PRIs in North-Eastern States

The number of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the North-Eastern States is as under:-

S. No.
State or Union Territory
District Panchayats
Intermediate Panchayats
Gram Panchayats
1
Assam
21
185
2202
2
Arunachal Pradesh
16
161
1779
3
Tripura
4
23
511
4
Manipur
4
NA
165

            In Assam, Panchayati Raj Institutions do not exist in 6 districts covered under Autonomous Councils.  These 6 districts are Karbi Anglong, North Cachar, Baksha, Kokrajhar, Chirang and Udalguri.  The whole of Arunachal Pradesh is covered by Panchayati Raj Institutions.  The areas under Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TAADC) do not have Panchayati Raj Institutions but they have Elected Village Committees.  Rest of Tripura has Panchayati Raj Institutions.  In Manipur, the hill areas consisting of the Districts Senapati, Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Tamenglong and Chandel are not covered under Panchayati Raj Institutions.  Rest of Manipur has PRIs.  Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram do not have PRIs.  However, Mizoram has elected Village Councils. 

An Inter-Ministerial Team (IMT) with the initiative of Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been holding consultation with these States for furthering the process of decentralized governance where PRIs do not exist.  The issues taken up by the IMT include constitution of Gram Sabha and reservation for women.

            Gram Sabhas actively function in the areas with PRIs.  The District Councils in Mizoram in Sixth Schedule areas have passed legislations in July and August, 2011 to recognize Gram Sabhas, and make the Village Councils accountable to them.

            In Tripura, 50% of the seats in Village Committee is reserved for women.  In Sixth Schedule areas of Mizoram, the District Councils have legislated for having one woman member in each Village Council to begin with.  They have also legislated that at least two of the nominated members in the District Council shall be women. Sixth Schedule areas of Assam and Meghalaya do not have elected Village Councils. There is no reservation for women in Village Councils of Nagaland and Village Authorities of Meghalaya.

The above information was given by the Minister of Panchayati Raj Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo in the Lok  Sabha today.