Review of Agrarian Studies, Volume
1, Number 2 (July-December, 2011)
The
defeat of the Left Front in the West Bengal State Assembly election in May
2011, after 35 years in government, marks a historic break in the development trajectory
of West Bengal. Under Left Front rule, West Bengal followed a development path
distinct from the rest of India. Though economic growth in terms of growth of
the State Domestic Product (SDP) was modest during these years, it was a period
characterised by land reform, decentralisation of political and financial power
through the panchayat system, and high rates of agricultural growth in the
State. As a result of the pro-poor policies implemented by the Left Front
government, West Bengal today is characterised by low economic inequality with
respect to land ownership and consumption expenditure.
Given
the economic and social history of rural development in West Bengal over the
last 35 years, the rural development policy of the new State government, led by
the Trinamool Congress (TMC), is a matter of substantial public interest. The
fact that, during its pre-election political campaign, the TMC received support
both from extreme Left groups and from the Congress Party, adds to public
interest and curiosity with regard to the policies it is likely to
implement.
The new
State government, however, is yet to make a clear statement of the development
path it intends to follow in the countryside. It has neither revealed its
development agenda nor tabled a revised budget in the Legislative Assembly,
which would provide a measure of its commitments and priorities.
In the
absence of any such explicit statement, the question that arises is: will the
TMC-led coalition government seek to undo the past? Will it build on the
institutional changes that have so radically transformed the West Bengal
countryside, or will it undermine – or reverse – land reform and the panchayat
system, as part of its new rural development regime?
Some
reports have appeared in the media on these issues. A team of scholars who have
recently conducted a study in the districts of North and South 24 Parganas,
Bardhaman, and Birbhum, on behalf of the forum Punarba,1 report clear evidence on
the ground of agrarian counter-reform – of an attempt to reverse land reforms
in practice.
With
respect to the institutional underpinnings of the panchayat system, too, the
signs are disturbing. The Bengali newspaper Bartaman reported, on 31
October 2011, that the West Bengal government plans to employ Executive
Officers at the panchayat level to implement development programmes.2 These bureaucrats will
have the sole power to sign and release funds on behalf of the panchayat, a
power thus far vested in the panchayat pradhan and the Block Development
Officer, who is also an ex-officio member of the panchayat samiti or
block-level panchayat. Further, these Executive Officers can be hired and
dismissed by the State government. The need for this legislation has arisen,
according to the newspaper report, because each panchayat has an allocated
annual expenditure of Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crores, and such large sums “cannot”
be left to the disposal of elected panchayat members who are, “in many cases,
corrupt.” Further, under the new system, panchayat members are to be relieved
of their financial duties, a move that will ostensibly give them more time to
concentrate on the development of their constituencies.
Present Structure of the Panchayat
I begin
with a brief review of the administrative structure, duties, and
responsibilities of the gram panchayat in West Bengal as they were up to May
2011 – a structure that had evolved through a long process of
institution-building and experience in decentralised governance.3 It is clear that, after
the change in government in the State in May 2011, the panchayats are no longer
able to carry out their functions in the manner described below and as recorded
by us during our field enquiries in the villages.
The
panchayat system in West Bengal is a three-tier system consisting of the zilla
parishad at the district level, panchayat samiti at the block level, and gram
panchayat at the supra-village level. A gram panchayat may consist of one or
more villages, depending on their population. In West Bengal, since most
villages are small, a gram panchayat generally consists of more than one
village. There is one more level that has emerged below the gram panchayat
level, namely the gram sansad or rural ward.
Each
gram sansad elects a member to the gram panchayat. The panchayat pradhan
is selected from among all members of the gram panchayat. A specific number of
members are elected from each gram panchayat for representation at the higher
tier of the panchayat, i.e. the panchayat samiti. Elected members of the
panchayat samiti are also ex-officio members of the gram panchayat.
