"India needs to empower local panchayats and local bodies if the country aims to give a big push to development agenda," said Chandra. "When our constitution was drafted.. Pandit Nehru said we were looking for true independence. But the constitution is too centralised. All powers too are centralised," Chandra said.
Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra on Thursday called for decentralisation of power by the Central government, to facilitate accelerated growth at the grassroots level. He was speaking at a session on 'Rediscovery of India: Agendas for Change', at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival.
"India needs to empower local panchayats and local bodies if the country aims to give a big push to development agenda," said Chandra. "When our constitution was drafted.. Pandit Nehru said we were looking for true independence. But the constitution is too centralised. All powers too are centralised," Chandra said.
"Centralisation has led to inefficiencies in governance," he said and cited the instance of a government scheme launched some 20 years ago.
"It said any village building a bund to harvest rainwater would get Rs 50,000 as a reward. The scheme doesn't take into account that half of the villages in our country always face drought situation," Chandra said. He said centralisation of power had created a bureaucracy, for which the use of powers of discretion had become an arbitrary act.
The discussion was moderated by writer John Elliot, and also featured journalist Mihir Sharma and poet Vishwajeet Singh.
Sharma made a case for dismantling old laws related to labour and land. He said it was important to remove the restrictions on sale and purchase of agricultural land if India was to go ahead. At present, farmers could sell their land only to other farmers, which was preventing farmers from getting adequate prices for their land, he said.
Another thing hampering industrial development was antiquated labour laws, he said. At present, no factory with more than ten workers could fire any of them, he said, adding that India had better switch to the practice of hire and fire to ensure speedy industrial development.
Vishwajeet Singh said the neglect of tribal areas was the most serious problem faced by the country, and that tribal areas needed interventions in education, nourishment and healthcare on an urgent basis.
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