Extent of participation of village councillors in implementing rural development programmes in Meghalaya

Abstract

The study was conducted purposively in the tribal state of Meghalaya where Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are absent. It was conducted in the year 2020-21 in three districts among the major tribes of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo communities with the total respondents of 360 village councillors. With the objective to examine the extent of participation of village councillors in implementing the selected rural development programmes in Meghalaya, results indicated that participation index of the village councillors was found to be 74.82%, 76.33% and 75.88% in case of MGNREGA, PDS and ICDS respectively. Majority of the MGNREGA village councillors (74.16%) belonged to the medium participation level, PDS councillors (85.00%) and 55.84 percent of ICDS councillors had medium category level of participation. Formation of Village Employment Council (VEC) scored the highest participation score (91.66%) under MGNREGA, whereas meeting between VEC and Vigilance & Monitoring Committee (VMC) had the lowest score with 63.33 percent. Under PDS, selection and appointment of FPS dealer (88.75%) scored the highest participation score while meeting between dealers and Vigilance Committee scored the lowest (69.16%). Monitoring of ICDS programme scored highest level of participation (80.00%) and consulting the ICDS officials scored the lowest (69.58%) under ICDS programme.