LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

ZILLA PARISHAD

Historical Background.

The villages in ancient India had always been autonomous units like that of Greek City States. The characteristic feature of administration in ancient India was the prevalence of freedom and autonomy in governing the village institutions. However, the villages lost their autonomy as more powers came to be vested and concentrated in the sovereign kings.

During the British administration, some attempts were made to revive the local self-government institutions in India with a view to training the people in the administration of such institutions by giving them representations in such local bodies. As a result, municipalities, district school boards and janpad sabhas as also village panchayats came to be established subsequently. It was possible for British Government to regenerate confidence among the masses inhabiting the rural areas.

Vidarbha organised its gram panchayats and nyaya panchayats in 1946 while in the Marathwada region the village panchayat, started functioning in every village with a population of 5,000 and above in 1941. After the reorganisation of the erstwhile State of Bombay, the Village Panchayats Act was passed in 1953 for the whole State. This Act envisaged a village panchayat mandal for every district. Not only this but gatnyaya panchayats came to be organised for groups of five or more village panchayats.

In course of time, the experience gained indicated that the progress of rural development was not commensurate with the expectations of the Government. Various development activities introduced in the various plan periods could not achieve a commendable amount of success owing to non-participation of the villagers in the implementation of such developmental schemes. The Central Government came to the conclusion that it was necessary for the Government to investigate the causes behind such a state of affairs. It, therefore, appointed a committee called the ' Balwantrai Mehta Committee'.

The Balwantrai Mehta Committee pointed out, mainly among other findings, that the Government could not succeed in appealing and attracting the leadership of the masses to participate in the Community Development and National Developmental schemes. Institutions of the type of the Local self-Government had not taken any keen interest to participate in such developmental schemes and had not shown any initiative for such work. The part played by the village panchayats in such work was also not very encouraging. There was very often interference from the Government in the affairs of the working of the local boards. The Committee came to the conclusion that the urgent necessity of the day, to remedy this state of affairs, was the decentralisation of power and responsibility at the lower level. The Committee, therefore, suggested that the responsibility for such regional and local development work should be assigned to such local institutions at the district level with the Government accepting the role of guiding, supervising and planning from a higher level, making available the required finance and so on.

The Balwantrai Mehta Committee recommended the formation of local committees on par with Block Development Committees to be named as Panchayat Samitis, and at the district level a district committee to be called as Zilla Parishad, instead of the Local Boards, etc., in order to lecure integration in the various development activities. Thus, the Gram Panchayats, the Panchayat Samitis and the Zilla Parishad are the three responsible institutions in the decentralisation of administration, which are entrusted with the implementation of the development schemes.

With this view an Act, to provide for the establishment of Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis to assign to them local government functions, and to entrust the execution of certain works and development schemes in the State Five-Year Plans and to provide for the decentralisation of powers and functions under certain enactments, was passed in 1961, known as the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961.

Under the provisions of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, which came into force from 1st May, 1962, all ex-Boards, i.e., District Local Board, District School Board, District Building Committee and District Development Board were abolished and their work was vested in the Zilla Parishad.

Subjects of Activities.

In what follows is described in brief, the subjects of activities of different departments taken over by the Zilla Parishad:—

Agriculture

(a) Establishment, management, maintenance and the giving of grants to agricultural schools for matters other than (i) laying down of syllabus, (ii) prescription of text-books and (iii) conducting annual examinations.

(b) Crop competitions.

(c) Crop protection.

(d) Crop campaign (including kharif and rabi crop campaigns and intensive paddy cultivation).

(e) Compost and green manures.

(f) Distribution of fertilisers, agricultural implements and agricultural quota of iron, steel and cement.

(g) Demonstration of improved agricultural practices.

(h) Model demonstration of subsidiary seed farms.

(i) Importation and distribution of improved seeds.

(j) Establishment and maintenance of godowns.

(k) Advancement and improvement of agriculture.

(l) Eradication of noxious plants,

(m) Acclimatisation of exotics.

Animal Husbandry

(a) Veterinary aid (excluding district veterinary hospital but including veterinary dispensaries, veterinary aid centres and village veterinary chests).

(b) Improvement of breed of cattle, horse, and other live-stock (including artificial insemination sub-centres, key village centres, premium bull centres, silo pits, formation of tahsil and district live-stock improvement association and the like, and distribution of improved breed of sheep).

(c) Distribution of improved poultry.

(d) Organisation of cattle shows.

Forests

(a) Village forests and grazing lands (including measures for development of village woodlands for purposes of pasture and fuel).

Social Welfare.

