State of Panchayati Raj In Manipur
- Part 3 -

G S Oinam *

State Finance Commission

The State has had two State Finance Commission so far. The first State Finance Commission submitted its report in December, 1996. The State Government submitted its Action Taken Report on the same to the State Assembly towards the end of July, 1997. The State Government approved the recommendations of the SFC subject to the following conditions:

1. Establishment grant to Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) be re-examined.
2. The modalities for implementation of recommendation regarding
1. Target of ARM for RLBs / ULBs (excluding Imphal MC )
2. Amendment in Laws and Rules to bestow additional powers of taxation of Gram Panchayats.
3. Creation of Municipal service cadre to be worked out.
3. The ARM targets for the ULBs to be revised to bring the gaps between the Government Grant and the contribution of ULBs. The State Government also decided to implement other recommendations not relating to immediate devolution in a phased manner after finalization of detailed rules and regulations.

The Second State Finance Commission (SFC) was appointed on 3/1/2003 to cover up the period 2001-2005. However, there was a long delay in the appointment and the commission came into existence only march, 2003. The report of the Second SFC was available in November, 2004 and the action taken report on the same was submitted in the State Assembly in December 2005.

The State Government decided to adopt the recommendation and extend the period covered by the recommendations up to 31/03/2010. State Government decision to constitute the 3rd State Finance Commission 2 years before 31/03/2010 has inactive till September 2008. However, now, decided to constitute 3rd SFC.

In the explanatory memorandum of the Action Taken Report of Second State Finance Commission, it has been state that the recommendations have been approved by the government subject to detailed examination and appropriate action on the following:

1. Transfer of functions and responsibilities to the local bodies.
2. The principles of devolution funds and grants to the local bodies.
3. Power of levying taxes and fees including enhancement of rates.
4. Transfer of staff and administrative control thereof necessary for performing assigned functions.
5. Making the local bodies representatives in character by holding timely and regular elections.

Electronic transfer of funds

The state has accepted to transfer twelfth Finance Commission grants for Panchayeti Raj Institutions through the Fund Transfer Monitoring Software developed by NIC unit of the Ministry of Panhayat in Manipur and has uploaded the same on the Panchayat Portal through the state Unit of NIC. It is the first State to do so.

Fund as soon as it released from the Central to the State government are deposited in the bank account of the ZPs and the GPs with the Directorate acting like a post office kind of.

Financial outlays of PRIs in Manipur.

A sum of Rs.285.91 lakhs has been utilized for payment of staff salaries, office expenses, electric bills, Water charges awarded under non plan of 12th finance commission in the year 2005-06.Under the plan Budget, a sum of Rs.60.07 lakhs has been utilized during

(Release of grants to Manipur Panchayats from 12th finance Commission)

Total allocation Rs.4600lakhs- Amount of 6 monthly installments to be released is Rs 460 Lakhs, First Installment 2005-06 -Rs212 Lakhs released and continually releases the consecutive installments,) Twelfth Finance Commission has recomended grants amounting to Rs. 25.30 crores for a period five years @ Rs. 506.00 lakhs annually (2005-06 to 2009-10).

Now Government of Manipur has released an amount of Rs. 211.60 lakhs during 2005-06 (1st Installment), Rs. 423.20 lakhs during 2006-07 as 2nd installment for 2005-06 (Rs. 211.60 lakhs), 1st Installment for 2006-07 (Rs. 211.60 lakhs and interest (Rs. 73,046) on the period of delayed distribution to the PRIs and Rs. 211.60 lakhs during 2007-08 as 2nd installment for 2006-07 and the funds had been utilized as per Action Plan. Utilization Certificate of the fund released has already been submitted to the Finance Department, Govt. of Manipur. It is targeted, for the remaining grant will be utilized fully up to end of March 2010.

The State has accepted to transfer Twelfth Finance Commission grants for Panchayati Raj Institution through the fund transfer monitoring software develop by the NIC unit of the Ministry of Panchayat in Manipur and has uploaded the same on the Panchayat portal through the state unit of NIC. It is the first state to do so. Fund as soon as released from the central to the state govt. are deposited in the bank account of the ZPs and GPs with Directorate acting like a post office kind of.

TRAINING INSTITUTE:-

The State Institute of Panchayati Raj and rural development (SIPRARD), now STATE INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SIRD) is the training Institute of Rural Development in the State. The institute has been converted into an Autonomous State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) during the financial year; 2005-06 vide order No.3/3/2003- Dev (SIPRARD) dated 23/01/2006 to have the uniform pattern of the SIRDs as per guidelines of the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India.

The funding pattern (Except Salary of 5 Core faculty members) is 50:50 to be shared by the Govt. of India and state Government.

CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE ATTENEDED THE TRAINING PROGRAMMES:

Training in context with rural development are undergoing in the following categories of people:-

1. 1. Officials pertaining to RD
2. Non-Officials (Elected Persons of local self Govt.)
3. Officials from Line Department & Development Blocks.
4. NGOs, CBOs and Facilitators.
5. The Gram Sabha Members i.e. the general public at the grass root level of the G.P.

The objectives of the courses are mainly to acquaint the official and non- official Rural Development Functionaries with the Central Sponsored Schemes and to ensure proper and effective implementation of the poverty alleviation and Rural Development Programmed During the year (2005-06) under report, up to 28/2/2006, the Institute organized 97 training courses and all together 3534 numbers of participants (for the whole State of Manipur), attended the training programmes.

During the year (2006-07) under report up to 31/3/2007, the Institute organized 123 training courses (for the whole State), in which 4411 PRIs representatives, Officials and representatives of NGOs participated the training programmes.

State Level Monitoring Cell Secretariat: Rural Development Department:

The Secretariat Development Department (Monitoring Cell) was established in the year, 1981. The Department co-ordinates and monitors the implementation of programmes under Central Sponsored Schemes as well as other State Plan Programmes that the State Govt. assigns to this Department from time to time.

The Rural Development Department (Monitoring Cell) is headed by the Commissioner/Secretary (RD & PR) and he is assisted by the Joint Secretary (RD & PR) as the Head of Office and the Project Officers etc

Concluded....

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* The author is a journalist based in New Delhi and contributes regularly to e-pao.net. He can be contacted at gitchandraoinam (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) in
This article was webcasted on February 05th, 2010.

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