The
functions of the gram panchayat include local-level planning and the
implementation of various development programmes. Panchayat members form
subcommittees (upa-samitis) that plan and monitor the different types of
development work taken up by the gram panchayat. Each gram panchayat is
expected to form five subcommittees as prescribed by the panchayat rules. Each
subcommittee has a convenor, selected from among the panchayat members. The
panchayat pradhan and upa-pradhan (deputy pradhan) are
convenors of the Finance and Development subcommittees.
The
administrative structure and functions of the gram panchayats were formalised
by the West Bengal Panchayat (Gram Panchayat Administration) Rules, 2004. The
panchayat works closely with departments of the State administration in
implementing various government programmes. The State government departments
have liaison officers who are responsible for assisting the panchayats.
The
gram panchayat acts as a direct implementing agency for some government schemes
and assists in the implementation of others. Gram panchayats also oversee the
implementation of certain other schemes, though they are not directly involved
in the funding and administration of these. For example, they assist in the
formation and functioning of self-help groups under the Swarna Jayanti Gram
Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY); they work with the Health Department to implement
programmes under the National Rural Health Mission; and they oversee the
functioning of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres, Shishu
Shiksha Kendras, and primary and upper primary schools.
The
gram panchayat prepares an Action Plan each year for implementation in the
succeeding financial year. The preparation of the Action Plan begins at
sansad-level general body meetings held in November. Those who attend the
general body meeting make an assessment of the work that needs to be done in
the village in the coming year, and draw up an action plan for each sansad
based on these requirements. The panchayat receives action plans from all the
sansads before preparing the Action Plan of the gram panchayat.
The
gram panchayat Action Plan takes into account the total financial resources
available to the panchayat, and how these resources can be spent to meet the
requirements of individual sansads. Projects that can be taken up under
different types of schemes and funds are mostly specified by the relevant
funding authority.4 The funds generated by
the gram panchayat, as well as a part of the State government and Central
government funds (untied funds), may be spent by the panchayat in any area it
finds appropriate. Based on the nature of the funds and on requirements at the
local level, the gram panchayat draws up the annual Action Plan.
An
executive body called the gram unnayan samiti (village development
council) is responsible for implementation and monitoring of various schemes at
the gram sansad level. The gram unnayan samiti comprises “elected member
or members to the gram panchayat from the gram sansad, the opposition candidate
obtaining second highest vote in the last gram panchayat election, three
representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations / Community Based
Organisations, three representatives of active self-help groups with at least
two members from women-led self-help groups, one serving or retired Government
employee, one serving or retired teacher (all being voters of the area,
i.e. members of the gram sansad), and another 10 members or 1 per cent of the
total number of members of the gram sansad, whichever shall be higher.”5 Gram panchayats devolve
a part of their funds to the gram unnayan
samiti for implementation of different development programmes.
Implementation of the annual Action Plan is assessed at a sansad-level meeting
in March every year.
The
gram panchayat maintains accounts of all its income and expenses in accordance
with the West Bengal Panchayat (Gram Panchayat Accounts, Audit and Budget)
Rules 2007. There are uniform formats in which the panchayats have to budget
their expenses in accordance with the Action Plans, prepare mid-term revised
budgets, and account for receipts and expenditures. The accounts are disclosed
at annual meetings of the gram sansad in May every year. Computerisation of the
accounting system had begun. Regular audits are conducted to monitor the
financial management of each gram panchayat.
What has Happened Since May 2011?
This is
a report based on brief field visits, in 2011, to two villages in Bardhaman
district where I have been conducting research for a number of years. The first
is Raina gram panchayat in Raina-I block where I have been working since 2005
on a series of research projects, the most recent of which is an ongoing,
Indo-Japanese collaborative study on panchayat-level statistical systems. Our research
indicates an accurate system of record-keeping and management in this
panchayat, a direct consequence of efficient local-level planning and
implementation of development projects:
In
summary, the Raina gram panchayat has a rather good database for people and
their public policies at the village level, on the basis of a more
people-oriented panchayat system than elsewhere. (Okabe and Bakshi 2007)
The
second is Kanksa block in Bardhaman district, which was the site for a study I
conducted in 2010 on exemplary implementation of the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).6
On
30–31 October 2011, I interviewed the pradhan of Raina gram panchayat,
the sabhapati of Kanksa panchayat samiti, and panchayat officials from
Bonkati and Trilokchandrapur gram panchayats in Kanksa block, to get first-hand
information on new directions in panchayat administration since May 2011. They
reported that the panchayats have faced serious disruptions in their work since
the elections. What follows is an account of events that have taken place in
these two villages since May 2011.
