Rajesh Timane

On 24^th April 1993, the Constitution Act 1992 (73^rd Amendment) came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institution. The salient features of the act are:

• To provide three-tier system of Panchayati raj for all the States having population of over 20 lacs
• To hold the Panchayati Election every five years
• To appoint State Finance Commission to make recommendations towards the financial powers of the panchayats
• To constitute District Planning Committee to prepare draft development plan for the district as a whole
• To provide reservation for SC/ST/Women of not less than 33%

According to the commission the panchayat shall be given powers and authority to function as an institution of self governance. The responsibilities and powers delegated to the panchayats included; preparing plan for economic development and social justice; implementing the schemes for the same in relation to the 29^h issues given in the 11^th schedule of the constitution and to levy and collect taxes, duties fees and tolls.

The Panchayat Raj System

The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee which was appointed in January 1957 has suggested a three tier system of decentralization, at the village level it suggested Village Panchayat; at the block level the Panchayat Samiti and at the district level the Zilla Parishad. Although, no rigid institutional pattern was laid down for the panchayat raj, the fundamental principles governing the set-up could be summarized in the following principles:

1. A three-tier structure from the village structure of local self-governing bodies; from the village to the district, the bodies being organically linked up;
2. Genuine transfer of power and responsibility to them;
3. Adequate resources be transferred to these bodies to discharge the responsibilities devolving on them and
4. System facilitation of further devolution and dispersal of power and responsibility in the future.

The village panchayat are the elected bodies of the people. All adults from the gram-sabha participate in the elections. The village panchayat send their selected representative to panchayat samities at block level which act as a link between the village panchayat and the zilla parishad. The samiti elects its president and the vice-president. Zilla Parishad is constituted by the presidents of the panchayat samities along with the MPs and MLAs of the district. The collector and the technical departments of the government offer guidance and assistance to the block panchayat samities. These samities are autonomous. Thus, the Panchayat Raj is associated with people’s representatives at all levels. The main advantages of the Panchayat Raj System are ascribed as:

• The people would have a better understanding of what the Government of India proposes to do;
• Peoples participation in decision making and implementation would help in choosing target programs for the respective villages;
• Peoples participation would result in sustainability of the rural development programs
• This would improve the cost benefit analysis and bring about a radical social change and the system would become a mechanism for self-education

The Ministry of Rural Development extends limited financial assistance to the State for training and awareness building amongst the elected panchayati members. The Ministry also has been supplemented with financial assistance through CAPART to the NGOs for conducting the trainings and awareness building measures on panchayati raj. Ministry of Rural Development also commissions ‘research and evaluation studies’ from NGOs related to the panchayat raj.

The Gram Sabha in the panchayat raj set-up; has a key role for the effectual functioning of the panchayats. In the Gram Sabha meeting, the rural people get an opportunity to be a part of the decision making process related to the issues of rural development. The active functioning of the gramsabha insures a participatory democracy with transparency and accountability. The general features of a gramsabha would be; it meets at least in each quarter, decides need-based development roadmap; suggests measures for effective functioning of the panchayats; questions the panchayat and discusses the annual financial statement of the Gram Panchayats.

In the ‘Provisions of the Panchayats Act, 1996’, the Gram Sabha has been vested with the powers towards; rights of minor forest produce, approval of development plan, land acquisition consultations, managing minor water bodies, selecting beneficiaries, controlling minor leases, manage village market, control money-lending, control social sector institutions, restore unlawfully alienated land and prevent alienation of land.

PowerPoint Presentation

Definition, Objectives & Role of Self Help Groups

The Self Help Groups (SHGs) Guiding Principle stresses on organizing the rural poor into small groups through a process of social mobilization, training and providing bank credit and government subsidy. The SHGs are to be drawn from the BPL list approved by the Gram Sabha wherein about ten persons are selected, one each from a family and focus on the skill development training based on the local requirement. The SHG movement has gathered pace in countryside and is directly or indirectly contributing towards the economic development of rural areas. This article throws light on forming self help groups in rural areas as well as its effect on the rural economy. The objective of Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is to bring the assisted poor families; that is; the beneficiaries or Swarozgaris; above the poverty line by ensuring appreciable increase in income over a period of time. This objective is to be achieved by organizing the rural poor into SHGs through a process of social mobilization, their training and capacity building along with the provision of income-generating assets through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy. The main objective of SHG concept is to improve the economic development of women and create facilitating environment for their social transformation in the lift of gender discrimination in work and the household.

