The 15^th Finance Commission headed by Chairman, Shri N.K. Singh alongwith its Members and senior officials met today with the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) of Chhattisgarh.

The Commission was informed that all 29 functions of PRIs as envisaged in the 11^th schedule of the Constitution, have been devolved to PRIs in Chhattisgarh and the accounts are maintained upto 2017-18 and audited upto 2016-17.

Chhattisgarh has a total of 11,149 PRIs, of which 27 are Zilla Panchayats, 146 Janpad Panchayats and 10,976 Gram Panchayats.

As per the major recommendations of the   2^ndSFC  (2012-13 to 2016-17) recommended the total devolution of State’s Net Own Tax Revenue as 8.00%, out of which  6.15% to Panchayat Raj Institutions, 1.85% to Urban Local Bodies.

The 14^th Finance Commission had recommended for the period 2015-20, a devolution of ₹ 4719.72 crores to Chhattisgarh as Basic Grant ( 2.62 per cent of total grants) and a devolution of ₹ 524.41 crores as Performance grant ( 2.62 per cent of total grants).

The Commission has observed that:

• 15^th Finance Commission had recommended grants for only gram panchayats out of 3 tiers of PRIs. State Government may be asked to clarify whether it would like to continue this arrangement only for our award period or would like the other two tiers at Block & district level also to be covered.  
• In 2016-17 & 2017-18, the own revenue (both own tax revenue & non-tax revenue) of Zila Panchayats and Block Panchayats were negligible         

Representatives of 15 PRIs from Raipur, Bhatpara, Kotiyal, Sarguja, Ambikapuram, Narayanpur, Baster, Durg, Kondagaon, and Mahasamund were present for discussions with the Finance Commission.

          Requirements of Panchayat Raj Institutions in Chhattisgarh as highlighted to the Commission, include –

• Address untapped water resources.
• GIS based planning.
• Expansion of Multi-Activity Centre for Livelihood of SHG members in all Blocks.
• Minor forest Processing Centres in 261 Gram Panchayats – high potential for Imli, Mahua, Kaju.
• SHG Working Shed with Toilets in 5055 GPs in 5^th Schedule Areas.
• Road Connectivity – to connect all villages.
• Training of PRI Members for strengthening Panchayat Raj Institutions.
• Water Conservation – Rain Water Harvesting in all PMAYG Houses and in Government/ Panchayat buildings.
• NARVA, GARUVA, GHURVA, BAADI for transforming Rural Economy –
• Narva–Water Conservation works, Irrigation for doubling area under agriculture for doubling farmer’s income.
• Garva – Expansion of Gaothans in all Gram Panchayats, with Toilet facilities.
• Ghurva – Promotion of Organic Composting.
• Baadi – Promotion of Kitchen Garden for sustainable farming.      

The Commission noted all the concerns highlighted by the representatives of the PRIs and promised to address them in its recommendations to the Central Government.

Devolution to Panchayati Raj Institutions and grant structure adjusted to address local infrastructure and livelihood needs. The Fifteenth Finance Commission reviewed assignment of all 29 Eleventh Schedule functions to Chhattisgarh PRIs, low own revenues at zilla and block levels, and noted that its current grant framework addresses only gram panchayats; it sought state clarity on including block and district tiers. The Commission recorded operational needs presented by PRIs-water conservation, GIS planning, road connectivity, SHG livelihood centres, minor forest processing, sanitation in scheduled areas, PRI training, rainwater harvesting, and village transformation initiatives (Narva, Garuva, Ghurva, Baadi)-for incorporation into its recommendations to the central government.