THE STATES

A new scheme of government

Among several administrative reforms introduced by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, the most important is the one, introduced on April 1, for district government.

V. VENKATESAN
in Bhopal

AT the official residence of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, hundreds of files used to await clearance in a room adjacent to the visitors' hall. However, since Digvijay Singh assumed office as Chief Minister in 1993, other uses have been found for the room. The reason, as stated by Digvijay Singh, is that he has few files pending: he has delegated responsibilities to his colleagues without retaining any portfolio for himself and decentralised the decision-making process. During his initial term in office, Digvijay Singh ensured that Madhya Pradesh became the first State to introduce the panchayati raj system by implementing the provisions of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments.

When he began his second term in office last November, Digvijay Singh went about the task of further decentralising work at Vallabh Bhavan, the State Secretariat. He put forward the concept of district-level governance through district planning committees (DPCs). The idea was to delegate wide-ranging powers to the DPCs. According to a backgrounder released by the Government on the eve of the launch of "district governments" on April 1, the DPCs will review, supervise, monitor and follow up the schemes and activities of various government departments at the district level except those entrusted to panchayati raj institutions and urban civic bodies. Government officials said that after powers had been delegated to panchayati raj institutions and urban civic bodies, the State did not have a mechanism to coordinate development schemes implemented by these organisations separately. Hence, the experiment with "district governments".

As envisaged by the 73rd and 74th amendments, DPCs were formed after the enactment of the District Planning Committee Act in 1995. The Act enables the State Government to delegate its functions to the DPCs. Recently, an amendment to the DPC Act was passed in the State Assembly in order to widen the scope of the DPCs. Although the Constitution does not envisage a "district government" in the strictest sense of the term, the Madhya Pradesh experiment aims to introduce district-level governance by modifying the existing structures.

Each DPC will consist of between 15 and 25 members, four-fifths of whom will be elected as per the constitutional provision. The Minister in charge of the district, the District Collector and the zilla panchayat President will be nominated as members. The Minister will function as the DPC's chairman and the Collector as its secretary.

A major objective of having district governments is to avoid red-tapism. Government officials pointed out that in an administrative structure with numerous levels of authority, matters remained pending at various levels of the bureaucracy and decisions were delayed. Besides, they said, procedural complexities resulted in a slowing down of decision-making processes, thus hampering development programmes and diffusing the accountability factor. The State Government therefore wanted to delegate to the DPCs in a substantial measure the powers of the government, the heads of various departments, and divisional offices.

The DPCs have been given the powers to transfer Class II, III and IV officials (except police personnel) within the district, to approve continuation of the grants sanctioned to various institutions by Government departments, to withdraw such grants in case of violations of the conditions (the Collectors have the power to release discretionary grants sanctioned by the Ministers in charge of the districts), to sanction financial assistance to freedom fighters for the treatment of serious diseases, and to name reservoirs, buildings and roads after eminent citizens. (The Collectors can declare three local holidays a year in their respective districts.) Earlier these powers rested with the State Government.

Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

The Home Department's power to regulate traffic has been delegated to the DPCs. (The Collectors will have absolute powers to renew the licences of arms sellers under the Arms Act.) The Excise Department's powers to sanction and release grants to promote the construction of new cinema halls will now be vested with the DPCs. The Forest Departments's powers with regard to plantation schemes, the collection of tendu leaves, the group insurance scheme for tendu leaf collectors, the processing of minor forest produce and value addition schemes have been delegated to the DPCs. Besides, the DPCs will have the power to sanction and pay compensation in cases of loss and death of cattle owing to attack by wild animals. They will monitor the implementation of the World Food Programme and the illegal felling of trees, and sanction up to Rs. 1 crore for industrial area development centres besides allotting sheds and land for them.

The DPCs will also have the powers to inspect and review prosecution under labour laws. They will monitor the implementation of epidemic control programmes, the functioning of mobile dispensaries and the Public Health Insurance Scheme, the registration of births and deaths and the implementation of family planning programmes and other national health programmes. Powers to delimit urban bodies and wards and to acquire land have also been vested with the DPCs. They have also been empowered to sanction and monitor medium and small irrigation schemes, assess water resources and formulate their own water policy. The DPCs will be able to ensure the implementation of various programmes under the Social Welfare, School Education, Tribal Welfare and Scheduled Caste Welfare departments.

The power to sanction shops-cum-godowns, take price control measures and prevent blackmarketing have also been transferred to the DPCs. They can now compensate losses of over Rs.15,000 caused by natural calamities, postpone and suspend recovery of land revenue in times of crop losses and acquire land for habitation purposes.

The DPCs will monitor State-protected monuments and museums, identify routes for city public transportation, grant permanent permits for vehicles plying within the district and renovate temples. The Government also proposes to grant them financial powers commensurate with their responsibilities.

The DPCs are expected to be convened at least once a month. Orders with regard to the decisions taken by them would be issued at the district level on behalf of the State Government.

EVEN as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee commended at a recent meeting of the National Development Council the State's pioneering attempt to establish district governments, State leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party criticised the State Government in this regard. Former BJP Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa asked whether the Assembly's consent had been obtained before launching district governments. He remarked that elected panchayats would not become dependent on the DPCs since the DPC's nominated members would be powerful figures. He further said that each DPC would begin to function like a Cabinet, and the voices of persons elected to power by the people may not be heard. Patwa accused Digvijay Singh of converting the government machinery into the election machinery of the Congress(I).

RAM RAHMAN
The recently built Madhya Pradesh legislature complex atop the Arera hill overlooking Bhopal. The ambitious Madhya Pradesh experiment aims to introduce district-level governance by achieving a considerable level of democratic decentralisation of power.

Close on the heels of the launching of the district governments, the State empowered voters of panchayats to recall their elected representatives after the completion of two and a half years of their term. If one-third of the voters in his constituency express lack of confidence in the elected representative, an election will be held in which the elected representative will be unseated if he or she fails to get 50 per cent of the votes. When a member is unseated, a normal election will be held to elect another member.

This proposal too has not been received well by the BJP. Patwa told Frontline that this would lead to conflicts in villages and would help Digvijay Singh divert people's attention from his Government's failures.

The success of Digvijay Singh's administrative reforms in the long term hinges on the support they get from the bureaucracy and also parties that will come to power in the State in the future.