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Karnataka
Panchayati Raj Amendment 2007
Undermining the Foundations of Democracy
The
Karnataka Panchayati Raj Amendment 2007 passed in the Legislative
Council yesterday is a totally regressive move that undermines the
powers and the mandate of the Panchayats in the State. Karnataka has
been hailed as a ‘trail blazer’ in decentralisation in governance.
However, this amendment is clearly one of the many moves that are
geared towards taking away the powers from the very foundation of
democracy.
This
amendment blatantly violates the authority and mandate of the
Panchayats as it imposes conditionality on the power of the
Panchayats to identify beneficiaries – and hands it to ‘a committee
headed by an MLAs’. In effect, this amendment violates the 73rd
Amendment and also several legislations and orders that have been
passed by State that highlight the actual transfer of powers and
functions to the 3 tiers of Panchayats.
We
request the Honourable Governor to study the serious demerits of
this Bill and to refuse giving his assent to it, so that this
amendment will not be passed and the commitment we have made as a
state and a nation to devolve the powers to the Panchayats continues
to be respected.
We are
absolutely appalled that Sri Udasi, being the Minister of Panchayat
Raj, has tabled such a Bill and has supported its amendment. We are
even more shocked that Sri B. K. Chandrashekar, the President of
Legislative Council, who has often professed his support to the
strengthening of the Panchayat Raj, actually cast his Vote in favour
of the Bill – and it was his one vote that determined the fate of
this Bill in the Legislative Council. We believe that both Sri Udasi
and Sri B.K. Chandrashekar no longer have the moral right to
continue in their present positions and demand their resignations.
In the
recently held National Consultation that celebrated two decades of
decentralisation in Karnataka, where over 1000 elected
representatives from the village, taluk and zilla Panchayats took
part – very strong voices were raised against the impingement of
their rights by the MLAs. The representatives also refuted the
immature argument for the diversion of power to the MLAs because of
the alleged non-selection of genuine beneficiaries in schemes as
Ashraya.
This
amendment reflects the present lack of commitment to
decentralisation and makes a mockery of the efforts of individuals
like Sri. Nazir Sab, Sri. Ramakrishna Hegde and Sri. Rajeev Gandhi,
who took radical steps to ensure that the decentralised civil
society participation model that was born in Karnataka, finds its
rightful place at the national level.
Kavita
Ratna
Director - Communications
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