Kumar Dilip et. al; International Journal of Advance Research and Development (Volume3, Issue7) Available online at: www.ijarnd.com Training needs assessment of Gram Panchayat mukhiya regarding health and family welfare programmes in Bihar state Dilip Kumar1, Dhanesh Kumar2, Binay Kumar Singh3 1Professor, Patna University, Patna, Bihar 2Analyst, Patna University, Patna, Bihar 3Research Officer, Patna University, Patna, Bihar ABSTRACT The Gram Panchayat plays a significant role in the democratic decentralization process, as it is the institution at the bottom level of the system; drawing villagers closer to participate in the decision making for the development. The path of decentralization has been successful in some parts of the country but disparities are present in certain regions /districts in terms of effective implementation, functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), and self-generated development initiatives. The present study was undertaken in Patna and Vaishali districts of Bihar State. Five percent of elected Mukhiya was interviewed under the study to understand their nature and degree of participation in PRIs along with the opinion about the acceptability of the fertility regulations methods among married men/women in their areas. In total, half of the Mukhiya were OBC in the selected Panchayats. Only one-fifth of the Mukhiya was found to be computer literate in the selected Panchayats. More than half of the males and one-third of the females were literate. The average distance of the Computer Institute from the selected Panchayats was about 6 km. The work of MANREGA implemented throughout the Panchayats. About 65 percent of the Mukhiya had needed that the Panchayat-members should be involved in the planning of developmental activities for villages in Patna district. Mukhiya in Patna district was involved in activities like; budgeting of the planned activities (50 percent), implementation of the development activities in Panchayat (55 percent) and Health and Family Welfare activities (45 percent). In Vaishali district, the opinion regarding the activities in which Gram Panchayat-members should have active participation was better than those of Mukhiya in Patna district. Most of Mukhiya was involved in the construction of drains and sewer (80 percent), installing the hand pump (50 percent), motivating the villagers for medical support from the PHC/HSC (40 percent). Mukhiya needed training on the regular basis to know and to understand new schemes of the Government for the development of their Panchayats. Only about 35 percent of Mukhiya in Patna and 55 percent Mukhiya in Vaishali districts had always disused the issues of health and family welfare such as ANM visits, immunization of the children, contraceptive distribution and etc. in Gram Panchayats. Only 3 Mukhiya in Patna and 8 Mukhiya in Vaishali districts had discussed TT injection to the pregnant women, the role of ASHA and ANM, children nutrition etc. in the Gram Panchayats meetings. Educational level of Mukhiyas is an important factor for their involvement in the development activities in the villages. Mukhiyas must be educated and enhanced training is needed for the betterment of the villagers. Keywords: Gram panchayat, Mukhiya, Pri, Family planning, Fertility regulation methods 1. INTRODUCTION The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act was a significant step towards opening up of the more space for people’s participation and in acknowledging their role in the development of their villages. Persons who have been elected to power in Panchayati Raj Institutions represents various background-rich and poor, dominant classes and oppressed social classes, educated and illiterate (PRIA, 2003). After the73rd Constitutional Amendment Act., Government of Bihar enacted the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act,1993 (Replaced by Bihar Panchayati Raj Act,2006) and a three-tier system of Panchayat Raj (Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti, and Gram Panchayats) started functioning after the general election in April/May 2001. There were 38 Zila Parishad (ZPs), 531 Panchayat Samitis (PSs) and 8471 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the Bihar state covering a rural population of about 88.78 percent of the total population, while in 2001 it was 89.50 percent. The Panchayati Raj Department coordinates the function of the PRIs. It is being said that with the advent of women in such a large number in the primary institutions i.e., Gram Panchayats new phase of the process of empowerment of women has been unveiling (R. Kumar and S.R. Singh, 2012). Therefore, it was interesting and significant to study the role and extent of participation of the elected Mukhiyas in Bihar’s rural local self-government, they're influenced on future public role and extent of their support for the sustainable development in general and their opinion in the field of health and family planning in particular. © 2018, www.IJARND.com All Rights Reserved Page | 9 Kumar Dilip et. al; International Journal of Advance Research and Development 2. