PM 2LST

The Prime Minister said apart from the women's reservation
in PRIs, there are arrangements for providing quota for SCs
and STs in proportion to their population, while some states
have provided reservation to OBCs too.
"The objective of all these measures is to enhance direct
participation of weaker sections in governance," he said.
Singh said PRIs have been given special importance in the
implementation of various government schemes in the 11th
Five-Year Plan as they understood the local issues well.
"Our government is aware of the difficulties being faced
by Panchayats. It has been our continuous endeavour that basic
facilities are provided to PRIs and arrangements for
(devolution of) funds, functions and functionaries be made to
them," he said.
"This will help giving a new shape to the services
rendered by the Panchayats," he said.
Noting that the government had under the 13th Finance
Commission announced a share to the Panchayats from tax
collections, the Prime Minister said this would give PRIs the
status of local self-governance units in the real sense.
Expressing the hope that the conference would discuss all
the issues, which were inevitable for making PRIs more
effective and transparent, he said the recommendations of the
meet would be seriously looked into and after examination,
the government would take necessary action.
Earlier, Singh presented awards for Effective
Implementation of Panchayats' Empowerment and Accountability
Incentive Scheme to Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West
Bengal, Maharashtra and Sikkim.
He also released a two-volume report for 2010 on the
status of Panchayati Raj.
Rural Development and Pachayati Raj Minister C P Joshi
said the government intended to build a new India through the
Panchayats by empowering the villages.
Joshi said time had come for another Constitutional
Amendment to empower the rural people by making devolution of
power to PRIs mandatory.
He said there was need to bring changes at the grassroots
level by setting Human Development Index standards and pointed
out that NREGA had given opportunity to the rural poor to
improve their economic and social status.
The government, he said, would soon launch a National
Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for socio-economic development
in rural India.
Pachayati Raj Secretary A N P Sinha urged the Prime
Minister to increase the plan allocation for the ministry,
which had not been done for the last three years.
He said a meeting of the newly constituted National
Advisory Council (NAC) under UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
should be convened to discuss a road map for PRIs. PTI