Code of Conduct & SHG Mechanism: SHG is a registered or unregistered group of micro entrepreneurs having homogeneous social and economic background, voluntarily coming together to save small amount regularly, to contribute a common fund and to meet their emergency needs on mutual help basis.

Ten persons are selected, one each from a BPL family to form a group which is expected to implement following code of conduct like Assigning name to the SHG, Regular meetings in a Democratic way, Open exchange of thoughts in these meetings, Participation in the Decision Making process, Bank Account in the name of the SHG and Selecting a President and Secretary from the SHG.

The groups’ total fund is to be deposited in the bank account so created. SHGs that are in existence for about six months and have demonstrated the potential of a viable group enters the 3^rd stage, wherein it receives a ‘Revolving Fund’ from DRDA and Bank as a cash-credit facility. This money may be utilized for internal lending among the members. If group is found to be regular in its internal lending and successfully utilizes this revolving fund; proposal for bank loan may be forwarded for sanctioning.

 SHGs and Rural Development

In order to change the face of socio-economic scenario, micro enterprises and SHGs are playing significant role in the self-employment by raising the level of income and standard of living rural people. In this framework, one of the most vital aspects of rural self employment is the formation of SHGs which is a valuable investment in human capital through training and capacity building measures. From dairy to mechanised farming, weaving, poultry, food processing units, mushroom cultivation; Rural India has been busy setting up micro-enterprises by forming SHGs. The group members use collective wisdom and peer pressure to ensure appropriate use of fund and its timely repayment. These are informal groups in nature where members come together towards collective action for common cause. The common need is meeting their emergent economic needs without depending on external help. SHG movement is supposed to build economic self reliance of rural poor, overcome misuse and create confidence predominantly among women who are mostly unseen in the social structure.

SHGs: Effects & Outcome

In India, self employment has been recognized as an essential force of development in rural areas. It has emerged as a strategy designed to improve the socio-economic life and mainly focuses on extending the benefits of development to the poorest in the rural areas improving their standard of living and self-realization. SHGs in India are integrating the low income segments with rest of the rural community by ensuring them a better participation in a more equitable share in the benefit of developments. These Groups are not only speeding up economic growth, but also providing jobs and improving the quality of rural life towards self-reliance. Self-employment needs a very wide ranging and comprehensive set of activities, relevant to all aspects of rural economy and covering rural people including skilled, unskilled and landless labours and artisans of Rural India. Even though the Rural Indians put their entrepreneurial skills in all the rural development activities their economic status has not improved to the expected level. Although they have much potential; they are ignorant of converting their skills into reality.

Village Development through Micro-Financing the SHGs

 Though there is variety of programmes to alleviate poverty and empower rural people, SHGs have done well in the country. The emergence of small enterprises and its activities have made a considerable contribution in the socio-economic development of rural poor in the society. In the 11th Five Year Plan; in view of inclusive growth; we cannot think of rural self employment on sustained basis without consideration of Micro-Finance and SHGs. The Plan provides a new vision of inclusive and faster growth at the rate of 9%. No doubt; the SHGs will help in achieving this new vision of growth with the support of Micro-Finance.  The impact on the lives of rural people is not just an economic one; gaining more self-confidence is often a more lasting achievement that forms the basis for social and economic improvements. But are SHGs the answer to all problems in India? Few issues need to be considered when attempting to answer this question:

• How the poorest participate in this revolution? More effective targeting mechanisms are required, and SHG programs need to be geared towards the specific needs of poor people.
• Are these SHGs the most significant way of bringing about socio-economic change? Lasting improvement; especially of the situation of rural women; can only be brought about subject to their control over resources increases.
• Are SHGs the most appropriate institutional-arrangement for Rural Indians? Different types of SHGs are required for different types of people, depending on their particular socio-economic backgrounds.

