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Here is an essay on ‘Zila Parishad’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Zila Parishad’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay # 1. Composition of Zila Parishad:
There are two methods of constituting Zila Parishad—directly constituted pattern prevails in Gujarat, Punjab, U.P. and Maharashtra. According to this pattern, some elected members are also included in the membership of the body.
In Gujarat, Maharashtra and U.P., some of these elected members are elected from electoral constituencies consisting of 35,000 people. In the Punjab, the members of Panchayat Samiti constitute an electoral college to elect five members of Zila Parishad from amongst primary members. Similar provision exists in U.P.
A Committee recommended direct Election of the Zila Parishad stating, “…. Consequently we are convinced that District Councils (Zila Parishads) which will exercise the functions of the state as proposed by us should be broad-based, should be directly responsible to the people and have the requisite political stature and therefore be substantially directly elected.”
Under the latter pattern, which prevails in Rajasthan, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Assam, M.P., Orissa and Bihar, Zila Parishad comprises of all the Pradhans of Panchayat Samitis in the District, all the members of the Legislative Assembly elected from the District, all the members of the Lok Sabha elected from a constituency which forms part of a District, all the members of the Rajya Sabha living in the District and the President of the Central Cooperative Bank.
These members co-opt two women if no woman happens to be a member of the Zila Parishad. They co-opt only one woman in case one is already the member of Zila Parishad. Likewise a member of scheduled caste and also of scheduled tribe is co-opted if none out of them is a member of the Zila Parishad and if the population of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes exceeds 5% of the total population of the district.
Besides, two other members whose experience in administration and public life or rural development might be of benefit to the Zila Parishad are also co-opted. The Collector is also ex-officio member of Zila Parishad. He does not possess right to vote. Chairman of the Central Co-operative Bank and Chairman of the District Co-operative Union are the Associate members.
The members of Zila Parishad elect the Pramukh and Up-Pramukh from amongst themselves. The Pramukh or Up-Pramukh is removable by a vote of no confidence if it is carried out by a majority of 2/3 of the total members. The term of the Zila Parishad is three years.
Essay # 2. Functions of Zila Parishad:
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The Zila Parishad performs executive, co-ordinative, advisory, appellate, supervisory, declaratory, house-keeping and joint servicing functions. The Asoka Mehta Committee (1978) emphasised the transfer of major powers to Zila Parishads. However, these powers should be supervisory and coordinative and not executive where effective Panchayat Samiti at Block level exists.
However, the States following the recommendation assigned only coordinative and supervisory functions to it. The Naik committee assigned executive functions as well. Hence, the following were the functions of Zila Parishads till the passage of 73rd Amendment 1992. Later its nomenclature remained the same.
1. Executive:
In Punjab, Andhra, Gujarat, Maharashtra and U.P. the Zila Parishad has been endowed with executive functions which were formerly vested with District local boards, district school boards, district development committees and Panchayat Samitis. For example, the Zila Parishads in the Punjab have been entrusted agricultural credit, agricultural promotion, animal husbandry, inter village roads and communications.
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In U.P. the Zila Parishads look to the development of animal husbandry and village and cottage industries, medical and public health, education and culture of the residents of the area and public works. It performs relief work, looks to planning, statistics and administration.
In Maharashtra, the Zila Parishad is responsible for performing all functions covered within the ambit of “local sector”. Such functions pertain to agricultural development, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, development, health and rural sanitation, water supply, primary and secondary education, development of cottage industries and social welfare programme.
2. Supervisory:
The Zila Parishad supervises the activities of the Panchayat Samitis with regard to the promotion of agricultural production, construction and employment progammes. It can seek information from any local body within its jurisdiction regarding its activities and possesses right of inspection.
It can ask for and review the administrative reports of the samiti before forwarding them to the State Government. Through the distribution of ad- hoc grants amongst the Panchayat Samitis, it can exercise control over delinquent Panchayat Samitis.
3. Coordinative:
Co-ordination of the work of Panchayats and Panchayats Samitis is another important function of the Zila Parishad. Its power of examining the budgets of the Panchayat Samitis enables it to effect co-ordination.
