Seethakka seeks special norms for tribal panchayats under 16th Finance Commission
Hyderabad: Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka urged the 16th Finance Commission to provide special relaxations for tribal, Scheduled Area and backward village panchayats. She also sought the continuation of untied basic grants. The minister asked the Commission not to use tax collections as the sole measure of panchayat performance.
Seethakka presented the Telangana government’s views at a national workshop on recommendations for rural local bodies. Union Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh chaired the meeting. Special Chief Secretary Dana Kishore, ministers from other states and senior officials also attended.
The minister said Telangana welcomed performance-based grants. However, the proposed norms should not increase the tax burden on tribal and remote panchayats, she said. According to Seethakka, the Commission should assess local bodies on service delivery. Equal weightage should also go to sanitation, transparency, digital governance and public participation.
16th Finance Commission urged to protect backward panchayats
Further, Seethakka said many village panchayats in Scheduled Areas have small populations. As a result, their own revenue sources remain limited. She sought special relaxations for such panchayats. In addition, she requested relaxed eligibility norms for performance grants covering local bodies with large tribal and Scheduled Caste populations.
The minister said the Centre had withheld development funds for 62 village panchayats where elections had not taken place because of pending court cases. Therefore, she urged the Commission to continue releasing funds in such cases. She said court-ordered delays should not deprive people of development assistance.
Additionally, Seethakka sought the continuation of untied basic grants for local needs. She said gram sabhas should decide spending based on local priorities. The minister welcomed digital governance platforms such as e-Gram Swaraj and PFMS. She also sought Central support to strengthen training, staffing, internet connectivity and technical infrastructure in remote villages.
Finally, the minister requested additional weightage for Scheduled Areas, backward districts and geographically difficult regions during fund allocation. According to her, stronger village panchayats and stronger states would build a stronger India. She added that the Commission’s recommendations should strengthen states and rural local bodies in the spirit of cooperative federalism.