This will undoubtedly be a game changer in the history of the newly formed Union Territory.
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