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Describe different steps of Basic Democracies System.
Basic Democracies System 1959:
In 1959, the then Presidential introduced a new system of Basic Democracies. According to this system, the people were to elect the member of Basic Democracies. Under the 196 constitutions, these members formed an electoral college to elect the President, the National Assembly, and the Provincial Assemblies. The Basic Democracies system set up five tiers of institutions. They were as under:
The lowest tier of Basic Democracies was composed of union councils. It was called Union Council for rural areas and the Union Committee for urban areas. 1000 to 1500 voters elected one member directly. He or she was called B.D Member. They were responsible for sanitation, arrangements of streetlights and Passengers’ Houses (Musafirkhana), keeping death and birth records etc.
Besides Union Councils and Union Committees, Qasba Committees – and Towns Committees were set up in towns having a population of 30,000 to 50,000 while Municipal Corporations were set up in the cities having a population more than 50,000. Cantonment Boards were set up in cantonment areas for development projects.
The second tier was known as Tehsil Council in the West Pakistan and Thana Council in East Pakistan. Its chairman was called Divisional Officer. Tehsil Council comprised of officials, nominated members, and elected public representatives. Their duties included preparation of educational and economic projects in their respective areas.
On the district level, District Council was set up. It was chaired by the Deputy Commissioner. 50 percent of the members of District Council consisted of nominated official and non-official members while 50 percent members were elected representatives. The district councils were assigned duties such as the construction of roads, establishment of schools, sanitary arrangements, the establishment of hospitals, measures to prevent diseases, water supply schemes and development of cooperative societies etc.
This Council was set up at the divisional level. It was headed by the Deputy Commissioner. All the Union Councils, Union Committees and Town Committees of the district were given representation in it. This Council was also composed of both official and nominated members. The duties assigned to this Council included monitoring of different departments in the division and preparation of proposals for various welfare activities.
Provincial Advisory Council (PAC) was composed of representatives of all the divisions. It was directly under the Governor. This Council performed the functions of monitoring all the institutions of Basic Democracies in the province and coordinating their activities. The Governor was responsible to send the report of his performance directly to the President.