HYDERABAD: Ruing the fact that the country is still striving to achieve ‘Gram Swarajya’ as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi 75 years after Independence, delegates deliberating strengthening of State Finance Commissioners and how to improve ‘Own Sources of Revenue’ (OSR) of panchayats were of the opinion that unless gram panchayats and local bodies are strengthened, that idea is unlikely to see light of the day. The deliberations took place at the two-day national conclave of State Finance Commissions (SFCs) held at NIRDPR in Rajendernagar that concluded on Wednesday.
The delegates, comprising members and chairpersons of the SFCs, eminent persons from the academia and from the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, were of the collective opinion that improving revenue by encouraging collection of taxes was imperative.
Remove caps on spending
The general view was that as the Union and the State governments continue to be embroiled in a tug-of-war to exercise control over the funds meant for panchayats, the need of the hour was to strengthen the local bodies by forming SFCs and implementing recommendations of the Central Finance Commissions. They observed that there was a cap of Rs 5 lakh that panchayats could spend, and expenditure up to Rs 10 lakh was needed to be approved by the district panchayat (district administration) and above that by the State governments. This was a barrier to rural development, the delegates felt. Prof R Sudarshan Rao, a former member of SFC in AP, said that AP government has found a way to address this shortfall, by giving per capita state grants to all the gram panchayats based on the population.
Constructive suggestions
R Chinnadurai, Associate Professor, CPRDPSSD, presented case studies on the best practices being followed in some panchayats to raise OSR. Among them was a panchayat which had installed a windmill which could not only meet the energy needs of the village, but was also selling energy to the State government and was making Rs 19 lakh per annum. Another example was of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where whatever OSR was collected by panchayats, the administration there was giving three times that amount to those panchayats.