& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Funds remain main question

REAZ AHMAD
With the inception of the Gram Sarkar just a week away, people working to run the system are still waiting for increased funds for the union parishad (UP).
Work at the constitution of 40, 392 units of the Gram Sarkar, an institution supportive of the UP, begins on July 1 and the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry has asked upazilla nirbahi officers (UNOs) to complete the process by mid-August, official sources said.
Talking to The Daily Star, Executive Chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said: "Gram Sarkar has been given many responsibilities and little resources as the case is also with the
SEE PAGE 11 COL 4 FROM PAGE 1
UP. This may not ensure the goal of a vibrant local government system."
As per the Gram Sarkar Act passed by the Jatiya Sangsad in February this year, the local body will have no taxation power and will receive some non-statutory allocation from Ups to run their activities.
The PPRC, a non-governmental organisation, which is working as the secretariat of the Local Government Support Group (LGSG) headed by Grameen Bank chief Prof Mohammad Yunus, has carried out a review on grassroots institution-building and prepared a policy brief for the government.
He put special emphasis on launching an information campaign across the country about the tasks, formation of the Gram Sarkar and training the people who would head the smallest unit of local government before the Gram Sarkar is formed.
Welcoming the Gram Sarkar move, as a step to bring UP administration and village people closer, Zillur said if the UP was provided
with more financial resources the Gram Sarkar would benefit from trickle down effects.
"Gram Sarkar can be a potential institution to bridge the missing link between the predominantly chairman-centric union parishads and the grassroots people. By activating the UP ward members, the local government body can be made more accountable to the beneficiaries," Zillur said.
"If the implementation of Gram Sarkar begins without prior training of UP members who will head and advise these bodies and without a vigorous information campaign at the national and local levels, it will result in confusion and inefficiency."
Instead of vesting too many responsibilities and roles in the Gram Sarkar, Zillur preferred to limiting its work in four areas. These are: convening villagers' meeting at least twice a year, developing a community action plan, maintaining a 'Gram boi' (village diary) with basic statistical updates and developing community policing for restoration of law and order.
He stressed the need for an
'implementation guideline' to enable the Gram Sarkar to operate effectively with its elected and selected leaders aware of their roles.
In a recent article, local government activist and Country Director of The Hunger Project-Bangladesh, Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar pointed out that UPs were beset with serious resource constraints.
Moreover, the government has recently taken away the power of leasing out jalmohals (water bodies) from the UP, further reducing its sources of income.
Other experts and activists who believe in strengthening local government institutions are now attaching importance to enhancing both financial and power-exercising capacities of the UP.
They observe that if the UPs were made financially solvent and given with enough power, the trickle down effect would automatically put the Gram Sarkars on a solid footing.