The father of our nation Gandhiji once said, “Panchayat Raj represents true democracy realized. We would regard the humblest and the lowest Indian as being equally the rules of India with the tallest in the land.” He had envisioned Ram Rajya through village republics where real freedom began through self-reliance and people’s participation in self-governance.
We, the people of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, wholeheartedly welcome the initiative to initiate Constitutional Amendment to implement the three-tier Panchayati Raj in these two districts. Panchayati Raj has been the backbone of Indian democracy. It envisaged incorporating all the villages and its population in the nation-building processes. Further, as the majority of the population lived in the villages it was an endeavour to make them equal stakeholders in the decision-making the process and the developmental activities. Panchayati Raj system came into existence when the Community Development Programmes failed due to the lack of governance and monopoly of the few. Panchayati raj was implemented to decentralise democracy.
Darjeeling MP Raju Bista has demanded that Article 243M section 3 of the constitution which prevented the holding of 3-tier Panchayat Election in the hills is scrapped.
Apropos The Statesman 17 December 2018 :Darjeeling News Service -Darjeeling 16 Dec 2018 – caption “Darjeeling Seminar talks ‘crucial’ Sixth Schedule”. The contents of this…