My dear
On October 14-15, 08 you had addressed the National Conference on NREGA and Panchayats in New Delhi under the auspices of the Institute of Social Sciences and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Embassy of Sweden. The Declaration adopted by the Conference has been published in Mainstream of March 13-19, 2009.

In view of the theme of the Conference most of the Declaration is related to the possible and potential role of the Panchayat Raj Institution, particularly the Gram Panchayats, in the operation of the NREGA.

To my mind, it appears that the question of the role in NREGA has to be seen in the larger context of taking Gram Panchayats towards Gram Raj or Gram Sarkar which implies that all grass roots level activities in the field of welfare and development, including primary education, health facilities, village roads, drinking water supply, distribution of agricultural subsidies must become the administrative responsibility of the Gram Panchayats and there should be corresponding financial devolution as well as a key role in planning. The Gram Plans prepared by the Gram panchayats should be incorporated in the Block Plans, which in turn should be incorporated in the District and State Plans G. P.’s should have the option of choosing according to their needs from the shelf of schemes that are sponsored by the central and state governments. To function properly, the PRI’s should run their own administration, with a permanent cadre and enjoy both administrative authority and financial power. We have been speaking about it for a long time. I feel that the next government should take the march of the panchayats forward, taking into consideration the recommendations of the historic Conference of Panchayat Leaders organized by your Ministry.

The toughest nut to break is the question of extent of devolution of responsibility for maintaining law and order; that is to, say the degree of control that the Panchayat shall exercise over the local police machinery. The Gram Nayayay Panchayat legislation appears to be deficient in this respect because the power of the Panchayat over the police and its administrative machinery in their jurisdiction has not been fully defined.

It is also necessary to lay down a list of offences of civil and criminal nature which should be decided at the Panchayat level.

What is needed is to take a quantum jump and make the panchayat system responsible for welfare and development administration in its totality as well as give it a specific role in police administration.
With kind regards