Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Shri Vivek Bharadwaj to inaugurate the 2-Day National Consultative Workshop on Devolution to Panchayats at Goa tomorrow

Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Shri Vivek Bharadwaj will inaugurate the 2-day long National Consultative Workshop on ‘Status of Devolution to Panchayats’ at Goa tomorrow. This Workshop is being organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in association with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) during 24^th– 25^th January, 2024. The Workshop will discuss and deliberate on the draft report on the study ‘Status of Devolution to Panchayats’ conducted by IIPA that was commissioned by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

The workshop will be attended by the senior officers such as Additional Chief Secretaries/ Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries of the Panchayati Raj Departments of the State / UT Governments, senior officers of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, NITI Aayog, RBI, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, senior research faculty and officers of IIPA. The workshop will help in threadbare discussion on the draft report prepared by the IIPA and the comments and suggestions of the participants will help in production of final report on the comparative status of devolution of powers to the Panchayats across various States based on which ranking among the States can be done on this aspect.

Based on the terms of references given to the IIPA for the study, the Institute identified 26 indicators for conducting the study using both primary and secondary sources of data collected and verified from the State Governments, Auditor General Offices, State Finance Commissions, reports of RBI and C&AG, studies of Ministry of Panchayati Raj and NITI Aayog. These 26 indicators reflect the pillars of devolution to Panchayats i.e., functions, finances, functionaries (3Fs). Two more dimensions i.e., capacity building and accountability of panchayats have been added as panchayats need to be enabled to absorb devolution from states and at the same time remain accountable to the residents of that area. The attempt is to assess how ‘free’ the Panchayats are to take independent decisions and implement them. 

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