Panchayati Raj in India      

Topics Discussed: -

·       Introduction

·       Evolution of Panchayati Raj

·       Committees for Rural Local Self Governance

·       73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992

·       Composition of Panchayats

·       Three-Tier Structure of Panchayati Raj

·       PESA Act of 1996

·       Introduction

Rural development is one of the main objectives of Panchayati Raj and this has been established in all states of India except Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, in all Union Territories except Delhi. and certain other areas. These areas include,

Ø The scheduled areas and the tribal areas in the states

Ø The hill area of Manipur for which a district council exists and

Ø Darjeeling district of West Bengal for which Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council exists

·       Evolution of Panchayati Raj

Vedic Era: 

Ø In the old Sanskrit scriptures, word ‘Panchayatan’ has been mentioned which means a group of five persons, including a spiritual man.

Ø Gradually the concept of the inclusion of a spiritual man in such groups vanished.

Ø In the Rigveda, there is a mention of Sabha, Samiti and Vidatha as local self-units.

o   These were the democratic bodies at the local level. The king used to get the approval of these bodies regarding certain functions and decisions.

Ø Epic Era indicates the two great epic periods of India, that is, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Ø  The study of Ramayana indicates that the administration was divided into two parts - Pur and Janpad or city and village.

o   In the whole of the state, there was also a Caste Panchayat and one person elected by the Caste Panchayat was a member of the king's Council of Ministers.

Ø Self-government of a village finds ample expression in the ‘Shanti Parva’ of the Mahabharata; in the Manu Smriti as well as in Kautilya’s Arthashastra.

Ø As per the Mahabharata, over and above the village, there were units of 10, 20, 100, and 1,000 village groups.

Ø ‘Gramik’ was the chief official of the village, ‘Dashap’ was the chief of ten villages, Vinshya Adhipati, Shat Gram Adhyaksha and Shat Gram Pati were the chiefs of 20, 100, and 1,000 villages, respectively.

Ø They collected the local taxes and were responsible for the defence of their villages.

·       Ancient Period: 

There is a mention of village panchayats in Kautilya’s Arthashastra.

Ø The town was referred to as Pur and its chief was the Nagarik.

Ø Local bodies were free from any royal interference.

Ø During the Mauryan and Post-Mauryan periods too, the headman, assisted by a council of elders, continued to play a prominent role in the village life.

Ø The system continued through the Gupta period, though there were certain changes in the nomenclature, as the district official was known as the vishya pati and the village headman was referred to as the grampati.

Ø Thus, in ancient India, there existed a well-established system of local government which was run on a set pattern of traditions and customs.

Ø However, it is significant to note that there is no reference of women heading the panchayat or even participating as a member in the panchayat.

·       Medieval Period:

 During the Sultanate period, the Sultans of Delhi divided their kingdom into provinces called ‘Vilayat’.

Ø For the governance of a village, there were three important officials - Mukkaddam for administration, Patwari for collection of revenues, and Choudhrie for settling disputes with the help of the Panch.

Ø The villages had sufficient powers as regards self-governance in their territory.

Ø Casteism and feudalistic system of governance under the Mughal rule in the medieval period slowly eroded the self-government in villages.

Ø It is again noteworthy to note that even in the medieval period there is no mention of women participation in the local village administration.

·       British Period:

Ø Under the British regime, village panchayats lost their autonomy and became weak.

Ø It is only from the year 1870 that India saw the dawn of representative local institutions.

Ø The famous Mayo’s resolution of 1870 gave impetus to the development of local institutions by enlarging their powers and responsibilities.

Ø The year 1870, introduced the concept of elected representatives, in urban municipalities.

Ø The revolt of 1857 had put the imperial finances under considerable strain and it was found necessary to finance local service out of local taxation. Therefore, it was out of fiscal compulsion that Lord Mayo’s resolution on decentralization came to be adopted.

Ø Following the footsteps of Mayo, Lord Rippon in 1882 provided the much needed democratic framework to these institutions.

Ø All boards (then existing) were mandated to have a two-thirds majority of non-officials who had to be elected and the chairman of these bodies had to be from among the elected non-officials.

Ø This is considered to be the Magna Carta of local democracy in India.

