from Vinay Pais
for Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (MB)

Kundapur, May 9: A day-long demonstration in front of the taluk panchayat office here was staged on Tuesday, May 8 to protest against the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Amendment Bill 2007.

The protest was led by former MLA and sitting MLC K Pratapchanra Shetty. Over 2000 elected panchayat members and Congress workers gathered on the spot and they submitted a memorandum to be in turn forwarded to state governor T N Chaturvedi.

The contents of the memorandum highlighted:

The Grama Sabha is the creation of Article 243 A of the Constitution of India, with a view to making India a participatory democracy by providing opportunity to the people to take part in the process of governance and decision-making.  Therefore it is incumbent upon the States to endow the gram sabhas with certain powers and responsibilities.

Section 3 and 3A of Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act-1993 is the heart and soul of the Panchayat Raj system which the Constitution of India so ambitiously contemplates to establish in the country. It is this provision of the Constitution that intends to make India a participatory democracy.

It is mandatory for all the States to create the Grama Sabha at every Grama Panchayat and to entrust it with necessary powers and responsibilities to enable it to be the grass-root level democratic unit.

The provisions relating to the powers and responsibilities of Grama Sabha in the Karnataka  Panchayat Raj Act  are the result of a path-breaking amendment brought about in 2003 by Karnataka Act-37, after a high power committee made an exhaustive study and an elaborate recommendation in favour so as to reflect the true spirit of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. Before the amendment was finally passed, it had also gone through the scrupulous scrutiny of a Joint Select Committee.

In contrast, the present amendment which is of a great public importance as it amounts to curtailment of the fundamental rights of the people to participate and decide has been hurriedly prepared without allowing enough time for creation of public opinion either in favour or against.

Karnataka, long before the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, has been in the forefront of devolution of powers to the grass-root levels by its progressive Panchayat Raj Legislations passed and implemented from time to time.

S Janardhan, president of Kundapur Taluk Panchayat Raj Institutions, also addressed the audience. M Shivaram Shetty welcomed the audience.