Author(s):

P Shrivastava, KK Shrivastava and Dilip Kumar

Abstract: As defined by Roling (1988) extension is purposeful communication intervention deployed by an institution to induce change in voluntary behaviours with a presumed public or collective utility. The common man has much faith in the local leaders. Research in community power structure studies conducted by sociologists in recent years indicate that individuals who hold influence and power do exist in most communities, and operate as a primary friendship clique, and that power is concentrated in the hands of a few persons. The 73rd Amendment provides for an elaborate system of establishing panchayats as units of self-government. For the first time in the constitutional history of India, the constitution of panchayat, the duration of their term, their membership, the constitution of Finance Commission to review their financial position is detailed. A study was conducted in the purposively selected Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh to ascertain the attitude of panchayat leaders towards the Panchayati Raj Institutions. Thus in all (9 + 54 + 200) 263 panchayat leaders were considered as respondents for the study. An interview schedule was used as a tool for collecting primary data from the respondent panchayat leaders and all the 263 respondents were personally interviewed for collecting the raw information. A considerable majority of the gram panchayat leaders (92.50%) were dependent on agriculture and other occupations for their livelihood while a significant majority of the janpad and jila panchayat leaders (96.83%) practised farming as their principal occupation along with other subsidiary occupations. The panchayat leaders can play an active role in preventing peasant migration and offer them gainful employment in their native places by fully utilising the centrally sponsored schemes like MGNREGA and other such developmental and employment generation programmes.

Pages: 526-530  |  1535 Views  241 Downloads

Download (457KB)