Hyderabad : The senior Congress leader and a former Union Minister Mr. Mani Shanker Aiyar addressed a session on ‘Democracy and Decentralization’ in the city. It was held on Saturday evening at Guruswamy Centre, 4th Floor, Northstar AMG Plaza, Opp St. John’s Church, West Marredpally, Secunderabad.
More than 200 people including few Sarpanches attended the session.
Speaking on the occasion Mr Aiyar said India has most elected representatives including women than the entire world together
We have 2.5 lakh gram panchayats. From them we have elected 34 lakh representatives. Of this 14 lakh are women. Once upon a time we used to have just 5000 representatives once upon a time but thanks to the visionary legislation’s of late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi we have today 34 lakhs.
15 states in our country have 50 per cent reservations for women and I would like to see many follow the suit.
Mr Aiyar said that many talk about Saroanch pathi(husband) ruling. Why not he said. Husband and wife must help each other. They are one unit. But they must not misuse powers, manipulate.
India needs strong panchayats. They are the basis for strong democracy, he said
The lecture was organized by S. Jaipal Reddy Memorial Foundation. It was an in-person lecture. It was also live on the S. Jaipal Reddy Memorial Foundation YouTube Channel.
Shri Mohan Guruswamy, former advisor to the Finance Ministry in Vajpayee Government and Prof. K. Purushotham Reddy, Former Head, Political Science Department, Osmania University graced as guest speakers and spoke.
Speaking on the occasion Prof Purushotham said Panchayats are powerful on paper but not in reality.
Guruswamy said current systems of Panchayat raj must be reformed.
Democratic decentralization is the development of reciprocal relationships between central and local governments and between local governments and citizens.
The subject has gained a lot of interest in the recent past due to the prevailing state of affairs.
The session is planned in the light of this background so that people are well informed