(a) Educational development of backward classes, including measures relating to grant of scholarships, freeships and examination fees to backward class students.

(b) Economic development of backward classes including (1) financial assistance to individual cultivators in the form of loans and subsidies for the purpose of purchasing agricultural requisites,

(2) financial assistance to individual artisans in the form of loan and subsidies for cottage industries and professions,

(3) supply of spinning wheels to vimukta jatis,

(4) development of communications in backward areas,

(5) maintenance of co-operative stores and grant of subsidies to multipurpose co-operative societies for maintenance of staff (so far as co-operative societies having not more than five lakhs rupees working capital each and having jurisdiction over less than a district, are concerned),

(6) establishment of handicraft centres, and

(7) development of cattle breeding and poultry farms.

(c) Removal of untouchability.

(d) Programmes for welfare of backward classes.

Education.

(a) Establishment, management, maintenance and inspection of primary and basic schools including grants-in-aid to schools but excluding—

(i) laying down of syllabus,

(ii) prescription of text-books,

(iii) conducting scholarship examinations,

(iv) conducting Primary School Certificate Examinations and Standard IV examinations and

(v) such other powers as are vested in the State Government under the Bombay Primary Education Act, 1947.

(b) Establishment, management, maintenance and inspection of secondary schools, excluding—

(i) prescription of curriculum,

(ii) prescription of text books,

(iii) permission for conversion of high schools into higher secondary schools,

(iv) rates of fees,

(v) laying down general conditions for recognition,

(vi) conducting primary and high school scholarship examinations,

(vii) such other powers as may be specifically entrusted to the Director of Education or reserved for the State Government, under the grant-in-aid code. In the case of private secondary schools, only grants are recommended and disbursed on the receipt of sanction from the Director of Education.

(c) Grant of loans and scholarships to students in respect of primary and secondary education.

(d) Construction and maintenance of primary and secondary school buildings of the Zilla Parishad.

(e) Other educational objects.

(f) Provision of equipment and playgrounds for schools.

Medical.

(a) Taluka dispensaries, including their upgrading.

(b) Hospitals, excluding civil and cottage as also big Government hospitals.

(c) Rural medical relief centres and public medical relief.

(d) Grant of financial assistance to institutions giving antirabic treatment to indigent persons.

(e) Grants-in-aid to private charitable hospitals, dispensaries, maternity homes and such other institutions.

Ayurvedic.

(a) Ayurvedic and Unani dispensaries (including giving grants to such dispensaries).

(b) Replenishing stock of ayurvedic medicine chest in villages.

Public Health.

(a) Primary health centres.

(b) Mandi health units.

(c) Vaccination.

(d) Maternity and Child Welfare Centres.

(e) Maintenance of medicine boxes in villages.

(f) Facilities for health education.

(g) Rural sanitation.

(h) Taking of necessary measures in the interest of public health,

(i) Reclamation of unhealthy localities.

Buildings and Communications.

(a) Construction, maintenance and repairs of (i) village roads, (ii) other district roads, (iii) major district roads and (iv) bridges on above mentioned roads.

(b) Rural parks and gardens.

(c) Construction of administrative and other buildings in connection with Zilla Parishad's requirements.

(d) Means of communications other than roads.

(e) Public ferries.

(f) Maintenance of trees in the vicinity of roads.

(g) Light railways and tramways.

(h) Telephone lines.

Public Water Supply

(a) Rural water supply.

(b) Protected water supply for fairs in rural areas.

(c) Works for preservation of water for drinking, bathing and cooking from pollution.

Irrigation.

Minor irrigation works (only those works which irrigate 250 acres or less).

Industries.

(a) Local Industries The grant of loans is limited up to rupees

(b) Local Art ten thousand in each case in respect of small scale or cottage industries.

(c) Training institutes and schools, excluding research institutes and institutes meant for an area larger than a district.

(d) Training-cum-production centres and production centres.

(e) Sales depots and emporia.

(f) Giving of grants-in-aid and loans to individual craftsman,

(g) Giving of stipends to trainees.

(h) Promotion and development of cottage and village industries,

(i) Organising marketing facilities for cottage and village industries.

(j) Giving of grants-in-aid and loans to industrial co-operatives.

(k) Handlooms.

(l) Executive work relating to enforcement of Weights and Measures Act.

Co-operation

(a) Registration of co-operative societies (only in respect of those societies whose authorised capital does not exceed rupees fifty thousand each and whose jurisdiction is less than a district).

(b) Approval to bye-laws of the types of societies mentioned above.

