Panchayat Core Committee to meet today

A two-day meeting of the Panchayat Core Committee will begin here today.

New Delhi, Mar 13 : A two-day meeting of the Panchayat Core Committee will begin here today.

Union Minister for Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar will deliver the keynote address at the introductory session of the Core Committee to draft charter of Panchayat Convention.

Earlier, Aiyar has expressed hope that the charter on Panchayati Raj convention would help the actual implementation of the Panchayati Raj system to move to a higher trajectory.

On April 24, 1993, the Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions.

This Act was extended to Panchayats in the tribal areas of eight States. They are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan from December 24, 1996.

The Act aims to provide three-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all States having population of over two million, to hold Panchayat elections regularly every five years, to provide reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Women, to appoint State Finance Commission to make recommendations as regards the financial powers of the Panchayats and to constitute District Planning Committee to prepare draft development plan for the district.

ANI