Karnataka to host national conference celebrating 30 years of Panchayat Raj

PTI, Oct 3, 2024, 8:09 AM IST

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government is set to commemorate three decades of the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 with the National Swaraj Conference scheduled for November 13 and 14, officials said on Wednesday.

This initiative aims to honor Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of village self-governance, encapsulated in his belief that “India’s heart lies in the villages,” as stated by the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Priyank Kharge.

According to a statement, the Karnataka government will organise programs at the national level — seminars, round table councils, workshops and dialogues. D discussions will be organised to review the progress of the Panchayat system in Karnataka for 30 years and formulate the Karnataka Swarajya Charter applicable for the next 30 years.

“Based on the issues raised after these meetings, the Karnataka Swarajya Charter will be formulated with a blueprint for further reforms in the panchayat system of Karnataka and India for the next 30 years in relation to social, economic and political issues,” it stated.

Prominent experts from various fields including social, economic, legal, and administrative will be invited to contribute to these discussions. The outcomes of these sessions will culminate in the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Declaration, which will outline key decisions and reforms, it added.

The logo was unveiled by the minister on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, Kharge said that inspired by the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi, the National Swaraj Conference is being organised based on the principles of Satya (Truth), Ahimsa (Non-Violence), Asteya (Honesty) and Maitri (Brotherhood).

The purpose of this conference is that India is not built on the basis of discrimination and conflict of interests; Instead, he explained that it is to assert that humanistic Indianism is firmly based on the principle.