(c) Appeals arising out of non-admission of members to the types of societies mentioned above.

(d) Administrative supervision over co-operative societies (only to the extent of examination of the general working of societies, their management and financial position, with a view to improve the business standard adopted by the societies and their office bearers and also extending their activities.)

(e) Promotion and extension in respect of all types of co-operative societies.

(f) Sponsoring of applications of co-operative societies for financial assistance from the State Government.

(g) Sponsoring of applications of co-operative societies (such as may be specified by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies) to concerned federal societies in respect of participation in share capital.

(h) Taking shares in co-operative societies in those cases in which the State Government can take shares subject to conditions laid down by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.

(i) Supervision and control over Agricultural Produce Markets (only the district level work of supervision and control).

Publicity

(a) Mobile publicity vans.

(b) Organising district exhibitions.

(c) Publicity through recreational activities.

(d) Rural broadcasting.

Community Development.

(a) Community Development Programme.

(b) Local Development Works Programme.

Social Education.

(a) Community recreation centres.

(b) Adult literacy centres.

(c) Sports, games, playgrounds, equipment and welfare organisations.

(d) Kisan melas.

(e) Conducting visits.

(f) Dissemination of information.

(g) Short camps.

(h) Women's organisation and welfare.

(i) Children's organisation and welfare.

(j) Mobile cinema vans.

(k) Libraries and reading-rooms.

(l) Fairs, shows and exhibitions.

Miscellaneous

(a) Village uplift.

(b) Building model villages (including grants and loans for the purpose).

(c) Economic welfare of villages.

(d) Local works or measures likely to promote health, safety, comfort or convenience of the public.

(e) Markets.

(f) Dharmashalas, rest houses, travellers' bungalows, sarais and the like.

(g) Chawadis.

(h) Other public institutions.

(i) Local unemployment, other than industrial unemployment.

(j) Improvement and extension of village sites (including grants and loans for the purpose).

(k) Laying new village sites (including grants and loans for the purpose).

(l) Well-being of employees of Zilla Parishad.

(m) Provision of houses for employees of Zilla Parishad.

(n) Planting and preservation of trees on public grounds and gardens,

(o) Rewards for destruction of wild animals.

(p) Public receptions and ceremonies and entertainments.

(q) Arrangement for local pilgrimages,

(r) Burial and cremation grounds.

(s) Sammelans of panchas, sarpanchas of village panchayats and other non-officials.

(t) Local vagrancy relief for the poor.

(u) Maintenance of poor-houses.

The powers and functions of the non-official office bearers of the Zilla Parishad are detailed below:—

Miscellaneous

President.

The President shall—

(a) convene, preside at and conduct meetings of the Zilla Parishad;

(b) have access to the records of the Zilla Parishad;

(c) discharge all duties imposed, and exercise all the powers conferred on him by or under the Act;

(d) watch over the financial and executive administration and submit to the Parishad all questions connected therewith which shall require its orders; and

(e) exercise administrative supervision and control over the Chief Executive Officer for securing implementation of resolutions or decisions of the Zilla Parishad or of the Standing Committee or of any Subjects Committee, or of any Panchayat Samiti.

The President in cases of emergency directs the execution or suspension or stoppage of any work or the doing of any act which requires the sanction of the Zilla Parishad or any authority thereof, and immediate execution or doing of which, in his opinion, is necessary for the service or safety of the public, and also directs that the expense of executing such work or doing such act shall be paid from the District Fund.

Provided that, he shall report forthwith the action taken under this section, and the full reasons thereof to the Zilla Parishad, the Standing Committee and the appropriate Subjects Committees at their meetings and the Zilla Parishad, or the Committee may amend or annul the direction made by the President.

The President of the Zilla Parishad receives an honorarium of Rs. 500 per month with rent free residential accommodation.

Vice-President.

The Vice-President shall—

(a) preside at the meetings of the Zilla Parishad in the absence of the President;

(b) exercise such of the powers and perform such of the duties of the President as the President from time to time may, subject to the rules made by the State Government in this behalf, delegate to him by an order in writing; and

(c) exercise the powers and perform the duties of the President during the absence of the President, or while pending the election of President.

The Vice-President who is the Chairman of two Subjects Committees gets consolidated honorarium of Rs. 300 per month along with rent-free residential accommodation.

Chairman of Standing Committee or Subjects Committee.

Subject to the provisions of the Act, and the rules made there under by the State Government, the Chairman of the Standing Committee or a Subjects Committee shall—

(i) convene, preside at and conduct meetings of the Committee, and

(ii) have access to the records of the Committee.

