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GRAM PARISHAD

Needed Some Fine Tuning to Meet the Fundamentals

by Mohammad Siddiquer Rahman
***Some people think that Gram Parishad as a Local Government will not be effective and may lead to quarrels and intrigues in the village society. This opinion is not only based on a negative attitude but is against the principles of democracy.***
THIS Is for the first time in the history of Local Government in Bangladesh for more than a century that a Local Government has been established under the law at the lowest unit of human settlement i e. at the village or Sram level. Local Government as never before been conceived below the level of Union Parishad which was established in 1885. Establishment of Gram Parishad is a landmark in the development of Local Government institutions in Bangladesh where the village itself has become a Local Government organisation. Some feople think that Gram arishad as a Local Government will not be effective and may lead to quarrels and intrigues in the village society. This opinion is not only based on a negative attitude but is against the principles of democracy.
Why should we have Gram Parishad at all?
The answer may be found in the following:
1. Bangladesh consists of 5,999 (say 60,000) mouzas or villages and the people living in these villages constitute 77% of the population of the country. Local Government is necessary to enable these rural people to understand the political process of a democratic government and to play their role and responsibility in the governance of the country.
2. The most important reason for identifying the gram as the basic unit of Local Government is the fact that we belong to the gram if we can take care of 60,000 grams we can actually take care of the whole country and the entire people, because even the townsmen have mostly their roots in the gram it gives us our identity.
3. Gram Parishad is necessary for the rural population to enable the people to be involved
in the democratic process through participation in gover nance, development and social welfare activities of the people of the area.
4. To enable the people of the gram to identify the problems and the felt needs of the people of the gram and to prepare plans and programmes for meeting the needs and solving the problems of the people of the area and to encourage the people of the village to undertake self-reliance activities.
5. To undertake development plans and programme within the Gram Parisnad by raising funds through taxes as provided for under the law or by harnessing local resources and by proper utilisation of funds given by the National Government or other tiers of Local Government, thereby initiating "Bottom-up" planning.
6. To carry out the tasks of administration, development and social welfare activities which are assigned to them under the law or delegated to them by the government within the area of Gram Parishad.
7. To coordinate the activities of the officers and extension staff of various departments of the government (i.e. Agriculture. Health and Family Planning, Sanitation and Water Supply. Education and Environment etc) and the NGOs/voluntary organisations to ensure that their activities are responsive to the needs of the people and promote the interest of the people of the gram
8. To carry out such other activities as may be deemed necessary in the interest of the people of the Gram Parishad.
The establishment of Gram Parishad as a Local Government institution is a big leap forwarded in Involving the people at the grassroot level in the democratic process. But the noble objectives for which Gram Parishad has been established as a Local Government seems to have been frustrated to some
extent as certain fundamental principles of a Local Government is lacking In the Gram Parishad law.
Fundamentals of Local Government that needs to be incorporated in the Gram Parishad law
1. Gram Parishad should consist of grams not wards. Our constitution requires Local Government to be established in an area which constitutes an administrative unit.
The Local Government Gram Parishad Act 1997 in fact provides for a Ward Parishad for each ward and not a parishad for the gram. Ward is an artificial boundary created in the past for purpose of election and does not give identity of any human settlement or a habitat. In most cases a ward is composed of more than one village and sometimes even less than a large village. On an .average one and a half village constitute a ward. Ward was never an administrative unit. In fact, gram which is synonymous with a mouza has been the traditional unit for revenue administration in Bangladesh from before the time of the Moghuls. Above all. gram gives the emotional socioeconomic. political and geographical unity to the people. If someone asks me, "Where do you come from?" I say. Dharab-hanga village of Nabinagar Thana in Branmanbaria district and never say I came from No. 1 ward of Barikandi union.
Predicament of the government for holding immediate election i) We can understand the predicament of the government
for holding the election to Gram and the Union Parishads immediately as announced by the government. The delimitation of the boundary of the gram (village) and the revision of its voter list will take time and cannot be done without further delaying the election. That is why ward committees, as they exist now. have become so convenient to be named as Gram Parishad for the purpose of holding election to Gram Parishads and Union Parishads. But this arrangement takes away the basic philosophy and objectives of Gram Parishad. Even if the present election may be held on the basis of wards being treated as Gram Parisnad, .action should be taken after this election to amend the law to constitute a Gram Parishad for each gram (village) during subsequent elections. If we can deal with 40,059 ward councils, there is no reason why we cannot deal with 59.990 Gram Parishads. It Is not necessary that each union should have the same number of Gram Parishads. Already every thana has widely varying number of Union Parishads (varying mostly from 6 to 22 Unions) and each union may have as many Gram Parishads as there are grams irrespective of their size and population. Let the people feel that Gram Parishad is their own parishad and not overlap other gram. It is also provided in the Gram Parishad law that the name of the Gram Parishad will be named on the basis of ward number of the ward council.
