2 bodies on Panchayati Raj formed

Tuesday, April 04, 2006 01:50:30 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Monday announced in the state assembly the formation
of two bodies on Panchayati Raj — one to identify sections of Other Backward
Castes (OBCs) to be given reservation facilities and the other to study the
functioning of the Panchayati Raj system and suggest methods to improve it.

Speaking in the House following the passing of the Bihar Panchayati Raj Bill,
2006, by voice vote after a marathon debate of more than four hours and a half
and rejection of 58 amendments moved by opposition members, the CM flaunted the
50 per cent reservation given to women in the ensuing Panchayati Raj polls.

"A peaceful revolution is taking place in the rural areas of Bihar. The language
and grammar of Bihar politics are changing. It is a language you people (RJD)
have failed to understand," Nitish said.

Taking a dig at the previous regime on the issue of reservation for OBCs, Nitish
said, "You were in power for five years after the high court order on
reservation in the Panchayati Raj.

Why didn't you identify the backward castes if you wanted to give reservation
facilities to them? Dena nahin chahte the. Dene ka dikhawa karna chahte the."

He hit out at RJD members for criticising him for not giving reservation
facilities to OBCs. He said since there was no census on caste basis, he could
not give reservation on the basis of the population of a caste.

"But then there is a formula for giving reservation in government jobs. I used
the formula and rounded the figures for giving reservation facilities in the
panchayat system — 20 per cent for Extremely Backward Castes, 16 per cent for
scheduled castes and one per cent for scheduled tribes," he remarked.

Nitish claimed that laws framed by his government have withstood legal scrutiny.
"Legal advice was available to your regime too," he taunted the RJD. He said
even without reservation backward castes got more than 50 per cent of the seats.

"But according to the records of the mukhiyas elected in the last Panchayati
Raj elections, less than one per cent were women, just 1.9 per cent belonged to
scheduled castes and slightly more than three per cent belonged to Extremely
Backward Castes," the CM observed while maintaining that the 50 per cent
reservation for women has evoked a lot of enthusiasm.

Nitish also rejected the criticism of empowering commissioners to remove
mukhiyas and other local body chiefs. "Mukhiyas are different from legislators.
You do not sign cheques. A mukhiya does.

He works not as a legislator but as an executive," he said. He also spoke about
the government move to provide "gram kachharis" with law graduates as "kanoon
mitras".

In course of the debate on the Bill in the House, several members complained
about mukhiyas indulging in corruption, especially in the allotment of Indira
Awas fund, and not holding "gram sabha" regularly.

However, when the government rejected the amendments moved by opposition
members, the entire opposition staged a walkout accusing the treasury bench of
being deaf to reasonable suggestions.


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