Parallel bodies
Topic: Panchayati Raj: Rural Local Government · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Parallel bodies are agencies, committees or funds that do the same work as elected panchayats, or go around them. They often get money and powers that could have gone to panchayats. This weakens the authority of the elected local government. Critics see them as a major gap in putting the 73rd Amendment into practice.
Example
District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs, from 1980) ran rural schemes outside the panchayats. They were merged into zila parishads from 2022. Other examples are school, water and forest committees, federations of self-help groups, and MPLADS and MLALADS funds spent by MPs and MLAs.
Don't confuse with
- Gram sabha: it is not a parallel body. Under Art. 243A it is the constitutional assembly of all voters, to which the gram panchayat is answerable.