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the present study were: i) To assess the nature and degree of participation of Mukhiya in Panchayati Raj Institutions. ii) To ascertain from Mukhiya their opinion about the acceptability of the fertility regulation among married men/women in their areas. 3. METHODOLOGY The present study was undertaken in Patna and Vaishali districts of Bihar State. A total of twenty Mukhiya of the Gram Panchayats were randomly selected for interview from each of the selected districts of Bihar which represented about five percent of the elected Mukhiya of the concerned districts. The list of selected Panchayats from both of the districts is also appended here. A structured interview schedule was used to collect the data by personal interview method in January 2017. The structure interview schedule contains the information on information on Panchayat, Panchayat and its member’s information, Panchayat connectivity, electricity, telecommunication status and etc. in Panchayat, roles, and responsibilities of Panchayats, project planning and implementation, meetings and record keeping, training needs and etc. In the study, the SPSS had been used for the data analysis. 4. RESULTS The information collected from the Mukhiya of their level of knowledge on their roles and responsibilities etc. apart from their demographic characteristics etc. have been focussed. Some demographic profile: The mean age of Mukhiya of the selected Panchayats was 41.7 years in Patna district while it was 39.7 years in the selected Panchayats of Vaishali district. In general, the age of the Mukhiya ranged from 24 years to 59 years. In Panchayats of Vaishali district, there was 60 percent of males while in Patna, it comprises 45 percent (Table 1). In the caste category, EBC was only 5 percent in selected Panchayats of Patna district while in Vaishali district it was 20 percent. The OBC was more in the selected Panchayats of Patna district in comparison to that of Vaishali district. In total, half of the Mukhiya were OBC in both of the selected Panchayats of the both of the districts. The non-matric Mukhiya was 20 percent in Panchayats of Patna district while in Vaishali it was nil. There was 55 percent of Mukhiya who had qualification intermediate and above while in Vaishali districts, it was 75 percent. Only one-fourth Mukhiya in Patna district was computer literate while in Vaishali district half of the Mukhiya were computer literate in the selected Panchayats. By and large, only one-fifth of the Mukhiya was found to be computer literate in the selected Panchayats of both of the districts. Ninety percent of the selected Mukhiya in Patna district and 70 percent of Mukhiya in Vaishali district were elected the first time in the Gram Panchayats election between June and July 2016 in Bihar. Panchayat and its member’s information: On an average, each of the Panchayats in both of the districts cover 6 to 7 villages with the mean household numbers of 1957 in Patna and 1825 in Vaishali districts (Table 2). In both of the districts, each of the selected Panchayats had the population of 10 thousand and above with overall sex ratio of 542 females per 1000 males. More than one-fourth of the population of the selected Panchayats of Vaishali district and more than one-third of the population of the selected Panchayats of Patna district were below the poverty line (BPL) which in general ranged from 5 percent to 80 percent. In each of the selected Panchayats of the both of districts had more than 2000 of the population was Scheduled caste and more than 4500 of the population was OBC. Most of the Mukhiya (55 percent) revealed that NGOs working in their Panchayats do not give the detail of their work. Most of the Panchayats (55 percent) were linked with the good road, however, 15 percent of the Panchayats had no proper road. The average distance of Panchayat from their respective headquarter was more than 11 Kms. The electric supply was better in the Panchayats of Patna districts in comparison to the Panchayats of Vaishali district. About 85 percent of the households in the selected Panchayats of Patna district and 73 percent of the households in the Panchayats of Vaishali districts had the electrical connectivity. The availability of electricity was nearly 18 hours in the selected Panchayats. More than four-fifths of the households in the Panchayats had the mobile connectivity. About 15 percent of the selected Panchayats in Vaishali district had the availability of Computer Centre while it was only 5 percent in Patna district due to the convergence of their Panchayats nearby to Patna town. The average distance of the Computer Institute from the selected Panchayats were about 6 Kms. The availability of a number of government and private primary schools was four and one in each of the selected Panchayats. Almost one of the government high schools was available in each of the Panchayats. Roles and responsibilities of Panchayats: Mukhiya of the Panchayats of Vaishali district was more aware of the functioning and responsibilities of Gram Panchayats in comparison to Mukhiya of Patna district (Table 3).