4. Advisory:
The Zila Parishads tender advice to the State Government on matters concerning the activities of Panchayats and Panchayat Samitis, the implementation of any statutory or executive order as might be referred to them by the State Government and executing the plan projects in the district.
5. Appellate:
The Zila Parishad settles disputes between a Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti within the same district or between two different Panchayats or two different Panchayat Samitis within the same district.
An appeal can be carried by the Zila Parishad staff to the Zila Parishad, against the disciplinary action taken against them by the secretary or the standing committee on finance, taxation and administration of a Panchayat Samiti, amounting to withholding of an increment of the member of Panchayat Samiti or Zila Parishad services.
6. Joint Servicing:
Where Zila Parishads have not been entrusted executive functions, their jurisdiction has been confined to establishment functions as joint training, organisation of camps, conferences, seminars and training institutes, selection and promotion of Panchayati Raj personnel (class III), hearing appeals regarding disciplinary action, against such personnel, execution of a project concerning two or more Panchayat Samitis with their consent and framing rules regarding use and maintenance of such works.
7. Declaratory:
The Zila Parishads have also been assigned the duty of declaring the “progressive farmers” the best block and the best village level worker. They can also classify fairs, festivals and roads as having village, inter-village or district character.
8. House-Keeping:
The house-keeping functions of the Zila Parishad comprise of publications of statistics, secretarial work, budgeting, reporting to state government. The indirectly constituted Zila Parishads are empowered to examine the budgets of the Panchayat Samitis, make non-binding observations thereon and call for the records and other information. They may, however, be assigned other functions by the State Government.
We can thus conclude that though the Zila Parishad is chiefly a supervisory, advisory and coordinative body, it also examines and approves the budget of Panchayat Samitis under it. It also performs important administrative functions. It can assume the role of a real intermediate power as well. Much, however, depends upon the State Governments which may duly respect the advice of the Zila Parishad.
Dr. Jain has well portrayed the authority of Zila Parishad in the words; “The real authority of Zila Parishad, however, has to be moral. It is woven with its ability to accommodate and do justice to the differing viewpoints and claims which arise inevitably in a changing political context.
It is equally tied up with the competence in co-ordination work of the lower bodies, stimulating productive activities and developing and disseminating creative ideas and solutions with regard to administration and technical problems.”
Essay # 3. Functions of Pramukh:
(1) The Pramukh presides over the meetings of the Zila Parishad and conducts its meetings.
(2) He pays visits to the Panchayats and Panchayat Samitis to enthuse them and to inspect their work. He places his report regarding their work before the Zila Parishad.
(3) He sends a report to the Collector regarding the work of the Secretary of the Zila Parishad.
(4) Where Zila Parishad is executive body, he possesses considerable administrative powers to deal with emergencies.
(5) He supervises the Chief Executive Officer for implementing the resolutions and orders of the Council.
(6) He submits confidential report to the Commissioner.
(7) He can pass remarks on confidential reports of class I and II offices as submitted by the Chief Executive Officer.
(8) He can have access to the records of the Council.
(9) In emergency, he can direct the execution of any work pertaining to the district body.
It is thus evident that the Pramukh combines in himself the role of a leader and also a supervisor. His appraisal of the work of a Pradhan might affect the political fortunes of the latter. His inspections also are fairly rewarding. However, much depends upon his own personality, competence as a leader, hiss objective outlook and his human relationship skills.
If he adopts authoritarian attitude, the Pradhan of different political complexions might embarrass him not only by indulging in criticism in the meetings of Zila Parishad but also actively campaigning against him in the election.
Essay # 4. Zila Parishad Finances:
The income and expenditure of the Zila Parishad to a great extent, depends upon the status of this body in the three-tier system. In Rajas-than, the budget of Zila Parishad varies between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 30,000. The entire income of the Parishad accrues from the grants made by the State Government. The major part of the income is expended on the salaries and allowances of the staff and members.
However, a minor part of it is spent on publicity and member education programme. In U.P., Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra, where executive functions are also entrusted to the Parishad, the resources are considerably large.