The Chairman of any such Committee may, in relation to subjects allotted to the Committee,—

(i) call for any information, return, statement, account or report from any officer employed by or holding office under the Zilla Parishad or any servant thereof, and

(ii) enter and inspect any immovable property occupied by the Zilla Parishad or any institution under the control and management of the Zilla Parishad or any work or development scheme in progress undertaken by the Zilla Parishad or under its direction.

Provided that the Chairman of the Standing Committee may, in relation to any subject allotted to any Subjects Committee, also exercise the powers under this clause.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee may grant leave of absence for any period exceeding two months, but not exceeding four months, to any officer of Class 1 service (other than the Chief Executive Officer) or Class II service holding office under the Zilla Parishad.

Save as otherwise provided by or under this Act, the powers to be exercised and the duties to be discharged by, and which of the subjects enumerated in the district list are to be allotted to, the Standing Committee, and each of the Subjects Committees shall be such as may be prescribed by regulations, but all subjects in relation to social welfare enumerated in the district list are allotted to the Standing Committee.

The Vice-President is the Chairman of two Subjects Committees. The councillors have to elect from amongst elected councillors two persons to be chairmen of the remaining Subjects Committees. They also get an honorarium of Rs. 300 each per month alongwith rent-free residential accommodation.

A Chief Executive Officer, a Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Block Development Officers and the heads of the various departments of the Zilla Parishad are the executive officers of the Zilla Parishad. They are all gazetted officers and are transferable by the State Government. The Chief Executive Officer belongs to the cadre of Indian Administrative Service and his rank is equal to that of a Collector. The Deputy Chief Executive Officer is an officer of the rank of the Deputy Collector. The Block Development Officers are Class II officers while the heads of the departments are either Class I or Class II officers.

Chief Executive Officer.

The Chief Executive Officer—

(i) shall lay down the duties of all the officers and servants of or holding office under the Zilla Parishad in accordance with the rules made by the State Government;

(ii) shall be entitled to call for any information, return, statement, account or report from any officer or servant of, or holding office under the Zilla Parishad;

(iii) shall supervise and control the execution of all the activities of the Zilla Parishad;

(iv) shall have papers and documents connected with the proceedings of meetings of the Zilla Parishad and of its committees (excluding Punchayat Samitis);

(v) shall draw and disburse money out of the District Fund;

(vi) shall exercise supervision and control over the acts of officers and servants holding office under the Zilla Parishad in matters of executive administration and those relating to accounts and records of the Zilla Parishad;

(vii) shall be entitled to attend the meetings of the Zilla Parishad or any of its committees (including any Panchayat Samiti);

(viii) shall assess and give his opinion confidentially every year on the work of the officers of Class I service and Class II service holding office under the Zilla Parishad, forward them to such authorities as may be prescribed by the State Government and lay down the procedure for writing such reports about the work of officers and servants of Class III service and Class IV service under the Zilla Parishad.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer shall be the Secretary, ex-officio, of the Zilla Parishad, as well as the Standing Committee.

Block Development

The Block Development Officer—

(i) shall have the custody of all papers and documents connected with the proceedings of meetings of the Panchayat Samiti;

(ii) shall be the Secretary, ex-officio, of the Panchayat Samiti;

(iii) shall, subject to the general order of the Chief Executive Officer, grant leave of absence to an officer or servant of Class III service or of Class IV service of the Zilla Parishad working under the Panchayat Samiti;

(iv) shall call for any information, return, statement, account, report, or explanation from any of the officers or servants working under the Panchayat Samiti;

(v) shall draw and disburse money out of the grant or rents payable to the Panchayat Samiti under sections 185 and 188;

(vi) shall, in relation to the works and development schemes to be undertaken from the block grants, exercise such powers of sanctioning acquisition of property, sale or transfer thereof, as may be specified by the State Government.

Heads of the Departments.

(i) Every head of the department of the Zilla Parishad may in respect of works and development schemes pertaining to his department, accord technical sanction thereto.

(ii) He shall assess and give his opinion confidentially every year on the work of officers of Class II service working in his department and forward them to the Chief Executive Officer.

(iii) The head of department specified in this behalf, shall be the Secretary, ex-officio, of such Subjects Committee as the Zilla Parishad may direct.

Administrative Organisation.