Disruption of Work in Panchayats
In both
Raina and Kanksa, a large majority of the elected members in the gram
panchayats belong to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M). Out of
115 elected gram panchayat members in 7 gram panchayats in Kanksa block, only 5
are TMC members. Of the 12 elected members in Raina gram panchayat, 1 belongs
to the TMC and the rest are CPI(M) members. In both locations, CPI(M) party
offices were ransacked and work disrupted after the elections. In Raina, the
party office was locked for two days and party members (including the upa-pradhan)
were not allowed to enter the panchayat office. The panchayat was not allowed
to distribute rice received for drought relief, or clothes purchased with
Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds for distribution
during the festival season. The panchayat was compelled to hand over the rice
and clothes to TMC party members for distribution.
In
Kanksa, the CPI(M) local committee office and CITU (Centre of Indian Trade
Unions) office were ransacked, and the local contractor was not allowed to
carry out panchayat work. Development work in Raina gram panchayat has been
badly affected due to continuous disruption by TMC members and violence
directed against panchayat functionaries. The upa-pradhan has not been
able to enter the gram panchayat office since May. One panchayat member
resigned from his post after his house was attacked and ransacked while he was
attending a panchayat meeting. In addition, houses of the secretaries of four gram
unnayan samitis were attacked and ransacked. It is important to note that
the gram unnayan samiti is an apolitical village-level body with members
selected by the people of the village, and its secretary is an impartial and
noted resident of the village. I was told that the panchayat samiti sabhapati
(chairperson) and sahakari sabhapati (deputy chairperson) of Raina-I
block were beaten up in the panchayat office.
The pradhan
said that she had been spared physical violence because she is a woman, but she
has had to face other forms of humiliation on many occasions. “I have not
missed a single day of office since the election results were declared on 11
May, no matter what happened,” she declared. The transformation I have seen in
her in the last four years, from the shy and demure woman I first met in 2008,
when she took charge as the pradhan (she won her seat in a reserved
category as a Dalit woman candidate), to a self-confident and able
administrator, exemplifies for me the implicit social dividends that the
panchayati raj system provides, in addition to self-governance.
It is
mandatory for every committee in each gram panchayat in West Bengal to conduct
meetings at least once every two months, and to hold monthly health meetings
with health workers on the fourth Saturday of every month. The panchayat
members in Raina are no longer able to conduct these meetings. TMC members have
demanded that they be included in the meetings even when they are not elected
panchayat members. Only two health meetings could be conducted since May. The Rogi
Kalyan Samiti (welfare committee for patients in the primary health centre)
has been disbanded.
Police Cases Registered Against Panchayat Functionaries and
CPI(M) Members
In both
locations in Bardhaman district that I visited in November 2011, it was the
same story. Immediately after the Assembly elections, a number of police cases
were registered against panchayat functionaries, CPI(M) members, and CPI(M)
sympathisers, alleging corruption and acts of violence: 39 such cases were
registered in Raina gram panchayat, and 38 cases were reported in Kanksa block.
Subversion of Panchayats’ Decision-Making Functions
Weakening
of the institution of panchayats appears to be happening in two ways. First,
through a systemic change in development administration; and secondly, through
coercive and corrupt practices.
There
has been a change in the attitude of the State government towards panchayats.
