A lot of progress made in the Panchayati Raj has been lost, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday.
“I am sorry to say, it’s a retreat. A lot of forward movement in Panchayati Raj that had taken place, we are now moving to a sort of bureaucratic, DM-based structure. If you look at the southern states, they are doing a better job because they are actually more decentralised. The northern states are centralising power,” Gandhi said while speaking to former RBI governor Dr Raghuram Rajan on a video dialogue.
“I do believe that decentralisation is important, both for bringing local information for work and giving empowerment to the people. What you see across the world is disempowerment, decisions are made elsewhere. Not by me (the common man), I have a vote but that elects somebdy else and my local government or state government has less power,” said Dr Rajan.
“The more decisions are taken to people, the more ability they have to keep a check,” he added.
During the conversation, Gandhi asked Rajan ways and means on how to revive the economy currently in the grip of a crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This is the first in a series of dialogues that Gandhi plans to hold with intellectuals and other public intellectuals.
The dialogue was pre-recorded and disseminated by the Congress on social media.
Gandhi will also be later having dialogues with health experts on how to deal with the pandemic, besides talking to experts in different fields on the effect of the novel coronavirus.
