Panchayat Autonomy- Provisions & Challenges

Recently, an upsarpanch (a vice-chairperson of a Gram Panchayat) committed suicide in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district of Telangana. He had reportedly taken a loan to fund the development works in the village, but was unable to bear the indebtedness after the state government delayed payments inordinately. Only a few days before this incident, several sarpanchs resigned after the government failed to release funds for nearly a year. Sarpanchs have been raising concern over the state government’s delay in releasing the necessary funds which has been forcing them to tap into their own private resources or borrow from external sources to meet the development targets.

What are the provisions for Panchayats?

• The Constitution’s Article 40 (part of the DPSPs) direct