Introduction and Background
Panchayats have been the backbone of the Indian villages since the beginning of recorded history. Gandhiji, the father of the nation, in 1946 had aptly remarked that the Indian Independence must begin at the bottom and every village ought to be a Republic or Panchayat having powers. Gandhiji’s dream has been translated into reality with the introduction of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system to ensure people’s participation in rural reconstruction.

The passage of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 marks a new era in the federal democratic set up of the country and provides constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). These PRIs are empowered to function as institutions of Self Government and to prepare plans for economic development and social justice and their empowerment. The PRIs constitute the bedrock for the implementation of most of Rural Development Programmes. Panchayati Raj system of governance provides a 3-tier structure of local governance in which Gram Panchayats are the basic units of administration. The three-tiers include the following: Gram Panchayat, Block Panchayat, and District Panchayat. Panchayats are responsible for the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; implementation of national schemes; and to levy and collect appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution mandating the establishment of Panchayats at the district block and village levels clearly envisaged a reversal of the hitherto centralised approach to district planning. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act mandated the establishment of the District Planning Committee (DPC) for consolidating plans prepared by Panchayats and municipalities in the district into the Draft District Plan. In conformity with Article 243ZD, most of the states have enacted legislation for the constitution of the DPCs. On the other hand, substantial resources are flowing from the Centre to the states through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and Additional Central Assistance (ACA) aimed at addressing socio-economic backwardness, which involves development of infrastructure and delivery of services at the grassroots.

In order to assess the functions and resources of PRIs and understand the impediments to the optimal realisation of the goals of the 73rd and 74th CAAs the Ministry for Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and the Planning Commission, jointly commissioned the Ramachandran Committee Report in 2006. The Ramachandran Committee Report envisages strong roles for local governments, greater rural-urban coordination and planning, and emphasises the inclusion of marginalised groups via participatory process. In addition the Report advocates strengthening decentralised planning in the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) and promotes the mandate for establishing District Planning Committees (DPCs) to facilitate regional planning, as per the requirements of the CAAs. MoPR has also designed and implemented a Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), mandating the establishment of DPC as a requirement to accessing these funds.

Decentralised planning found expression for the first time in the First Five Year Plan (1951-56), when it was suggested that the planning process be undertaken at the state and district levels too. Under these arrangements, a District Development Council (DDC) was constituted in each district to prepare plans, based in varying degrees upon a village-level participative process. The first Administrative Reforms Commission (1967) stressed the need for meaningful planning at the district level especially focusing on local variations in development patterns. The Planning Commission issued its first guidelines for district planning in 1969 that led to several states formulating district plans.

District Planning Process: An Overview

“District Planning is the process of preparing an integrated plan for the Local Government in a District taking into account the resources available and covering the sectoral activities and schemes assigned to the district level below and those implemented through local governments in the state.” It ensures better delivery of services and efficient use of resources. Decentralised District Planning comprises of different planning units within a district who can achieve by envisioning collectively, operating their budgets, exercising their skills and leveraging their initiative. Different planning units, comprising district panchayat, block panchayat and village panchayat, municipalities, line departments and parastatals would prepare a plan for execution of each of their functions and responsibilities after consultations with people. The final plan would result from a buckling together of these unit plans through a consultative process of consolidation. The consolidation of rural and urban plans as a District Plan is done by the District Planning Committee (DPC). The DPC is formed under the State Planning Board. The members of DPC comprises elected representative from the Municipality and District panchayat In the municipality the Urban Local Body (ULB) line department officials form the standing committee. Similarly, the district panchayat form their standing committees after being elected from village and block panchayat. State line department officials which are government officials working in the district (district level, block level and field functionaries) support the municipality and three-tiers of panchayat.

