Legal intricacies apart, the decision to revive Gram Sarkar has been taken without, in our view, sufficient deliberation involving civil society leaders, development planners and local government experts, let alone the Opposition. They could have added substance to the scheme of strengthening the local government system which is apparently the objective of Gram Sarkar -- a supportive subsystem to the Union Parishad. The sidetracking of the experts who could have critically examined the plan of extending the local government apparatus at the bottom might lead many to conclude that politically decided plan is being imposed on the system of elected local government.

So the apprehension, given our political culture, that it will only represent the ruling party's point of view insofar as functioning of the local government at the lowest level is concerned, might not be easy to dispel.

We do not, however, want to make any value judgement on something that is still in a state of formation. Nevertheless, the Gram Sarkar is marking a beginning charactarised by lack of transparency, openness and a broad consensus among the stakeholders, irrespective of their political affiliations.

If history is anything to go by, when something is initiated unilaterally it is unlikely to have a smooth, rewarding sailing in the long run. The Act was passed hurriedly through the parliament. Thus a major decision having ramifications for the local government structure at a very important level was taken without allowing it to become the subject of detailed public discussion and wider debate. The impression that we may have started on a wrong footing there, cannot be shrugged off.