Haryana Government sets minimum qualification for candidates in Panchayati Raj polls

Haryana Assembly has passed Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that seeks to fix matriculation as minimum educational qualification for elections to Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs).
With this Haryana became second state in India after Rajasthan to fix educational and other qualifications for the candidates contesting Panchayat elections.
Key provisions of bill

• General candidates contesting the Panchayat elections should have class X certificates i.e. matriculation as essential qualification.
• For Women (general) and Scheduled Caste candidates’, class VIII mark-sheet is mandatory. The educational qualification for SC candidates for the post of ‘panch’ is class V.
• Mandatory for the candidates contesting PRI elections to have functional toilets and payment of power bills.
• Candidates should not have been charge-sheeted by any court of law and must not be loan defaulters.

Comment
State government has taken this decision to improve the quality of leadership and governance in PRIs. The amendment bill will also enable elected representatives of PRIs to be more accountable to people, as they would no longer be able to cite illiteracy as an excuse.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2015