Declaration of assets,liabilities mandatory in amended PR bill

An amended bill seeking to makedeclaration of assets and liabilities of elected members ofPanchayat Raj institutions mandatory was introduced in the Karnataka Assembly today.
The bill also proposes to grant Minister of State rank to Zilla Panchayat Presidents and ensure transparency at all levels of administration at the grassroot level.
The Karnataka Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015, amending the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act 1993, is aimed at manifesting the commitment to the cause of translating the constitutional mandate of empowering the Panchayat to effectively function as 'Gram Swaraj', the bill in its statement of objects and reasons said.
The bill was tabled by Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil, who termed it as "historic" one.

The amendments are based on the recommendations made by a committee, headed by former Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar.
Its salient features include renaming the title of the Act as 'Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act' and incorporation of the concept of habitation and habitation sabhas to strengthen the system from grassroot democracy, among others.

The bill also proposes to grant Minister of State rank to
Zilla Panchayat Presidents.
"Provided that Adhyaksha of a Zilla Panchayat shall have
the status of a minister of state and shall be entitled to receive such salary or other emoluments as may be prescribed," the bill stated.

A provision has been made in the bill to include the duties and responsibilities of panchayat member. Also the preamble and directive principles of panchayat policy have been incorporated.
The bill also mentions about ensuring transparency at all
levels of the administration- declaration of assets and liabilities of elected members are made mandatory. It incorporates constitution of Commissionerate of Panchayat Raj and panchayat administrative services.
The Minister said the Finance Commission has recommended
distribution of grants to states for local bodies using 2011 population data with weight of 90 per cent and area with weight of 10 per cent.
He informed there are over 2.6 lakh panchayats in India.

Panchayati Raj Ministry Secretary S M Vijayanand, who also attended the event, said the Centre will implement the 14th Finance Commission (2015-20) recommendations "seriously" and said the SFCs and Union Finance Commission (UFC) should work alike.
Ex-members of UFC have also been invited to share ideas and experiences of national and international best practices and promote cross-learning across states.
The 73rd and 74th amendments to Constitution have provided constitutional status to panchayats and municipalities to function as local self-government institutions.
The workshop is also likely to discuss changes that are required in the functioning of SFCs to meet new challenges.