The Wardha Zilla Parishad started functioning from May 1st, 1962 with the coming into force of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 (No. V of 1962). The Parishad consists of 51 members—40 elected, 2 co-opted ladies, 4 ex-officio members and 5 associate members. Each of the subjects committee has only five elected members. Besides this, 2 co-opted members are also in each sub-committee except Co-operation Committee which has, besides five elected members, five associate councillors also. Out of the 7 Chairmen of the Panchayat Samitis 3 are elected to the Zilla Parishad while 4 are ex-officio members of the Zilla Parishad by virtue of their being chairmen of the respective Panchayat Samitis.

The Zilla Parishad has been divided into six Subjects Committees along with the Standing Committee. The Subjects Committees along with the departments of the Zilla Parishad they control are as under.

The Chief Executive Officer is the administrative head of the Zilla Parishad.

General Administration Department.

In what follows is given a short description of the working of the departments of the Zilla Parishad.

The General Administration department of the Zilla Parishad came into being with effect from May 1, 1962 along with six other departments of Zilla Parishad. The General Administration department is headed by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. He is also the Secretary of Zilla Parishad and the Standing Committee of the Zilla Parishad. Prior to May 1, 1962 the General Administration department was not in existence but two branches of the Collector's office viz., the development branch and the village panchayat branch were dealing with the development works. The development branch was headed by the District Project Officer. The important role of the General Administration department of the Zilla Parishad is to control the whole non-gazetted establishment of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis, to arrange for the meetings of the Zilla Parishad and Subjects Committees, to plan for the Development works to be undertaken by the Zilla Parishad and to keep administrative control on all the departments and the Panchayat Samitis. All revenue and village panchayat matters of the Zilla Parishad are dealt with by this department.

The department deals with groups of subjects of a non-technical nature and the work is controlled and supervised by the Standing Committee. The work of the department is done through its different sections such as establishment, parishad, planning and development, panchayat, revenue and office organisation and method, registry and record.

Social Welfare Department.

The Social Welfare department forms a section of the General Adminis- tration department which is headed by the Social Welfare Officer (Class II Gazetted).

The activities carried out by the Social Welfare department in Wardha district are classified into Backward Class Welfare and Social Welfare Programmes:

Backward Class Welfare Programmes.—Backward class welfare programmes aim at the amelioration of the conditions of the backward classes so that they reach the standards of other sections of the society as quickly as possible. Several schemes of educational, financial and miscellaneous nature have been sanctioned for their welfare. Under educational schemes, various concessions towards payment of scholarships, tuition fees and examination fees are granted to all categories of backward classes. The department encourages voluntary agencies to maintain hostels for boys belonging to backward classes by giving substantial grant-in-aid, the advantage of which is taken by all categories of students belonging to backward classes.

Social Welfare Programmes.—Though the activities under the social welfare do not come under the Zilla Parishad still the Social Welfare Officer, of the Zilla Parishad has to do the work relating to the social welfare activities in the district. They include certified schools, social and physical institutions and dance, drama and music schools.

Kalapathak.—Under the Directorate of Social Welfare of former Government of Madhya Pradesh the kalapathak forming a cultural squad was attached to each district. The same squad consisting of seven artists is being continued in the Vidarbha region after the reorganisation of States in November, 1956. Each kalapathak is equipped with musical instruments, stage equipment and green room accessories. A kalapathak is a song and drama party that instructs while it entertains. Dramas bhajans, powadas, dialogues are some of the special features of its repertoire. In short, they stage performances to bring into light all social handicaps and the ways to overcome them.

Under audio-visual scheme, films and documentaries are exhibited in the villages.

Finance Department.

The Finance department of the Zilla Parishad is entrusted with four- fold duties viz., accounts, audit, internal audit and verification of stores. It has also to act as financial adviser to the several departments of the Zilla Parishad. The Chief Accounts and Finance Officer, who is the Secretary of the Finance Committee is the head of the department. There is an Accounts Officer to assist him.

Preparation of the budget is also a function of the department which is dealt with by an independent branch created for the purpose. The department co-ordinates the budget of the several departments before they are placed for approval. The Subjects Committee scrutinise the budget proposals and make recommendations. The President of the Zilla Parishad is also the Chairman of the Standing Committee.

The accounts and audit branches are under the initial supervision of two experienced Head Assistants, one drawn from the Treasury and the other from the ex-Janapad Sabha.

The department has also a stores branch which is controlled by an Accounts Officer.

As mentioned earlier, Finance department is in custody of cash. Pursuant to this, funds required for the activities of the Panchayat Samitis are allotted by the department through the Wardha District Central Co-operative Bank, Wardha, which has 8 branches in the district. The budgets of the Panchayat Samitis are included in the budgets of the Zilla Parishad. Otherwise, the Panchayat Samitis work as independent units in respect of works executed in their respective jurisdiction.

