District governments

30/12/1998
Down To Earth

The media has hailed Digvijay Singh's victory but it is spreading another myth because it is ignorant about rural problems: that Digvijay Singh strengthened the Panchayatl Rai system. On the contrary, in many cases, Singh strengthened the people directly over and above the elected sarpanches. This increased the accountability of elected leaders at the bottom of the political ladder.

The village watershed committees and the village education committees have been given mom power than the panchayat leaders. Only in the case of the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) the panchayat have been given some say. But it cannot interfere in the watershed development work. The committees spent 85 per cent of the Rs 229 crore on watershed development in MP in four years of work. In districts like ihabua, the village watershed committees have become the new grassroot bodies spearheading social welfare work. The panchayat's work in education is also overseen by village education committee (which consists of all villagers).

After taking the oath of office, chief minister Digvijay Singh disclosed his plan for a 'district government' under which each minister would be in charge of two to three districts. Though he said that the conventional way of giving them portfolios would be done away with, he allocated portfolios to them besides giving them the additional charge of districts. He has kept five districts with himself. These ministers will coordinate with the district bodies. This move is aimed at dismantling the colonial administrative set up. "Files will no longer move at the state level, but at the grassroot level," Singh declared during a press conference in Bhopal.

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