Rural

1. All functions, which are to done only in the village and do not have any trans-village implications, shall be done at village level only. Such functions, which cannot be done at that level and have trans village implications shall be done at Block level. Those functions, which cannot be done at Block level and have trans Block implications shall be done at District level. Those functions which cannot be done at District level and have trans district implications shall be done at state level. A list of all such functions shall be made for each level of governance and all employees and funds related to each function shall be transferred to appropriate level.
2. Likewise, all assets like roads, streets, public toilets etc, which are completely situated within the boundaries of a village shall be transferred for its upkeep and maintenance to Village level. Those assets, which fall in more than one village shall be transferred to Block. Those assets, which fall in more than one Block shall be transferred to District. Those assets, which fall in more than one district shall be maintained by the State. A list of all such assets shall be made for each level of governance and all employees and funds related to maintenance and upkeep of such assets shall be transferred to appropriate level.
3. All institutions like schools, hospitals, dispensaries etc, which cater to the residents of a particular village only, shall be run by that village only. Such institutions, which cater to the residents of more than one village shall be run by Block. Institutions which cater to residents of more than one block shall be run by district. Institutions which cater to more than one district shall be run by the State. A list of all such institutions shall be made for each level of governance and all employees, funds and assets related to each institution shall be transferred to appropriate level.
4. At least 50% of all state revenues should be directly transferred to Panchayats as untied funds, without any strings. State schemes related to village, block or district level functions should be withdrawn. Untied funds should directly be provided to panchayats.
5. All decisions at village level shall be taken by Gram Sabha (hereinafter referred to as GS), which will meet once every month. The Secretary of Gram Sabha, to be appointed by GS, shall be responsible for implementing those decisions. Decision of a Gram Sabha shall be final, unless it is technically flawed or violates any law. If there is a dispute about legal validity of any GS decision, the same shall be decided by an Ombudsman.
6. The agenda shall be prepared by the Secretary and publicly circulated at least seven days before every meeting. GS members may get any item included in the agenda by submitting it orally or in writing to the Secretary at least 10 days before the meeting. Such an item shall be included in the agenda. At the beginning of each meeting, relative priority of items for discussion shall be decided by consensus.
7. Control over government employees: There would be two sets of employees:
   (a) Those which are directly appointed by respective level of governance.
   (b) Those which are appointed by the state Government but have been transferred to village, block or district. As and when these employees retire, fresh recruitments should henceforth be done by that level of governance, to which they have been transferred.
   The following control shall be exercised by GS. GS will have the power to summon any official at village, block or district level. If there is any dissatisfaction with the performance of any such officer, the GS can take following steps.
   (c) Summon that official to the GS meeting and seek his explanation.
   (d) If the explanation is not satisfactory, GS may direct its Secretary to issue a written reprimand, which will be included in the ACR of the erring official.
   (e) GS may decide to temporarily withhold the salary of an official, if the salary is paid by village Panchayat or GS may direct Block or District level Panchayat to withhold the salary of such official, for the time being, till he/she mends his/her conduct.
   (f) Should the conduct continue to be unsatisfactory, GS may next decide to impose a financial penalty on the erring official after hearing him.
   (g) Lastly, if GS is the appointing authority, it may decide to sack that official.
   If any irregularity comes to the notice of GS or for any other reason, if GS wishes to conduct an enquiry, it may do so by setting up a committee of its own or may direct an appropriate officer to conduct that enquiry within the time prescribed and report back. GS may accept or reject or partly accept the recommendations and findings of that report and take appropriate action.
   
8. State Government shall provide separate budget to each GS for maintaining and running its office.
9. Duties of Gram Sabha.
   (a) Annual plans: State budget would prescribe the amounts to be transferred to each Panchayat, block and district depending upon the formula prescribed by State Finance Commission. GS shall make annual plans for village. Block and district levels shall make plans on the basis of recommendations received from various GS. Priorities to be decided by consensus and where consensus not possible, through voting.
   (b) Payment cannot be made for any project in that village without a satisfaction certificate from Gram Sabha. If the GS finds the project or public work unsatisfactory, it can stop payment and then hold enquiry to find out the cause of unsatisfactory quality and to fix responsibility.
   (c) Gram Sabha shall ensure that none goes hungry, everyone has a house, every child goes to school and everyone gets necessary health care. Expenses related to these items shall be treated as first charge on village, block and district budgets. GS will not depend only upon state budget for the same. It shall be the collective responsibility of the village as a society to ensure that no one sleeps hungry, everyone has a house and every child goes to school. If need be, GS could even raise donations for the same.
   (d) GS to take all steps to ensure employment for all. It can even prescribe wages to be paid on panchayat works, which shall not be less than the prescribed minimum wages of the state. Panchayat may provide loans for small businesses or may even decide to set up small enterprises on cooperative basis or may take any other steps to create employment.