During 1967-68 the income of Wardha Zilla Parishad was estimated at Rs. 1,94,78,660 and expenditure at Rs. 2,03,48,445, after taking into account the surplus of Rs. 19,16,030 of the previous year, 1966-67.

Agriculture Department.

The Agriculture department is in the charge of the Agricultural Development Officer, who is directly responsible to the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad. He is assisted by one District Agricultural Officer, one Campaign Officer and two Agricultural Officers and members of the subordinate services.

The Agricultural Development Officer, has been specially assigned the work relating to animal husbandry. He is the head of the animal husbandry section of the department. In this work he is assisted by the District Animal Husbandry Officer of the Zilla Parishad who is in actual charge of the section.

The Agricultural Officers have to undertake " Grow More Food " campaign and kharif-rabi campaigns and have to look after the work of their subordinate staff. They have also to undertake the intensive cultivation programme. The Agricultural Development Officer is responsible for the development of agricultural activities with a view to increase agricultural production in the district.

The Agricultural School, Selsoora is being run by the Zilla Parishad under the supervision of Agricultural Development Officer, who is assisted by Superintendent, a class II Gazetted Officer, and by one Agricultural Officer and other subordinate staff. 330 trainees so far have undergone training at the school, out of whom 227 are employed as Agricultural Assistants. It has now a strength of 98 students.

Animal Husbandry Department.

The Animal Husbandry department at the district level was headed by the District Animal Husbandry Officer, and many of the powers of the Regional Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry had been delegated to him. With the formation of the Zilla Parishad the Animal Husbandry department is merged with the Agricultural department and it now forms a section of Agricultural department. The District Animal Husbandry Officer is responsible for the technical guidance pertaining to all animal husbandry matters and Wardha Plan schemes under the Animal Husbandry sector and as a head of the section is directly responsible to the Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, Wardha. The administrative unit under Wardha Plan has not yet been transferred to the Zilla Parishad.

Works Department.

The Works department like other departments is directly under the administrative control of the Chief Executive Officer. The Executive Engineer is the head of the department and is solely responsible for execution of works pertaining to buildings, roads and irrigation works under the Parishad. The execution of these works is vested mainly in the Deputy Engineers in charge of the sub-Divisions under the Executive Engineer. In Wardha district there are seven Panchayat Samitis and the work in these Panchayat Samitis is under the administrative control of the Block Development Officers concerned. So far as the technical matters are concerned the Block Development Officers are under the administrative control of the Executive Engineer and in respect of all other matters they are directly responsible to the Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad Wardha. The Works department has undertaken many constructional activities in this district. It has undertaken 24 roads for construction and repairing, transferred from Buildings and Communications department, viz., Allipur-Kapsi, Thanegaon-Heti Kundi, Pimpalkhuta-Rohana, Angji-Virul, Seloo-Zadis, Girad-Kora, Hingana-Hingni, Jalalkheda-Karanja, Ashti-Morshi, Seloo-Hingani, Wadhona-Karanjam, Nachan-gaon-Sirpur, Samudrapur-Girad, Girad-Umred, Hinganghat-Nandori, Sevagram-Samudrapur, Jaurwada-Bangdapur, Waigaon-Kapshi, Sindhi-Kandhali, Was-Kora, Sarwadi-Seloo, Deoli-Andori, and Sirasgaon-Wadner. The total length of these roads is about 190 miles, out of which the length of 40 miles was completed prior to transfer to this Zilla Parishad. The length of 60 miles of these roads has been completed by the Zilla Parishad and the work like collection of materials and consolidation is in progress on the remaining length.

Besides this, a length of 23 miles has been completed in respect of village roads undertaken by the Panchayat Samitis under the scheme T. and C-12 and R. W. P.

A building construction project for the construction of the buildings for Agricultural School at Selsoora has been undertaken with the estimated cost of Rs. 5 lakhs and is nearing completion. The construction work of P.H.C. buildings at Bhidi and Rohana is progressing. Besides this, the constructional activities of the Panchayat Samitis are supervised by this department.

The piped water supply schemes for individual villages are being prepared and implemented through this department. The preparation of the 12 schemes was undertaken out of which the plans and estimates for Pohana, Poti, Mahakal, Kharanjana Gode, Nachangaon Karanja, Dahegaon Dhande, Ashti, have been prepared and for remaining villages schemes are under preparation.

