UPs inactive standing committees

APPROXIMATELY 90 percent of the Union Parishads (UP) do not have functional standing committees. These committees are crucially important for the discharge of mandatory responsibilities of elected UPs.

In the first place, 13 committees that are to be part and parcel of each UP and devoted to different concerns -- education, health, family planning, social welfare, disaster management, agriculture, fisheries and livestock -- are non-functional. In the second, their importance lies in the fact that they comprise of elected representatives from the parishads, civil society members, socially respected persons and the women representatives of the localities. They are to assist the UP for ensuring better services and resolving local problems.

The basic reason for the non-functioning committees is lack of awareness of and interest in the functions and jurisdictions of the UP as a whole. With such structural inadequecies and operational disconnect the overall work of the UP, as the cornerstone of local governmnet system, is badly impaired.

In the light of above, we urge the government to ensure that the UPs have properly constituted standing committees and that they function in their respective assigned areas.