The clocks had stopped, the press galleries were almost empty and there was little ‘‘glamour value’’ to the subject. Yet, members from all sides of the Lok Sabha set aside acrimony and political one upmanship to review ten years of the implementation of the Panchayati Raj Acts and came up with a host of suggestions on how to give real meaning to the much-touted term — ‘‘grassroots democracy.’’So passionately involved were members in this subject — of which most had detailed and first hand knowledge — that they persuaded the Speaker to extend today’s sitting by at least two hours to accommodate the large number of keen speakers. Minister of Rural Development Kashiram Rana, who initiated the discussion with a written speech, will reply tomorrow afternoon.While MPs belonging to almost every party took part in the discussion, the interest taken by the Congress was particularly noticeable. This was partly due to the fact that Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi sat through the debate for several hours. One reason for that was clearly sentimental — more than one member stressed the fact that it was Rajiv Gandhi who ushered in the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts which sought to devolve power to local bodies in both rural and urban India.Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Congress’ star speaker, said thanks to the acts India had 30 lakh elected members of panchayat of whom 10 lakh were women — a feat unprecedented in history and in the world. But despite this achievement, the goal of self-government had not yet been reached because bureaucrats continued to rule the roost. Unless they were made answerable to the elected representatives at the village and district level, real devolution would not take place, Aiyar said.Several members echoed Aiyar’s view that gram sabhas should be empowered to take all decisions relating to village development and funds should be directly sent to them.