The previous Left Front government viewed the panchayat as a means of service
delivery directed by elected representatives of the people, and many of the
functions of development administration were gradually shifted from the level
of the bureaucracy to the level of the panchayat. A system of partnership
between the two wings of administration, the bureaucracy and the panchayat, had
evolved in the State in the sphere of planning and implementing local
development schemes. The bureaucracy played a vital role in administration and
supervision, while the panchayats enjoyed considerable autonomy in
decision-making and implementation. The power relations between these two
wings, of course, varied across the State, as did the efficiency of the
panchayats. However, in a district like Bardhaman, where the panchayat system
was strongly entrenched, the power relations between the two displayed a
measure of equality.
The
report in the newspaper Bartaman, cited earlier, gives some indication
of the present trends. My respondents in Raina reported that since May 2011,
all work related to Central government schemes in which the panchayat does not
have a mandatory role, such as the National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS),
Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), and the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS), is
being supervised and implemented by the block-level bureaucracy. Earlier, the
panchayat used to play a role in selecting the beneficiaries of, and disbursing
funds for, such schemes. The beneficiaries of NOAPS and IAY were selected
from the list of below-poverty-line households, and fund transfers were done
through banks and post offices, but the panchayat used to facilitate these
processes. The panchayat in Raina had appointed a person to deliver pensions to
beneficiaries of NOAPS who are too old or otherwise unable to go to the bank to
collect their pensions. Panchayat mediation also acted as a safeguard for such
persons against exploitation by near relatives. This practice has stopped now,
and old people find it difficult to collect their pensions.
More
significantly, Raina gram panchayat no longer has the power to decide how to
use the Local Area Development funds allotted to Members of Parliament and
Members of the Legislative Assembly. The use of these funds was earlier decided
entirely by the panchayat, and served their Action Plans. Since the Assembly
elections, the Block Development Officer has been directed to control the
allocation and use of such funds. Panchayat members of Kanksa block reported a
similar situation. The implementation of NOAPS in Kanksa was taken over by the
block office after April 2011.
According
to the pradhan of Raina gram panchayat, no directives have been issued
by the Ministry about the role and functions of panchayats under the new
government. This has led to an uncomfortable situation for panchayats as they
are unsure about their jurisdiction.
Another
instance of the weakening of panchayats, as reported in Kanksa, is as follows.
In some of the panchayats here, the pradhan is being forced to give
permission to projects outside the Action Plan and the financial budget
formulated earlier in the year. Demands are also being made to allocate Indira
Awas Yojana funds to people outside the below-poverty-line list, and panchayat
functionaries have had to succumb to such pressures.
Corruption Charges Against Panchayat Officials
After
the election victory of the Trinamool Congress, groups of TMC members entered
panchayat offices in both locations calling for resignation of panchayat
officials, and demanding that panchayat accounts and ledgers be subjected to
their scrutiny. In Amlajora gram panchayat of Kanksa block, the panchayat pradhan
and upa-pradhan were encircled and confined, and asked to resign, on the
allegation that seeds for crop-planting had not been distributed.
In
Raina gram panchayat, towards the end of May, a TMC deputation demanded that
the panchayat hand over all account books and registers for scrutiny. The pradhan
asked them to photocopy all the documents at their own expense, or to file a
complaint under the Right to Information Act, in which case the panchayat would
meet the expenses of photocopying. The estimated cost of photocopying all the
documents demanded by the deputation was Rs 1,25,000, an amount the panchayat
could not bear without accounting for it. According to the pradhan, the
panchayat has all the documents in order and all the financial accounts have
been duly audited, but she does not have the legal right to hand over such
important documents to complainants without following official procedure. The
TMC deputation was however given summary reports on the implementation of
NREGS, which are available to anyone for scrutiny.
With
these reports in hand, the TMC team began its own evaluation of the NREGS work
done in Raina. On 14 July 2011, the secretary of the gram unnayan samiti
of Raina Paschim Para, Md. Musa, was arrested on allegations of corruption in
the implementation of NREGS. According to the panchayat pradhan,
assistant engineers of the Block Development Office colluded with a TMC member
to falsely implicate him. After Md. Musa’s arrest, all secretaries of the gram
unnayan samitis in the panchayat resigned, thus destroying the basic
stratum of the panchayat, the link that connects the panchayat to the people.
