Another argument, made by the 2002 National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, is that it violates the constitutional distribution of powers between the Union, state and local governments (all the activities on which MPs can spend their funds are already on state lists) and is therefore inconsistent with federalism. Furthermore, the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments mandated that many of these (basic civic services such as roads, bridges and street-lights) become activities to be undertaken by panchayats and municipalities. Thus, the scheme seriously undermines local bodies, which are neither consulted nor involved. Hence the National Advisory Council in 2005 recommended that the guidelines be changed to require that the funds be spent through local bodies.

These criticisms point to two much deeper, unresolved questions confronting our democracy. First, what is the role of the MP, the MLA and the local body representative? Second, what do we, as voters, hold them accountable for?

From the MP’s perspective, the MPLAD scheme is important because it allows him to tangibly and quickly respond to his constituents’ needs. At election time, these achievements can be drawn upon to highlight the MP’s performance. Nevertheless, this presents a dilemma. Since the Constitution already demands that these functions be performed by local governments, not MPs, who should be held accountable by the voter? This dilemma has significantly obfuscated accountabilities and confused voter expectation.

However, the bigger question is: should this be an MP’s role? India decentralised because it recognised that local governments are best suited to assess and address local needs. Local governments were created and entrusted with this responsibility by virtue of their “localness” — an MP typically represents 10-15 lakh voters, while a gram panchayat represents on average 3000 voters — and because they can be held directly accountable for fulfilling these needs. Ironically, they are starved of funds to perform their constitutional roles, while MPs have uninterrupted yearly funds to do the panchayats’ job.

... contd.