The strength and sustenance of local institutions in India has shifted from their formative phase of ‘Functions, Functionaries and Funds’ to the contemporary stage of ‘Functionality’. Highlight the critical challenges faced by local institutions in terms of their functionality in recent times.

The local institutions have been set by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendment which talks about the need of proper funding power, and efficient functionaries to perform the functions devolved to these local institutions.

Functionality refers to the quality of being suited to serve a purpose well. It points to aspects of a situation that include the actual doing or experience of something. It is about the objective that something is intended or expected to accomplish.

Challenges in terms of Functionality:

1. Parastatal Organisation: These are controlled by the states and they effectively usurped functions and revenues that ought to have been the domain of local institutions.

2. Challenges of Staff: Majority of the manpower in panchayats function in silos related to schemes and are mostly accountable to the programme supervisors, not to the panchayats.

3. Lack of coordination between Bureaucrats and Functionaries.

4. State Finance Commission: States have not been setting up their SFCs regularly as mandated and also, they are not submitting the reports in time, lacking the proficiency etc.

Sumit Bose Committee Recommendation:

● Every panchayat should have a full-time secretary, who will perform both general administration and development functions.

● The existing Gram Rozgar Sevaks should be formally trained to carry out essential engineering functions, such as those related to water supply and sanitation.

● Focus on (i) participatory planning and budgeting; (ii) preparation of status studies for effective utilisation of earmarked budget; (iii) participatory expenditure tracking; (iv) social audit of panchayats.

People’s demands for the sustainable decentralisation and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda. The framework needs to be evolved to accommodate the demand for decentralisation and for that the local governments should have clear and independent sources of finance. 

EXTRA NOTES-

● A Devolution report published by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj estimates the extent to which states have devolved functions, finances, and functionaries. It concludes that while certain states such as Kerala, Karnataka, and Maharashtra have transferred relatively more power to local bodies, real decentralisation has a long way to go in India.

● The RLGs (rural local governments) rely overwhelmingly, or to the extent of about 95%, on devolution. The per capita own revenue collected by ULGs is about 3% of the urban per capita income while the corresponding number for RLGs is just 0.1%.

Other Recommendation of Sumit Bose Committee:

● The Committee recommended that a system of quality monitoring should be put in place for all programmes being monitored by panchayats. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj should compile essential data, including, area, population, staff, and availability of essential infrastructure for panchayat office, among others.

● Effective Auditing: Audit committees may be constituted by the State Governments at the district level to exercise oversight of the integrity of financial information, adequacy of internal controls, compliance with the applicable laws and ethical conduct of all persons involved in local bodies.