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Gram panchayat elections had not been held after
1978 due to the negligence on part of the government of Bihar and
later followed by the state government of Jharkhand. Panchayats with
mukhiyas as their heads functioned until 1982. Since then, panchayats
here have been administered by two Class III state government
employees -- sevak and supervisor -- under the command of a block
development officer (BDO) who handpicks members of the panchayat.
73rd amendment was made in 1992. It took Jharkhand almost 11 years to
announce the date for panchayat election. Earlier, when the state was
in Bihar, it was the problem of tribal and non-tribal reservation
(that still continues). In some Scheduled Areas, there are many
villages where Other Backward Castes (OBCs)/non-tribals are in
majority. While in the districts of Lohardaga, Ranchi, Singhbhum,
Dumka, Pakur and Gumla that have been notified as Scheduled Areas,
there are blocks and villages within these districts where the
Scheduled Tribes are not in majority and are less than 50%. Members of
the majority non-tribal community (called sadans) in such villages are
not ready to accept a tribal mukhiya and this has been causing unrest
in the state with the Kurmis/Mahatos having taken the lead to oppose
the PR Act with counter agitation by tribal groups after passage of
the Act.
After the formation of the new state in 2000, Jharkhand enacted its
panchayat act 2001 and constituted the state election commission.
Though the latter had informed its preparedness for holding panchayat
elections in the state by May 2002, yet the state government was not
holding these elections. In response to a PIL (Public Interest
Litigation) in 2003, High Court passed an order directing the state
government to fix a date for holding the panchayat election in
Jharkhand. The state election commission was eager and ready to hold
election and even recommended to the state government several times in
the last three years. The state government ignored the repeated
recommendations of the state election commission for giving dates for
panchayat elections. The election commission even lamented in its
affidavit that, till date, the state government had not cared to reply
to its letter of June 16, 2003.
From the above it is clear that, despite all preparations for holding
panchayat elections, it was the state government that was not
interested in holding elections and had been stalling the election for
various reasons. It had been failing to fulfill its constitutional
obligations for narrow partisan interests till the High Court
intervened.
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Panchayati
Raj in the Constitution |
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The 73rd amendment
to the constitution has made panchayati raj a part of
the constitution of India under article 243. The
constitution invests the gram sabhas and their governing
bodies (gram panchayats) with certain powers,
authorities and responsibilities. Holding panchayat
elections is the responsibility of the state election
commission appointed by the governor. |
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PESA |
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This is an Act. It is
called the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to
the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. Under this act, all
seats in schedule area will be 100% reserved for the
Scheduled Tribe. On this basis the state reserved seats
in Panchayat Raj Act 2001. Only Centre has the power to
amend this Act. The Act implies that in scheduled areas
state is by law compelled to respect the traditional
governance practices and has to recognise the traditional
/ customary local bodies as the unit of governance at
the village level. For more see…
http://panchayat.nic.in/
PESA.htm |
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