Out of the minor irrigation schemes undertaken by the department, the bandharas at Pardi with irrigation potential of 20 acres and Gawand Dhanga with irrigation potential of 60 acres have been completed and the works of 4 lift irrigation schemes i.e., Ladegaon, Dahegaon Dhande, Kharad and Rohini are progressing. These schemes are having irrigation potential of 200 to 300 acres each. 5 temporary lift irrigation schemes with 20 H.P. oil engines which have also been undertaken with irrigation of 20 to 30 acres each are nearing completion.

Education Department.

Before the inception of Zilla Parishads, education was under the jurisdiction of the State Government with Director of Education as the Head of the department at the State level. Central Government schemes and State Government policies regarding education were executed at the district level upto the lower secondary school stage (i.e., upto class VIII) by the District Inspector of Schools who used to be a Gazetted Officer of Class II grade. He had 13 Assistant Educational Inspectors under him, whose main function was to inspect primary schools and also to hold class IVth common examination. Secondary education of the district was controlled by the Divisional Superintendent of Education with his headquarters at Nagpur. Primary education was the main charge of the Janapada Sabhas and municipal committees then existing. Secondary schools were mostly under private managements. The Divisional Superintendent of Education was vested with powers to inspect all educational institutions except colleges. The duties of the Inspectorate were to control primary and secondary education in the district, to recognise such institutions and to pay grant-in-aid, etc. This was in brief the picture of the administrative set up of the inspectorate in the district prior to the advent of the Zilla Parishads.

With the formation of the Zilla Parishads, the district has now one Education Officer who is a Gazetted Officer of Class I grade. He is assisted in his work by the Deputy Education Officer. All the Assistant Deputy Educational, Inspectors who were working in the district before the inception of Zilla Parishads now work under the Education Officer who is the head of the Education Department of the district. He works under the direct control of the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad.

The number of schools in the district during 1966-67 was as follows:

Public Health Department.

Under the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, all responsibilities regarding public health and medical aid in the rural areas have been transferred to the Zilla Parishads. As such the Public Health staff and Medical staff (except the Civil Hospital) formerly working under Public Health and Medical department and ex-Janapad Sabha have been transferred to the Zilla Parishad, Wardha from May, 1962.

The health matters in the district are looked after by two agencies i.e., the Zilla Parishad and State Government. The primary health centres, maternity and child health centres alongwith the other institutions in the district health organisation are looked after entirely by the Zilla Parishad, while the leprosy survey, education and treatment units and family planning centres are looked after by the Zilla Parishad on agency basis. The department in the State sector controls the Government Civil Hospital, Wardha, Malaria Eradication Unit, Wardha and Leprosy Control Unit, Arvi.

The municipal allopathic dispensaries run by the different municipal committees are under the technical supervision of Civil Surgeon, Wardha. The Health department of the Zilla Parishad is looked after by the District Health Officer of the Zilla Parishad as the head of the department. All the staff pertaining to the scheme controlled by the Zilla Parishad works under him. The services of all Assistant Medical Officers have been transferred to the Zilla Parishad. The District Health Officer works as the Secretary to the Health Committee.

The Zilla Parishad has under its control 19 allopathic dispensaries out of which eight were formerly under the different Janapad Sabhas. The Ayurvedic dispensary and the vaccination establishment which were controlled by the Janapad Sabhas, have also been transferred to the Zilla Parishad. Nine family planning centres in rural areas are attached to primary health centres. Organization of vasectomy camps, orientation camps are some of the duties of the Zilla Parishad. The National Small-pox Eradication Scheme is also transferred to the Zilla Parishad. The implementation of the State schemes with Central assistance has been entrusted to the Zilla Parishad. The necessary equipment has also been provided to the Zilla Parishad.

The Director of Public Health, Maharashtra State, exercises technical control over all the health activities of the Wardha Zilla Parishad through the Deputy Director of Public Health Services, Nagpur.

The following institutions work under the Health department:—

Industries and Co-operation Department.

The revised set-up of the Co-operative department of the State Govern-ment came into existence from March, 1961 under which the District Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies, was made the district head and under him Assistant Registrars were placed with territorial jurisdiction. The Co-operative department was executing two types of functions viz., regulatory and promotional and extension activities. According to the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, the Zilla Parishad has been entrusted with the promotional and extensional activities with certain reservations for municipal areas. The regulatory functions have, however, been retained with department in the State sector. The department is headed by the officer who is designated as the Co-operation and Industries Officer. He is assisted by a Co-operative Officer, and one Assistant Co-operative Officer, along with 2 Extension Officers, one for Co-operation and one for Industries attached to each Panchayat Samiti.

