Demography India Vol. 25, No. 2 (1996)

From the Chief Editor’s Desk

THE process of democratic decentralization in India has been ushered in by the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India passed by the Parliament in late 1992 and that became effective from April 1993 as Panchayat and Nagarpalika Acts. By these Acts, the state powers and responsibilities hitherto shared only between the centra! and state governments have been decentralized further, constitutionally and legally, with a third tier of the government, viz. the 'Panchayat Raj' institutions in the rural areas and the 'Nagarpalikas' in the urban areas. This has been called by some leaders as 'the Second Independence of India', and is expected to have far reaching impact on the polity, society, economy and demography of the country. In the rural areas, this third tier of governance, 'Panchayat Raj', that will operate below the district level will consist of three hierarchical bodies; 'Panchayats' at the village level, 'Panchayat Samitis' at the thane or block level and the 'Zilla Parishad' at the district level. For each of these bodies there will be direct election of representatives by the people. Thus actually for the rural areas, this will imply a five-tier of governance; Central, State, Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and the Village Panchayat with each of them having people's elected representatives. Each of these panchayat and nagarpalika bodies will have duly allocated resources and responsibilities from their respective state governments through duly constituted state finance commissions to accelerate the processes of social and economic development. The panchayats are also authorized to raise their own resources directly by certain forms of taxation. Elections to the Panchayats and Nagarpalikas have been completed in most of the states and when fully completed, there will be more than 3.5 million duly elected members in these bodies functioning with an authority of their own at the grass root levels in the country.

The Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution introduced as a part of the 73rd and 74th Amendment has listed 29 items of responsibilities to the Panchayat Raj institutions for regeneration of the villages and these include the important areas as primary health care and family welfare that includes family planning. The National Committee on Population Policy set by the Government of India in 1993 under the chairmanship of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan and that gave its report in 1994 has recognized the primacy of the Panchayat Raj institutions in population stabilization and sustainable economic development and has recommended that each panchayat should be encouraged to develop its own "Socio- Demographic Charter". Such a charter seems to be really micro level planning for local area development at the village level taking account of its population size, growth, resource availability and developmental needs including gender equity and sustainability of development. Though the report of the Swaminathan committee has not yet been adopted by the Government of India and is still with the Parliament, the ushering in of the Panchayat

Raj institutions in most of the states and the abolition of family planning targets by the central and state governments in most of the states have placed an enormous responsibility on the shoulders of these newly formed tiers of local area governments. The future of population trends in this country w ill be largely in the hands of these institutions. They have to be adequately informed and trained on the ground situations of the population problems of their areas. There is a need to launch large scale training programs for these newly elected local leaders on their resources and responsibilities.

In this aspect we can learn some lessons from China's experience. During my visits to rural communes in China in the early 'eighties, I have seen almost in every commune a blackboard indicating the population size of the commune at the beginning of the year, number of males and females, number of births in the past 12 months, births of order 1 (allowed under the one child family norm!) and higher order births, number of marriages conforming to the national policy (with wife above age 23 and husband above age 25), number of marriages that did not conform to these norms, number of families with one child family, number of deaths and infant deaths. All in chalk in a blackboard, for every one to see. Such an open publicity to the population situation and course of vital events over the past 15 years has brought enormous sense of awareness and responsibility at the local level for the need to balance between population and resources. With the explosion in computer technology in India, it should be possible to computerize and depict similar population profiles atleast at the Zilla Parishad levels, to start with, and project them on a large screen in a public place for the people to see and absorb the enormity of the population problem and the need to balance their numbers with their resources.

Demographers in India have a responsibility to extend their levels of analysis to more disaggregated levels of population such as the district and even blocks in order to make them meaningful for policies and program of action, since henceforth they are to take place at local levels, through Panchayat Raj institutions. Local Area Demography and net working of relationships between the demographic characteristics of adjacent areas seem to be the desired lines of research and action if demography has to become more relevant for policy makers and program planners.

K. Srinivasan
Chief Editor, Demography India