An overall comparative assessment of the finance of the Zila Parishads reveals that the financial position of the Maharashtra Zila Parishads is the strongest, as they spend approximately 1/3 of the total income of the State.
This income is derived mostly from Government’s grants and loans. Only about 70% of the income is derived from the self-raised resources. The same tale is to tell in U.P. In Andhra, the self- raised resources constitute the major part.
As regards expenditure pattern, expenditure on education is the maximum. It is nearly 50% of the total income. Nearly 1/4 of the income with the exception of U.P. is spent on local works. Medical and public health services also consume fairly sizable portion of the income.
A part of revenues is spent on agriculture though in U.P. percentage of such expenditure is woefully small. The expenditure on General management is about 6% of the total expenditure. This favourably compares with the same in the Panchayat Samiti, which is over 20% of the total.
Essay # 5. The Committee System in Zila Parishad:
It is imperative to say a few words about Committee System in Parishads. The composition, functions and powers of the committees of the Parishads differ from state to state according to status of the Zila Parishad in the three-tier system.
The statutory committees of the Parishad do not exist in Rajasthan except of course a District Establishment Committee which makes appointments and effects transfers and promotions within the District. In actual practice various other committees on production programmes, social services, finance and administration have come into existence.
In the states where Parishads are equipped with executive powers, standing committees have been constituted to probe into each major group of functions.
Seven standing committees dealing with planning community development and communications; Industries—cottage and village small-scale industries; women and children welfare; social welfare, education, public health and medicine; taxation and finance; food and agriculture, animal husbandry, forests, irrigation and power exist in Andhra.
The Collector is the Chairman and the Pramukh is the ex-officio member of these committees. These committees meet comparatively less frequently than their counterparts in the Panchayat Samitis probably because they are concerned with review and overall supervision rather than with execution.
In Maharashtra, the committee system of the Parishads is of more vigorous type. Six statutorily prescribed subject-matter committees viz., finance, agriculture, works, co-operative, education and health exist in Maharashtra. Besides these committees, there exists another standing committee consisting of the President and seven other members elected by the Council from its own members.
The President is the ex-officio Chairman of the standing committee. The Vice President happens to be the ex-officio Chairman of the two subject-matter committees. The secretarial and executive assistance is provided by the Chief Executive Officer and the heads of the technical departments for their respective subject-matter committees.
Each subject-matter committee is responsible for the development schemes within its subject-matter competence. It not only sanctions the estimates prepared under various schemes but supervises their execution as well.
It is concerned with periodic review of the progress, formulation of budget estimates for area of its own subject-matter, responsibility, supervision of the budget execution in the field assigned to it, acquisition, sale or transfer of immovable property, sanctioning execution of schemes and contingent expenditures.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Besides these subject-matter committees, there are block committees constituted on territorial basis for each N.E.S. Block.
These committees consist of members of the District Council, elected from the area of the Block and other co-opted members of the District Council, two Sarpanchs elected by Panchas, chairman of agricultural co-operative society of the block, chairman of Taluka purchase and sales union, one member each from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women of the area.
The chairman of the block committees is elected by the members and is ex-officio member of the district. These committees execute and supervise the schemes and works of the Council in the Block area and execute any other work on behalf of the Council or its committees. They can submit development plans of their Block to the District Council. They also propose increase in local cess on land revenue, taxes, fees to the District Council.
The standing committees supervise and control the inspection and collection of taxes and other dues of the Council. They regulate the investment of district funds, pass monthly accounts of receipts and expenditure and review progress of the programmes periodically. They can sanction leave to the Chief Executive Officer up to one month and to other Class I or Class II officers up to four months.
They in consultation with the appropriate selection body possess revision authority against the orders of the Chief Executive Officer, in regard to Class III and Class IV employees of the Council. Commenting on the committee system, Dr. S.C. Jain remarks, “This remarkable system is designed to combine principles of administrative efficiency with the necessary political control and allows wide scope for the exercise of local initiative with full assurance of a high order of legal, technical and administrative advice.”