Decentralized
Governance; Water management through VWSC
Democracy as famously quoted, is a form of government
from the people, by the people and for the people. To ensure that the fruit of
democracy reaches out to the last person residing in the remotest village, one
must decentralize the governance from the capital to the village meeting
place. The 73rd amendment
created a three tier Panchayati raj with Gram Sabha being the general body in
each village which has the authority to pass resolution and approve all
decisions. To understand, decentralization, we must first understand division
of Power. In the ancient and medieval ages, the monarch was a centre of power
with ultimate authority and sovereignty. India became independent in 1947 and
was declared as a “Union of states” , which means that unlike a authoritarian
unitary state, The power was divided between the union government and the state
government. The 73rd amendment
constitutionalised the urban and local bodies and hence, now we have 3 tiers of
power/governance, with local bodies being the last tier.
Each tier of government has its own sphere of
influence and jurisdiction and implements its own developmental schemes and
projects. However the implementation part is usually carried out by the bureaucrats
or civil servants. Therefore the implementation and management of all
development projects and schemes are often fall pay to “Red Tapism”. Common
public also almost no say in the implementation process. To ensure that people
have a say and contribution in each step of the implementation process, India
has introduced various mechanisms, Social Audit of MGNREGA, Pani Panchayat, JFM
are few examples of such mechanism.
The Jal Jivan mission by the union government envisages that each and every household has supply of clean drinking water and a tap connection by 2024. To ensure that it is implemented with the participation of the community, the government establishes Village Water Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) in all villages to prepare a village action plan to be implemented and day to day maintenance of water infrastructure within the village with village funds collected through individual contribution and government funds. Niyatee Foundation is entrusted with this responsibility to constitute VWSC in each village in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda district. So far we have formed 5112 VWSCs and entrusted these VWSC with the task of overseeing and management of resources and infrastructure required to achieve water supply to all household by 2024.
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