July 03, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 17, 1428

LAHORE, July 2: Bureaucracy, politicians and landlords were identified as common opponents to devolution plan in Pakistan and Punchayati Raj in India at a two-day symposium which began here on Monday.

A 60-member Indian delegation, led by Panchayati Raj minister Mani Shanker Aiyar, is participating in the Pakistan-India Symposium on Local Governance.

National Reconstruction Bureau chairman Daniyal Aziz and Punjab local bodies minister Muhammad Basharat Raja also spoke on the occasion.

Mr Aiyar said they were here with two objectives in mind: enhancing people-to-people contact for a better and peaceful atmosphere between the two neighbouring states and sharing experiences in devolving power to the grassroots level.

He said first attempt to make Panchayat system as basis of the Indian constitution had been made by Mahatama Gandhi back in 1948 but it was materialised during Rajiv Gandhi’s regime in early 90s through 73rd and 74th amendments to the constitution.

Now there were 250,000 panchayats at village level, 6,000 at tehsil and 530 at district level, he said, adding that of the 3.2 million elected representatives in India, 1.2 million were women, which were more than the women elected in the whole world.

Mr Aiyar said that responsive management needed representative governance.

He said India did not want to emulate the devolution plan and added: “We are here to share our experiences and study the system in vogue here.”

Talking to reporters, Mr Aziz said village and neighbourhood councils, public safety commissions, and the institution of mohtasib could not yet be established as originally planned.

He said some hurdles were being created by the district management group (DMG) officers in the creation of a district service cadre.

However, these obstacles would soon be overcome, he added.

He said there was a proposal under consideration to increase pays and perks of the officers working at district level.