Empowering panchayats: State to launch incentive scheme
In a bid to deepen grassroots participation in social transformation, the Nayab Singh Saini-led Haryana Government is set to unveil a new scheme that will incentivise panchayati raj representatives for contributing to key social causes. The announcement is expected to be made during the National Panchayati Raj Day celebrations on April 24 at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula.
Sources in the Panchayat and Development Department revealed that the new initiative will tie government incentives to measurable achievements in areas such as drug de-addiction, improvement in sex ratio, sanitation, and fitness. The scheme is aimed at expanding the scope of responsibility of elected representatives from traditional development roles to more socially engaged leadership.
“Since these elected representatives work very closely with the public in the rural set-up, they can be instrumental in checking the growing drug menace, arresting the falling sex ratio, maintaining sanitation and inspiring the village youth to take to fitness. The government wants them to become social leaders who usher in change in the state,” an official said.
Financial rewards will be used to promote healthy competition among gram panchayats, zila parishads, and panchayat samitis, encouraging them to strive toward government-set targets. “The financial incentives under the scheme are aimed at building a healthy competition to achieve the targets,” the official added.
Alongside this scheme, the government is actively considering steps to financially empower panchayats through additional support schemes, details of which are still being finalised.
To streamline operations and reduce bureaucratic delays, the government has also decided to adopt direct benefit transfer (DBT) for the honorarium of elected panchayat representatives. Currently, payments are routed through the Block Development Officer (BDO), often leading to delays of 10–12 days due to manual processing.
“Though the numbers involved are large, the government is in the process of collecting the account details of all elected representatives to ensure implementation can be rolled out during the function,” a senior official said. The DBT system is expected to be fully functional in the next few months. In addition, the government will release funds for the construction and enhancement of mahila chaupals during the same programme.
