Powerful federation of Women Panchayat Leaders in Assam, India issue demands for stronger local democracy

I was privileged to be here to attend the first-ever gathering of these women. They come from three districts in Assam, where we work and have trained roughly 1,300 of the 1,500 women elected to panchayats in these districts. More than 500 attended this three-day meeting.

The women created a set of 18 recommendations (see below) to the State Government for improving their ability to meet the needs of the villages.  Ten of the women were then selected and sent five hours each way to take the recommendations to the state's chief minister.

It was a very big deal for this many women to come together in Assam, and a particularly big deal for them to meet with people from outside Assam. They were delighted to hear from three women leaders, who we brought from other states - Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka - so that the women in this very isolated state could hear how women's leadership in local democracy is being implemented across their country.

The members of the federation are history makers - the first women to be elected under the new panchayat law - and their term is about to expire.  A major strategy for this meeting is for these women to launch a pre-election voter awareness campaign in order to encourage more women to run in the upcoming elections at the end of this year, and for many of these women to run for "unreserved" seats (almost 80 percent are planning to do so!).

Assam Declarations

To strengthen the panchayati raj system of Assam based on the 73rd amendment of the constitution, the following subjects are presented for the kind consideration and necessary action of the Chief Minister of Assam.

The following subjects are presented after the unanimous approval of 500 elected women representatives of Panchayats who participated in the convention.

In order to make the panchayati raj system more efficient, prevalent Assam Panchayati Raj Act of 1994 be amended to accommodate the provisions of Women Gaon Sabhas in all the wards of each Gaon Panchayat prior to Main Gaon Sabhas like the Maharashtra Panchayati Raj system. The decisions of the Women raon Sabha’s must be considered as the decisions of the general Gaon Sabha.

The subjects mentioned in the 11th schedule of the constitution and the Assam Panchayati Raj Act1994 must be devolved to the Panchayat at the earliest.

Provisions must be made for devolution of all the subjects along with the funds of the subjects in order to make the panchayati raj system more powerful.

In order to make the Panchayati Raj system more efficient, clean and free of corruption it is inevitable to prepare a concrete activity mapping and share it with all levels of Panchayati Raj institutions.

As per the 11th schedule of the constitution, the Panchayats must be given the power of Land Reform immediately.

At least fifty percent of the revenue received from the land settlement and reform must be shared with the PRIs.

The elected representatives of the Panchayat (women in particular) must be given a honorarium out of the government funds.

In all the districts ‘District Rural Development Agencies’ (DRDA) must be merged with the Panchayats and all responsibilities of rural development must be handed over to the Panchayats only.

In order to transform the decisions made by the Panchayats into reality, district planning committees needs to be vitalized, strangthen and make efficient.

Gaon Sabhas must be organized in every Gaon Panchayat at least one week prior to the RPRS (Raizor Padulit Raijor Sarkar) and the decisions made in these Gaon Sabhas must be considered as the decisions of the Panchayat.

The post of vice president is also to be reserved for women where post of president is reserved for women. Similarly 33.33% seats for the post of secretary be reserved for women in Panchayats.

As mentioned in the Assam Panchayati Raj Act 1994, reelection must be ensured within six months after removing any President of the Panchayat due to No- Confidence motion.

The Assam panchayati raj Act 1994 must be amended and the model of Rajasthan’s panchayati raj system must be adopted wherein a lock-in period of 11/2 years should be there before bringing any no confidence motion against any women president of the Panchayat.

Provision of training to all the elected representatives of Panchayat must be made by the state government.

To ensure progress and further strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Assam, necessary funds must be allocated for research and practical analysis of various issues related to the PRI.

In order to ensure its efficient functioning easy and compulsory flow of information must be provided to every level of the Panchayat.

A special tribunal must be formed for speedy and fast track judgment of the legal matters relating to Panchayat. One third of the post of judges must also be reserved for women.

With reference to the constitution, in every five years, a State Finance Commission must be formed and its recommendations must be presented compulsorily to the Panchayats.