This would take away the very basis of Gram Parishad and expose the artificial nature of the
boundary and identification of the Gram (ward) Parishad.
(11) Election of Gram Parishad should be held under the authority of the election commission under secret ballot.
Local Government according to the Constitution of Bangladesh should be composed of persons elected by the people of the area which constitutes the Local Government body. Under the Local government (Gram Parishad Act. 1997), it is provided that election will be held in the ward concerned in a meeting of the male and female voters of the area under the supervision of the "directing" authority. Such an election conducted by an administrative authority designated by the government may be questionable about being a fare and free election. The election to be fare should be conducted by a constitutional authority (election commission) and should be based on universal adult franchise under a system of secret ballot.
If this basic requirement of a free and fare election Is not met. there is likely hood of quarrels, insights and riots amongst the people during an open election. An election conducted by an executive authority of the government may also be politically or otherwise influenced.
(iii) A Local Government must have full authority to carry out its own responsibilities and not be dependent on any other authority. The Constitution of Bangladesh requires that the parliament will confer powers on the local government bodies and the elected representative constituting the Local
Government shall take decisions in exercising these powers. But in the Gram Parishad law, the directing authority (an executive officer or agency of the government) has been given certain authority i.e. to fix where the office of the Gram Parishad will be established. Such matters should be decided by the parishad by a majority vote and not by the executing authority of the government. The procedure for the conduct of meetings of the Local Government should be approved by the Government under its rule making authorities and not by any directing authority as [irovlded in the Gram Parishad
aw.
(iv) An elected representative should not be removed from the office by any executive authority. The Gram Parishad law provides that directing authority may also after due inquiry remove any member of Gram Parishad from his post. This is against the principles of any democratic institutions. Removal of elected representative should not be allowed to be done except under the order of a competent court of law to be provided under the law.
(v) Acting Chairman should not be nominated by the directing authority : the power given to the directing authority to nominate any person to act as a Chairman in the event of vacancy in the post of Chairman or in the absence or Illness of the Chairman, is undemocratic and against the fundamental principle of a Local Government.
Since Chairman of the Gram Parishad is elected by the peo- . pie, a temporary or acting
Chairman should be elected by the elected members of the Gram Parishad. There is no scope for nomination of any Chairman or Member of any Local Government who must, according to constitution, be an elected representative. <
(vi) The concept of a "Directing Authority" designated by the J government to control the af-alrs of the Gram Parishad is Inconsistent with the concept of. Local Government.
(vil) A Local Government to be effective must have its own funds : The Constitution provides under Article 60, that the parliament by law shall confer powers including powers to Impose taxes for local purposes, to prepare that budget and to maintain funds. The Gram Parishad does not have any such power. However at the initial stage it may not be possible for Gram Parishad to levy taxes or to collect them but gradually some tax base should be given to them and also give them to local resources like forestry, fishery etc., to earn some income.
Instead of making Gram Parishad entirely dependent on the Union Parishad and the Directing Authority even for the day to day requirement of office expenses and stationeries government should give some grants directly to each Gram Parishads until such time they are capable of collecting taxes.
Such grants are needed to meet two basic needs — (1) to have an honorary Secretary (an official of parishad) to keep records and to work as the Clark of the Gram Parishad. He may be appointed by the Chairman of Gram Parishad with approved of the parishad and paid a small honorarium, say. Tk 500 per month and (ii) to meet the office expenses and cost of stationeries, an amount of Tk 10.000 per Gram Parishad per year should be enough to meet these office expenses. Thiswould need roughly 60 crore taka a year for all the Gram Parishads and would strengthen the Gram Parishad in carrying out its activities.
(viii) Gram Parishad is required to give cooperation to government agencies and to do voluntary work, but has no specific responsibility of their own and no funds. Gram Parishad law requires the Gram Parishad to (i) submit some reports to the Union Parishads. (ii) extend cooperation to the authority in the implementation of local project and (iii) to encourage the villagers to form cooperatives and to undertake income-generating projects like fishery, livestock, forestry etc. But they have no specific responsibility nor any matching funds to undertake any concrete activity of their own. The activities enumerated as functions of the Gram Parishad are only expressions of intentions and to give cooperation and reports or information required by the Union Parishad. Why not the government give a token grant of average Taka 10,000 to each gram (the amount will be allotted on the basis of weightage of area and population). This will cost the government 60 crore taka a year @ average Tk 10.000 per Gram Parishad). This is nothing compared to the enthusiasm with it will create amongst the village people in participating governance and development activities of the Local Government.
The Gram Parishad should really be made a self-government institutions based on the principles of people's participation on the democratic process in the light of the observations given above. We want to see villagers vibrant with ideas and enthusiasm of participate in governance and national development through the Gram Parishad.
Die writer is former Ambassador and Cabinet Secretary