Conclusion

It is very important and vital to address these issues and for this an integrated approach of Government, Banks and NGOs is crucial. The institutional efficiency needs to be increased. Speeding up the delivery process is also very important. Easy access to credit, flexibility in the repayment schedule, conceptualization of new schemes for the poor should be considered. Role of NGOs, too, is equally important as they serve as the most important element to create awareness among the rural poor. They should give wide publicity to rural banking and its linkage programmes at local level and must enable the Rural Indians to participate in the decision making process at the bottom level. These measures can significantly make the Self Help Groups effective and efficient in order to boost the Rural Economy of India.

Brief PowerPoint Presentation (PPT)

Self Help Groups

Acronyms

• BPL: Below Poverty Line
• CBO: Community Based Organisation
• DRDA: District Rural Development Agency
• NGO: Non-Government Organisation
• NIRD: National Institute of Rural Development
• PRI: Panchayat Raj Institution
• SGSY: Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana
• SHG: Self Help Group

References

• Chandra, S. (2001). Non-Government Organization: Structure, Relevance and Function. New Delhi: Kanishka Publishers.
• Desai, V. (2005). Rural development in India: Past, Present and Future (second ed.). Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.
• Kamdar, S. (2007). Economic Growth and Human Development – A Study of Maharashtra. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing.
• Kay, T. (2002). Empowering women through self- help micro-credit programmes. In: Bulletin on Asia-Pacific Perspectives 2002/03 (http://www.unescap.org/)
• Narayanaswamy (2005). Micro-Credit and Rural Enterprises. Journal of Rural Development.
• NIRD (2001). National Movement in SHG movement in the country and SGSY. Hyderabad
• Sen, A. (2005). The Argumentative Indian. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
• Varma, S. and Pawar, Y. (2005). Rural Empowerment: Through SHGs, NGOs and PRIs, National Slum Dwellers Federation in India. New Delhi: Deep and Deep.
• Voluntary Action Cell (2007). National Policy on Voluntary Sector.  Planning Commission: Government of India.
• Yojana Magazine, Wikipedia, the Hindu & the Google

Earlier Posts

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NGOs: Role of NGOs in Rural-Development of Amravati District

Social Audit: Social Auditing in India – A Management Framework

What is Management?

Ever since people began forming groups to accomplish aims they could not achieve as individuals, managing has been essential to ensure the coordination of individual efforts. As society has come to rely increasingly on group effort, and as many organized groups have become large, the task of managers has been increasing in its magnitude. Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals in groups efficiently achieve selected aims (Harold Koontz and Heinz Weihrich, Essentials of Management, 6/e, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 2005, p.4).

Management is an art of getting work done out of others, working in a group. It is what the management does. It is the skill of inducing people to give their best contribution towards the most effective and efficient execution of group goals; by creating a fine internal environment in the group enterprise; by performing managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling with emphasis on coordination throughout the management process.

Management is a critical element in the economic growth of a country. By bringing together the four factors of production; men, money, material and machines; management enables a country to experience a substantial level of economic development. A country with enough capital, manpower and other natural resources can still be poor if it does not have competent managers to combine and coordinate these resources (Tripathy & Reddy, Principles of Management, 2/e, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 2004, p. 1).

Without management, a country’s resources of production remain resources and never become production (Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management, Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1970, p. 1). The central core of our national as well as personal activities, and the way we manage ourselves and our institutions reflects with alarming clarity what we and our society will become.

Chanakya in India defined Management as: “Gaining the non-possessed, protecting the gained and making the protected grow through deployment of persons” (Ashok Garde, Chanakya on Management, ‘Rajyatantram,’ Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai, 2006, p.87). Further, the manager should manage himself well on the emotional front – These concepts have been seeping in gradually in the recent past in the management studies. These underlying principles can be seen in the recent developments such as; corporate governance, business ethics, sustainable development, value-based systems, etc.

