The upcoming panchayat elections in state this time will be drawing an extra attention primarily due to two reasons. First, it’s going to be a belated exercise, delayed due to various reasons and second, it will be the first election to be conducted in an altered structure where the erstwhile three-tier pattern is going to be replaced by a two-tier one.

Being fundamentally rural in character in respect of population distribution, economy and a host of socio-cultural parameters, panchayats are the acknowledged vehicles of development and quite correctly, it is often remarked that "panchayats can reach where bureaucrats can’t". If it’s true for whole of India, it’s perhaps true to a much greater extent in Arunachal where, geographical vastness is a compelling reason for a limited outreach of governance. With that rationale, the best competent persons to address local issues especially developmental aspirations will be the locals themselves, which, the well-functioning Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) can deliver. It can be recalled that last panchayat election was held in May 2013 when the number of districts was 17 and the state is without any PRIs since May 2018. It’s thus almost after a gap of nearly two years, rural Arunachal, now with 25 districts will elect its real grassroots representatives and also under a new system where there will be only GPs and ZPs and no Anchal Samities. This has been adopted following the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution that enables a state having less than 20 lakh population to do away with the intermediate layer. The logic behind adopting this pattern is that it will help in reaching governance at the grassroots level in a faster pace and thus accelerate the wheels of development. Even if there will be little room left to put forward any counter-argument against this new system, at the end of the day, much will depend on how the elected representatives live up to the people’s expectations. After all, it’s all about accountability and sincerity and truly speaking, it is they who will be acting as a bridge between the State and Centre in terms of on-ground implementation of schemes and programmes meant for the rural masses.

As the goal is to bring faster rural development through this new two-tier system, it’s vital that political parties choose candidates correctly.  In this case too, just as it happens in any electoral process, a 'clash' between merit vs loyalty is bound to arise and it will be interesting to see how it is tackled by the state’s political parties.

But, it’s hoped that panchayat elections are conducted in a free and fair manner firstly and the new system takes off smoothly, all for a better rural Arunachal. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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