The statutory powers under the Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, regarding registration of co-operative societies and amendment of bye-laws and hearing appeals for non-admission of membership by cooperative societies are delegated to this officer under the Zilla Parishad.

Wardha Plan.

In Wardha, the development programmes, which form the part of the Third Plan, were strengthened and additional schemes were sanctioned as " Supplementary Wardha Plan " for the last 2 years of the Third Plan. This process of strengthening the existing programme and providing additional base for the entire development activities in the district, contemplated deliberation with the representatives of the people at various levels and high level technical officers. The present programme in Wardha district is the product of this attempt.

Wardha Plan recommended the development of net work of communication which not only connected present centres of marketing and other socio-economic over-heads but also aimed at connecting such new centres that were likely to emerge as a result of current planned development, while it will be the ultimate aim of the development programme in this country to make available to all the villages in the country minimum social and economic over-heads such as dispensaries, veterinary aid centres, roads, high schools etc. At present, it is not possible to do so due to the sizeable expenditure which this would necessitate. Consequently, a via media has been struck and it is felt that these facilities should be made available to the villagers at least within the radius of 5 to 7 miles from their dwellings. Since the movement of villagers is always more in the direction of the local markets, the local points of activity and service centres, it was decided to make these established or potential Mandi Centres as nodal points for development and to connect the villages with these Mandi Centres. Thus in the Wardha Plan have been created intermediate points between the block and the village. There are 38 Mandi Centres in the district. There are 5 to 6 Mandi Centres in each block on an average and each Mandi Centre has about 15 to 20 Gram panchayats within its periphery. This unit, therefore, becomes more manageable and it is considered possible to prepare area plans for these regions and to effectively supervise the execution of the schemes. It has been decided that in future whenever any item of social or economic over-heads has to be located it will be located at one of these Mandi Centres unless there is a special reason in locating it elsewhere. This will help in strengthening these activity centres and in providing for their efficient functioning.

The Zilla Parishad has made efforts for actively implementing the mandi approach in planning and implementation. With this object in view, (on the advice of Dr. D. R. Gadgil) a mandi committee has been constituted for each mandi area. This Committee consists of the elected councillors of the Zilla Parishad and the Panchayat Samitis from the mandi area, plus a sarapanch of a village panchayat who is not a member of either the Zilla Parishad or the Panchayat Samiti and a chairman of the co-operative society. The functions of these bodies for the present are indicated below:—

1. To assist in publicising the schemes that are to be implemented at the village level and to popularise these schemes.

2. To assist the block authorities in preparation of production plan for the mandi region and to ascertain the demands for various commodities such as seeds, fertilizers, etc., for the mandi area.

3. To supervise the execution of schemes in the mandi area and report to the concerned authorities the cases of failure if any, on the part of the executive agencies well in time to enable the supervising authorities to take effective and corrective steps.

4. To assist in getting participation of the people in the villages where the schemes are being implemented.

5. To try and solve minor bottlenecks at their level and to bring to the notice of the concerned authorities the bottlenecks which require solution at higher level.

6. To keep an over all watch on the progress of the development schemes which are being implemented in the villages covered by the mandi areas.

On the basis of certain initial exercises in preparation of plan that were undertaken in Wadhona Mandi centre, it was decided in 1965 that immediate preparation of the plan for the ensuing production season should be taken in hand and proper programme should be built up on the basis of the nature of experience gained during the preceding season. With the help of the regional planning Institute it is now envisaged to take up planning exercises initially in the three mandi centres viz., Wadhona, Seloo and Hinganghat. The criteria of selection of these three mandi centres has been their variations in respect of natural resource position and other physico geographical conditions etc. It is considered that these three mandi centres would fairly represent a cross section of the entire area of the district.

The process of planning in these three mandi areas is in progress wherein attempt has been made to take into account resource potential of the area, level of past performance, usual bottlenecks in the process of implementation, limitations in regard to supply position of scarce articles, such as cement, fertilizers, G.C. sheets etc., pockets evincing local interest in particular programmes, involvement of non-officials and the members of the mandi committees in particular etc. The field staff has made an attempt to identify the areas and fix up cultivators in these three mandi areas for undertaking different development programmes. Preliminary data highlighting certain basic aspects at the lowest level has been compiled in Hinganghat Mandi Centre. Similar process is under way in the remaining 2 mandi centres viz., Seloo and Wadhona. These exercises are undertaken in respect of these 3 mandi areas, but it may be possible to evolve a methodology in the technique of planning for the "Mandi area". It is expected that a few such result oriented planning exercises will help in formulating a more meaningful plan for a given mandi area.

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