The main focus of the five-year plans in India is to implement the various development policies/programs on sustainable basis. This principle was quiet evident when Chanakya quoted ‘protecting the gained and making the protected grow.’On the other hand; Professor Haimann has rightly observed that it is helpful to think of the managerial functions (planning, organizing, directing and controlling) as a circular, continuous movement. They blend into each other like the flowing water of river and at times there is no clear line of demarcation when one ends and the other begins. In fact, they have no separate entities (Theo Haimann, Professional Management – Theory and Practice, Eurasia Publishing House, New Delhi, 1962, p.24).  This model by Professor Haimann can be further modified to fit the functions of management into three concrete components i.e. planning, implementation and control through monitoring. For the purpose of this research study the process of management is divided into the same three components as shown in the below figure.

There is no formal data sharing mechanisms between different agencies working at Gram Panchayat, Tehsil or District levels. In fact there are multiple lines of control and reporting mechanisms. In the case of revenue officials, the line of reporting is from village officer (Talati) to the Circle Officer, Tehsildar and District Collector. The channels of reporting in the case of different functionaries at Gram Panchayat, Block Development Office and District Panchayat Office are through the respective line of control of the respective departments. The reports being received by different departments are generally not being integrated at any stage.

The Process of Managing the Rural Development Programs & Role of NGOs

As formulated in the secondary data itself; the process of Management has been divided into three basic components i.e.

1. Planning
2. Implementation
3. Control & Monitoring

Along with these three components the other general management principles like administration, motivation; etc. has also been given a look in here. A query about the contribution in the rural development programs asked to the NGOs has been responded as shown in the following table.

The above break-up shows that there are some other principles of management in which the NGOs believe apart from the three basic components identified by the researcher. Still, 43.8% of the respondents responded with a contribution in the three basic components of management as discussed earlier. A query about the role of various stakeholders in the three basic phases is as shown below.

The respondent does seem to give ‘Implementation’ a heavy weight in the process of management of the rural development programs as compared to the other two phases. The above reality has been further endorsed by the fact that about 79% of the Government Officials support the role of NGOs in the Implementation of programs.

Further when it was enquired with the Government Officials about the Role NGOs should be assigned in the process of better-managing these programs; 22% replied with NGOs role in planning, 18% in implementation, 7% in control and about 45% in aiding people’s participation. Again, the officials were asked whether the role of NGOs should be increased in the planning phase itself; 73% of the officials answered in an affirmative. When the government officials were asked whether the Government should directly fund at Village Level & NGOs not at all required; 68% said a ‘No’. The same Government Officials when asked about monitoring these programs; 18% replied through the ‘Social Audit’ which is an important management tool these days. Further, from the experience of the Government Officials, it was observed that they believe about NGOs play a ‘moderate’ role in Social Audits, with a mean of 50% and mode of 60% to be precise.

While the villagers were asked about the Gram-Sabha’s status in their villages; 36 % of the respondents replied for a frequency of one gram-sabha a year while 26 % replied with two per year. Further, about 33 % of the villager affirmed that the ‘Social Audits’ does take place in front of the Gram-Sabha. Moreover, almost 42% of the villagers responded that maximum 50 villagers being present during these Social Audits and 20% responded with between 50 to 100 villagers being present.

When the villagers were asked a series of questions regarding general management issues with the NGOs; this is what their opinion was, 81% believed that the NGOs do play a rule in Management of Rural Development Programs, 78% feel that they need NGOs in order to get the support from the government system, 73% of villagers find NGOs to be their source of motivation to participate in the development programs. Motivation being one of the most important principles of management, 69% of the villagers felt that NGOs bring transparency in implementation of the rural development programs, 52% of villagers believe NGOs to be honest, 64% have faith in them and 88.3% of the villagers cooperate with the NGOs, 57% of the villagers recognize the positive role NGOs play in ‘social audits’, 34% believe that the efforts of NGOs result in to bringing the ‘development schemes’ to their villages. The above statistics does throw a light on the role of NGOs in various generally accepted management functions like; advocacy, motivation, organization, cooperation, coordination, monitoring and lobbying.