Case Study

Development Alternatives (DA), with the support from The Asia Foundation (TAF) has taken a major initiative to strengthen decentralised district planning process. The objective of the initiative is to develop a process for rural-urban integration and coordination on planning and management of environmental issues, with a focus on water and waste management. The initiative is taken in a backward district in M.P. i.e. Tikamgarh district. In Tikamgarh district, five lead sectors have been identified by the district administration, but plans are not prepared in a participatory manner. They do not consider the region as a whole (i.e.: cross-cut sectors), and do not engage in issues regarding the rural-urban interface. Environmental management and protection is of particular concern because the district is faced with acute water scarcity due to which there has been loss of biodiversity. Coupled with industrial backwardness, this has created a situation where people are forced to migrate or take up hazardous occupations. The objective of the project was achieved by building the capacity of key stakeholders (including local government units, line departments, civil society organisations) to understand the importance of environmental protection and management, and integrate them in their BRGF mandated plans so that social and economic development in the district will proceed in a more sustainable, environment-friendly, and coordinated manner. This will lead to reduced pollution, enhanced access to scarce resources like water, and revenue generation through the application of models for recycling of waste and waste water. The focus of this component was on two issues % water and waste management % that are of crucial importance in the region and are significant from the point of view of building sustainability of the rural-urban interface.

The project was implemented in Niwari Block of Tikamgarh District, M.P. The study area was Orchha town and surrounding six villages of six Gram Panchayats namely, Jamuniya Khas, Maharajpura, Sitapur, Gujjara Khurd, Rajpura and Ladpura. The approach taken was both participatory and analytical. Participatory approach created awareness and ownership in the stakeholders and analytical ensured scientific robustness. The approach was also top-down as well as bottom-up in planning. The top-down approach has influenced the district level officials and has come-up with a State of Environment (SoE) report at the district level. The bottom-up approach was participatory in nature with environment issues discussed with the project stakeholders and integrated with the environment plan in the village annual plan. The project resulted in following outputs:

State of Environment (SoE) Report:

A SoE report for Tikamgarh district on prioritised environmental issues had been prepared as a tool for stocktaking, visioning, and measuring progress over time for prioritised land and water related issues in the district. The SoE for Tikamgarh district was launched by Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, District Magistrate, Tikamgarh and Mr Nick Langton, Country Director, The Asia Foundation (TAF).

Situation Analysis Report (SAR)

For having the environment status of the study area (Orchha town and six villages), a Situation Analysis Report (SAR) was prepared on two prioritised environmental issues i.e. for water quality and solid waste management.

Capacity building of key stakeholders

The capacity building exercise was done by facilitating workshops, training and exposure visits to good practices in environmental management sector. Based on the SoE report, Tikamgarh district and Situation Analysis Report of the study area, capacity building modules on drinking water and solid waste management were prepared and disseminated.

Once the stakeholders were made aware of the environmental issues through the capacity building workshops, the next task was to provide them an exposure to some good practices sites where the rural development was participatory along with water and waste management. An exposure visit was organised to a good practices site i.e Hivre Bazaar. Hivre Bazaar a village in Nagar taluka of Ahmednagar district has emerged as a role model for community participation with the panchayat. The village has successfully implemented water management measures and forest regeneration activities to create water surplus in a drought prone region.

Joint Action Plan

After the capacity building of the stakeholders a workshop was organised for the formulation of Joint Action Plan for six villages and Orchha town. The Joint Action Plan integrates water and waste management issues into the relevant sector-based plans (i.e. Infrastructure Plan). Priority solutions which can be implemented through Joint Action Plan were construction of waste collection pit in all the villages and construction of dry toilets in Orchha town. Apart from the formulation of Joint Action Plan, issues on rural - urban integration were also discussed. This was the first meeting where Rural - Urban stakeholder interaction took place and monthly meetings were initiated.

Integration of Joint Action Plan in Village Annual Plan

The Joint Action Plan prepared was shared with all the stakeholders. During the Gram Sabha meeting, the Joint Action Plan of the villages Jamuniya Khas and Maharajpura has been integrated. For the rest of the study area the Joint Action Plan is accepted by PRI members and it is in the process of integration in the Village Annual Plan.

The project resulted in sensitisation and streamlining of SoE reporting process in the District. Stakeholders were made aware on the environmental issues with focus on water and waste. Rural-Urban stakeholder interactions were also initiated. The integration of Joint Action Plan in Village Annual Plan has been a success up to now in the study area.

Reference:
1.Manual for Integrated District Planning, Planning Commission of India. q

Deepa Gupta
dgupta@devalt.org

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