Centrality of panchayati raj in resettlement and rehabilitation
- 2012
- p.733-739.
- Oct-Dec
There is a wide role for panchayats in the land acquisition and rehabilitation process. Being closest to the people, the panchayats and their elected representatives have the feel of the pulse, the sufferings of the people and local conditions. Gram sabhas can play a meaningful role in selecting the beneficiaries, prioritising the beneficiaries to ensure gender and equity concerns and also in deciding the appropriate rehabilitation or reconstruction programme that is needed for the communities. Any legislation empowering the panchayats on land acquisition will make a much difference because if the people at the grassroots are legally empowered to raise objections to land acquisition then there will be a fair chance that the government may have to fight many stiff legal battles in order to proceed with development projects which would displace the poor and the marginalised from their hearth and homes. - Reproduced.