   (e) Those taxes which can be most efficiently collected at village level shall be collected at that level. Taxes which can be efficiently collected at block, district and state level shall be collected at respective levels. Some taxes would be levied by the state government but collected by district or block or panchayat. Some taxes would be levied and collected by the state. Some taxes may be levied and collected by the village or block or district. Such lists shall be prepared and notified by the state government.
   (f) Control over Agriculture Produce Marketing system and revenues therefrom shall be placed directly with the Panchayats and Gram Sabhas.
   (g) GS would only make decisions. Supervision on their execution would be done by direct beneficiaries. Assembly of beneficiaries would be called ‘Beneficiary Sabha’ and its decision would have the same impact as that of parent Gram Sabha.
   (h) Power to revoke licence of existing rations shops and kerosene depots or to give new licence would lie with Beneficiary Sabha.
   (i) GS or block or district, as the case may be, shall have the power to appoint more employees like teachers etc at such terms and conditions as they deem fit, whenever there is such a need.
   (j) The last one hour of each GS meeting would be reserved for hearing of petty individual grievances and trying to resolve them.
   (k) No liquor licence shall be granted without the express approval of the 90 per cent of the women members of a Gram Sabha. The licences of existing liquor shops can be revoked if a simple majority of the women members of a GS so desire.
   (l) Each industrial unit or mining enterprise will require to obtain permission from GS before setting up any such unit. GS may attach any terms and conditions before granting such permission. GS shall have the power to revoke permission if any of the terms are subsequently violated.
   (m) No land can be acquired by the government without the approval of GS. For the purposes of Land Acquisition Act, GS shall be declared as the “State”. GS may prescribe terms and conditions at which they would allow land acquisition.
   (n) Change in land use shall be granted by GS only.
   (o) All land transfers, titles, records shall be maintained by the GS.
   (p) GS shall have the same community control over natural resources under its jurisdiction as PESA has given to GS in tribals areas. GS shall exercise control over all natural resources within the boundaries of that Panchayat.
   (q) If more than 5% of all Gram Sabhas propose a law, the state government shall send a copy of that law to all Gram Sabhas to seek their approval. If more than 50% of Gram Sabhas pass that resolution, state government shall pass that laws. Likewise Gram Sabha shall have the power to seek repeal of any law, partly or fully.
   (r) GS and Panchayat members shall have the powers to seek any information from any government official, which is directly or indirectly related to that village. Else, GS can impose a penalty up to Rs 25,000 on that official.
10. There shall be indirect elections to Block and District Panchayats. All sarpanches of a block shall be members of a block panchayat. They will choose from amongst themselves a Block President. All Block Presidents shall be members of District Panchayat. From amongst themselves, they shall choose a President. The job of a Sarpanch shall be to act as a bridge between Block and Village panchayat – to take GS decisions to Block and bring back block decisions to GS. Through Sarpanch, GS will be able to control Block level activities. Likewise, Block President will act as a bridge between Block and District. Sarpanches, Block and district Presidents shall also preside over village, Block and District Panchayat meetings.
11. Any GS may suggest a Block or a District Panchayat to take up any issue or project or the Block or District Panchayat may take up any issue on its own or on suggestion from state or central Government. The issue, with all its details and the opinion of Block Panchayat or District Panchayat on that issue, shall be circulated to all Gram Sabhas in that area for their opinion. Ordinarily, any decision shall be implemented only when there is unanimity amongst the Gram Sabhas affected by that issue.
12. Right to recall: If one third members sign and submit a notice to the State Election Commission expressing loss of faith in Sarpanch, the State Election Commission shall get the genuineness of notice verified and if notice is found to be genuine, hold a secret ballot within a month of receipt of notice for the people to vote whether they wish the sarpanch to be removed.
13. Transparency of records: All records of village, block and District Panchayat shall be public. Any member of the public can inspect these records between specified hours on two working days every week, without any application. If anyone wishes to obtain copies thereof, he shall make an application after inspection and the same shall be made available within a week of application by charging simple photocopying charges.
14. Institution of ombudsman at the district level: For each district, there shall be an ombudsman to entertain and decide upon complaints of violation of Panchayat Act and disputes related thereto or to ensure implementation of various provisions of Panchayat Act. He shall be given sufficient powers to ensure implementation of his orders and to summon records and officials. The Ombudsman shall be elected through a completely transparent and participatory process. Applications shall be invited for the same. The applications received shall be put up on a website and public comments invited on the same. A public hearing shall be held in which all applicants shall be present to answer public queries. A search committee consisting of eminent people from that state (national and international award winners) will recommend names to the Governor on the basis of all the above inputs.