Shortly after this, all NREGS supervisors resigned, fearing that they too may
be implicated in false cases of corruption. Some of the NREGS work, such as
road construction, is easy to verify and measure even after considerable time
has elapsed. But some of the work is temporary in nature, such as clearing and
maintaining bunds, land development, and work on the land of marginal
cultivators. Such work cannot be verified or measured correctly after time has
elapsed. This has given ample scope for disputes, manipulation, and
allegations. The NREGS work supervisors feel increasingly vulnerable in the new
situation.
The
situation with regard to NREGS work is similar in Kanksa, though perhaps not as
acute. Disputes have arisen over measurement issues with regard to NREGS work,
and supervisors are reluctant to take up new projects.
The NREGA Battleground
NREGA
has placed a large, relatively new, source of funds at the disposal of the gram
panchayat. The gram panchayat has a major role to play in planning and
implementing the NREGS. Though West Bengal as a whole has been a modest
achiever in terms of aggregate performance-based indicators in implementing the
Act, the State has been a pioneer in terms of creative implementation of the
project (see Bakshi 2010). It was the first among all Indian States to allow
work on agricultural land-holdings of marginal and Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribe cultivators under NREGS, a move later formalised by the Central
government. The State has also achieved imaginative implementation of the Scheme
by converging NREGS with other development schemes.
The
pace of implementation of NREGS has retarded since May 2011, in both the
villages I visited. Kanksa and Raina have been success stories in respect of
implementation of NREGS in West Bengal. In 2010–11, Kanksa block was able to
provide 100 days of employment on average to wage-seeking households. The
average number of days of employment per wage-seeking household in Raina gram
panchayat in 2010–11 was 86 days.
However,
as mentioned earlier, due to corruption charges levelled against panchayat
functionaries and NREGS supervisors, NREGS work came to a standstill in both
Raina and Kanksa after the Assembly elections. In Raina, all NREGS supervisors
resigned in July. An all-party meeting was conducted after this with the
mediation of the BDO, and fresh applications for new supervisors were sought.
Since there were too many applications, the panchayat pradhan kept away
from the selection process and the supervisors were selected by the BDO. After
the new supervisors took charge, five to six days of NREGS work were provided
in September. The pradhan is of the view that the work undertaken by the
new supervisors is of poor quality and that there are measurement issues as
well, but she has been forced to sign on the work completion document. She said
that she would not be surprised if new allegations of corruption are levelled
against her. Only 54,429 person-days of work were generated in the first seven
months of financial year 2011–12, which is around 20 per cent of the total
employment created in the previous year.
In
Kanksa block too, supervisors had refused to undertake NREGS work for fear of
allegations of corruption. NREGS work had completely stopped in three gram
panchayats (Amlajora, Gopalpur, and Bidbihar). In Bonkati gram panchayat, work
stopped in 2 out of the 10 sansads. An all-party meeting was held by the block
office in July and an all-party committee was formed, after which work was
resumed to some extent. Problems remain in some of the sansads, however, due to
disagreements between members of the all-party committee. In spite of such
difficulties, an average of 57 days of employment per wage-seeking household
were created in Kanksa block between April and September 2011.
In both
places, some interesting experiments had been conducted on group farming
involving self-help groups. Fallow land was reclaimed through land development
initiatives under NREGS and given to self-help groups for cultivation. In
Raina, bunds around large water bodies were planted with trees (eucalyptus, for
example, which can be sold for timber) and vegetable gardens, and leased out to
self-help groups. Some privately owned water bodies were re-excavated under
NREGS and leased out to self-help groups for fish farming. The lease agreements
were all mediated through the panchayat, and the panchayat was also made a
direct stake-holder in these agreements. In Raina, one of the ponds (Girija
pukur) and its bunds were leased out for ten years to self-help groups, and it
was agreed that the self-help group, the owners, and the gram panchayat would
share the proceeds from the sale of timber in the ratio 60:20:20 – and the
owners would get 60 kilograms of fish annually from the pond after the first
two years. After the change of guard in the State government the owners of the
pond have refused to accept the predetermined share, and are demanding a 40 per
cent share in the proceeds from sale of timber. They are also demanding a share
in the annual catch of fish in the first two years of the lease. I had argued
in an earlier paper, perhaps over-optimistically, that these group farming
experiments in Bardhaman could give a new direction to land reform policy in
the State, as the scope for conventional reforms has diminished due to land scarcity.
