Grassroots democracy in sixth-schedule areas

The united push by ten autonomous district councils (ADCs) under the Sixth Schedule for expediting the passing of the 125th amendment to the Constitution has revived the issue of strengthening the tribal autonomous councils of the northeast region. The proposed amendment seeks to bring the ADCs in the Northeast region on par with the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and strengthen the ADCs at the grassroots level. The bill provides for the establishment of village and municipal councils in addition to district and regional councils within one year from the commencement of the Act. The constitutional amendment bill has been pending since it was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2019. Union Home Minister Amit Shah inviting the delegation of Chief Executive Members of ADCs for discussion has brightened hopes for fast tracking the process. The bill proposed bringing the ADCs under the purview of the central and state finance commissions to provide separate funds for these autonomous councils on the pattern of PRIs. Under the prevailing constitutional provisions, the central finance commission makes recommendations to augment the state consolidated fund of a state to supplement the resources of panchayats and municipalities but not to the ADCs. This has widened the resource gaps between local bodies and ADCs, which has also been reflected in development deficits in the villages and towns under these autonomous councils. The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution empowered the PRIs down to the village level. As village panchayats of Gram Panchayats are elected through adult franchise, it has strengthened democracy at the grassroots level and empowered the participation of people in the planning process. Implementation of various welfare schemes, development programmes, and projects has become successful in villages that have elected empowered representatives and performed in a transparent manner. Reservation of women’s representation has also brought vibrancy to PRIs. The Ministry of Home Affairs is of the view that the most significant impact of the proposed amendment will be in the form of an augmentation of the financial resources and administrative powers of the autonomous district councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. The bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, and the committee, in its report submitted in 2020, observed the key recommendations made by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), which were accepted by the central government for implementation. The NCRWC recommended devolution of political powers to ADCs with precautions to maintain traditional institutions in the Sixth Schedule areas, entrustment of subjects already given to PRIs to ADCs for their administration, evolving a process of central funding for plan expenditure to the Council directly instead of routing all funds through the state governments, safeguards for minority and micro-minorities, protection of traditions, bringing in gender representation and adult franchise, etc. It also recommended entrusting the implementation of centrally funded projects from various departments of the central government to the ADCs and revived village councils with a strict audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, states the report. The ARC recommendations include setting up a State Finance Commission for the distribution of funds between the state and the ADCs and also setting up a State Election Commission as provided in the PRIs for conducting the election to the councils. Meghalaya was kept out of the purview of the provisions for the elected village and municipal councils and one-third reservations for women. The parliamentary panel, however, cautioned that “direct funding of ADCs by the centre will not only be against the existing constitutional scheme but also would unnecessarily affect the relations of ADCs vis-à-vis state governments adversely.” Another key recommendation by the Committee in regard to the increasing number of seats in various ADCs is that the membership of these councils should be based on some rational criteria instead of deciding on the basis of an agreement or demand to obviate any subsequent demand to change the same. The key objective behind the constitution of the ADCs is to empower the tribal communities in the region by granting them administrative, judicial, and legislative autonomy within their territorial jurisdictions to fulfil their aspirations for the development and preservation of their cultural heritage and identities. Removing the shortcomings in the functioning of the ADCs is crucial to achieving this objective. Strengthening the democratic participation of people is critical to bringing transparency in the utilisation of funds and preventing the syphoning of development funds by the nexus of corrupt elected functionaries, officials, and contractors and the deprivation of targeted beneficiaries. The strengthening of the ADCs must come with strict financial discipline and accountability for every single pie that is released to the council. Expediting the amendments is in the best interest of indigenous people living in ADC areas, but fine-tuning the provisions through extensive consultations among the central government, state governments, and ADCs is necessary for smooth implementation.