Panchayat Samiti (Block)

Mandals, taluka panchayats, block panchayats, or panchayat samiti are rural local governments (panchayats) at the intermediate level in panchayat raj institutions (PRI).

The 73rd Amendment defines Panchayati Raj Institution levels:[1]

It is in fact the 'Panchayat of Panchayats'.

They operate at the tahsil (taluka) level and govern the villages of the tahsil that together are called a development block. The Panchayat Samiti is the link between the gram panchayat (village council) and the zila parishad (district board).[2] They name varies across states, e.g., Mandal Praja Parishad in Andhra Pradesh, Taluka Panchayat in Gujarat, and Mandal Panchayat in Karnataka.

Composition

Typically, a panchayat samiti is composed of elected members of the area, the Block Development Officer, Members of Legislative Assembly of the State, Members of Parliament belonging to that area, otherwise unrepresented groups (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women), associate members (such as a farmer, a representative of the cooperative societies and one from the agricultural marketing services sector) and the elected members of that panchayat block (tehsil) on the zila parishad (district board).[3]

The samiti is elected for five years and is headed by a chairman and deputy chairman elected by the members of the panchayat samiti.[3] One Sarpanch Samiti supervises the other grampanchayats.It acts as a co-ordinating body between District panchayat and Gram panchayat.

Composition of mandal parishads

A coterminous Mandal Parishad is constituted for each revenue Mandal. A Mandal Parishad is composed of:

Mandal Parishad Territorial constituency (MPTC) members are directly elected by the voters, whereas, the Mandal President is elected by the MPTC members. The members are elected for a term of five years. The election to MPTC s is done on a party basis. The elections are conducted by the State election commission.

The Sarpanches are permanent invitees to the Mandal Parishad meetings.

Departments

The most common departments found in a panchayat samiti are:[2]

  • Administration
  • Finance
  • Public works (especially water and roads)
  • Agriculture
  • Health
  • Education
  • Social welfare
  • Information Technology
  • Women & Child Development
  • Panchayat raj ( Mandal Praja Parishad )

Each department in a panchayat samiti has its own officer. Most often these are state government employees acting as extension officers, but occasionally in more revenue-rich panchayat samiti, they may be local employees. A government-appointed block development officer (BDO) is the supervisor of the extension officers and executive officer to the panchayat samiti and becomes, in effect, its administrative chief.[4]

Functions

The Panchayat Samiti collects all the prospective plans prepared at Gram Panchayat level and processes them for funding and implementation by evaluating them from the angles of financial constraints, social welfare and area development. It also identifies and prioritises the issues.So that it should be needed to address at Block level

Sources of income

The income of the panchayat samiti comes from:[5][6][7]

For many panchayat samiti the main source of income is state aid. For others, the traditional taxing function provides the bulk of revenues. Tax revenues are often shared between the gram panchayats and the panchayat samiti.[5][7]

Notes

  1. ↑ "National Council Of Educational Research And Training :: Home".
  2. 1 2 Sarkar, Siuli (2010). "7.3.3 Panchayat Samiti". Public Administration In India. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Ltd. pp. 178–180. ISBN 978-81-203-3979-8.
  3. 1 2 Singh, Singh Vipul (2010). "Section II Civics: Chapter 8 Rural Local Self-Government". Longman History & Civics ICSE 9. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India: Dorling Kindersley (India) Private Ltd. p. 265]. ISBN 978-81-317-2041-7.
  4. ↑ Arora, Ramesh Kumar; Goyal, Rajni (1995). "Chapter 17 Panchayat Raj: Struggle For Effectiveness". Indian Public Administration: Institutions and Issues (second ed.). New Delhi: Wishwa Prakashan. pp. 298–300. ISBN 978-81-7328-068-9.
  5. 1 2 Singh 2010, p. 264
  6. ↑ "Section A Civics: Chapter 7 Local Self-Government". History & Civics IX (eighth ed.). New Delhi: Rachna Sagar Private Ltd. 2011. ISBN 978-81-8137-083-9.
  7. 1 2 Madan, G. R. (1990). "Chapter 16 Panchayati Raj". India's Developing Villages (second ed.). New Delhi: Allied Publishers. p. 343]. ISBN 978-81-7023-281-0.
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