It is now unlikely that there will be further progress in this direction since
the State government seems to be allying with the propertied class, and the
bargaining power of the poor has been weakened.
Undermining Other Development Programmes in Raina
The
self-help group movement was strong in Raina, and the panchayat had extended
considerable support for strengthening these groups. The self-help groups were
being monitored by the gram panchayat and an NGO named Sister Nibedita, which
has its office in Shyamsundar. Since the elections, resource persons from the
NGO have not been allowed to visit the self-help groups. The panchayat has also
not been able to monitor the work of the self-help groups.
Another
important scheme of the Government of West Bengal is the Provident Fund for
Landless and Agricultural Labourers (PROFLAL). This is a social security scheme
for agricultural labourers in which they contribute a small monthly
subscription and the State government contributes an equal amount as provident
fund. The contributors have their own bank accounts through which the financial
transactions are done. A person is employed by the panchayat to collect their
monthly subscriptions. Rumours are now being spread that all the PROFLAL
savings have been diverted and misused by the panchayat. Despite possessing
savings books with records of PROFLAL subscriptions, the vulnerable
agricultural labourers are being misguided and, as a result, very few of them
have submitted subscription amounts after May. The person in charge of
collecting the monthly subscriptions has been driven out of the village.
Regressing into the Future?
The
panchayati raj system in West Bengal is a system that has evolved over the
years with the objective of introducing local self-governance that is pro-poor
and transparent. Over three decades, new institutions have been created and new
regulations framed to devolve greater financial and administrative power to the
grassroots level, and to introduce development planning and financial
accountability from below. In many other parts of India, the panchayat remains
a weak body with limited powers, and, very often, is dominated by the socially
and economically powerful. The panchayat structure in West Bengal, though not
free of all weaknesses, presented a different picture. Like the path of
development itself, the performance of panchayat insitutions across the State
was unequal, of course, as not all of them were equally equipped to handle
their responsibilities. However, well-functioning panchayats were often able to
make a substantial difference to planning and implementation of development
programmes, and, more importantly, to the lives of the poor. The recent
developments in West Bengal undermine this achievement, and may well herald a
shift in class alliances and power relations in the State.
Keywords: Panchayat, panchyati raj institutions, West
Bengal
Acknowledgements:
I am grateful to Sabhadhipati Bardhaman Zilla Parishad Uday Sarkar, Sabhapati
Kanksa panchayat samiti Janardan Chatterjee, Pradhan Raina gram panchayat
Madhabilata Dhara, Sabyasachi Dey and members of Kanksa panchayat samiti and
Raina gram panchayat for their kind cooperation.
Notes
3 This section draws heavily on an ongoing study of
panchayat-level statistical systems by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies and
Yokohama National University. See Okabe and Bakshi (2007). The
main case study covered in this paper was conducted in Raina gram panchayat,
Raina-I block, Bardhaman district, West Bengal.
4 For example, in the case of Central government funds, specific
funds may only be spent on implementation of specific schemes; MP/MLA area
development funds are disbursed for specific projects; and State government
departmental funds, and panchayat samiti and zilla parishad funds specify the
amounts to be spent in different sectors.
References
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The Review of Agrarian
Studies is the peer-reviewed journal of the Foundation for Agrarian
Studies. The online edition is free to all registered users. Journal articles
are published online on a continuous basis. The online content is aggregated
into a print edition twice a year. The print edition will be available through
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