Ø Local self-government institutions received a boost with the appointment of the Royal Commission on centralisation in 1907 under the Chairmanship of C.E.H. Hobhouse.

Ø The commission recognized the importance of panchayats at the village level.

Ø It is in this backdrop that the Montagu Chelmsford reforms of 1919 transferred the subject of local government to the domain of the provinces.

Ø The reform also recommended that as far as possible there should be a complete control in local bodies and complete possible independence for them from external control.

Ø These panchayats covered only a limited number of villages with limited functions and due to organisational and fiscal constraints they did not become democratic and vibrant institutions of local self-government at the village level.

Ø However, by 1925, eight provinces had passed the Panchayat Acts and by 1926, six native States had also passed panchayat laws. Local bodies were given more powers and functions to impose taxes were reduced. But, the position of the local self-government institutions remained unaffected.

·       Post–Independence Period:

Ø After the Constitution came into force, Article 40 made a mention of panchayats and Article 246 empowers the state legislature to legislate with respect to any subject relating to local self-government.

Ø However, this inclusion of panchayats into the Constitution was not unanimously agreed upon by the then decision-makers, with the major opposition having come from the framer of the Constitution himself i.e. B.R.Ambedkar.

Ø It was after much discussion among the supporters and opponents of the village panchayat that the panchayats finally got a place for themselves in the Constitution as Article 40 of the Directive Principles of State Policy.

Ø Since the Directive Principles are not binding principles, the result was the absence of a uniform structure of these bodies throughout the country.

Ø After independence, as a development initiative, India had implemented the Community Development Programmes (CDP) on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, the 2nd October, 1952 under the major influence of the Etowah Project undertaken by the American expert, Albert Mayer.

Ø It encompassed almost all activities of rural development which were to be implemented with the help of village panchayats along with the participation of people.

Ø In 1953, the National Extension Service was also introduced as a prologue to CDP. But the programme did not yield much result.

Ø There were various reasons for the failure of CDP like bureaucracy and excessive politics, lack of people participation, lack of trained and qualified staff, and lack of local bodies interest in implementing the CDP especially the village panchayats.

·       Committees for Rural Local Self Governance

There were a number of committees appointed by the government of India to study the implementation of self-government at the rural level and also recommend steps in achieving this goal.

The committees appointed are as follows:

Ø Balwant Rai Mehta Committee

Ø Ashok Mehta Committee

Ø G V K Rao Committee

Ø L M Singhvi Committee

·       Balwant Rai Mehta Committee

The committee was appointed in 1957, to examine and suggest measures for better working of the Community Development Programme and the National Extension Service. The committee suggested the establishment of democratic decentralised local government which came to be known as the Panchayati Raj.

Recommendations by the committee:

Ø Three-tier Panchayati Raj system: gram panchayat, Panchayati Samiti and Zila Parishad.

Ø Directly elected representatives to constitute the gram panchayat and indirectly elected representatives to constitute the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad.

Ø Planning and development are the primary objectives of the Panchayati Raj system.

Ø Panchayat Samiti should be executive body and Zila Parishad will act as the advisory and supervisory body.

Ø District collector to be made as the chairman of the Zila Parishad.

Ø It also requested for provisioning resources so as to help them discharge their duties and responsibilities

·       Ashok Mehta Committee

The committee was appointed in 1977 to suggest measures to revive and strengthen the declining Panchayati Raj system in India.

The key recommendations are:

Ø Three-tier system should be replaced with two-tier: Zila Parishad (district level) and the Mandal Panchayat (group of villages).

Ø District level as the first level of supervision after the state level.

Ø Zila Parishad should be the executive body and responsible for planning at the district level.

Ø The institutions (Zila Parishad and the Mandal Panchayat) to have compulsory taxation powers to mobilise their own financial resources.

·       G V K Rao Committee

The committee was appointed by the planning commission in 1985. It recognised that development was not seen at the grassroot level due to bureaucratisation resulting in Panchayat Raj Institutions addressed as ‘grass without roots’. Hence it made some key recommendations which are as follows:

Ø Zila Parishad to be the most important body in the scheme of democratic decentralisation. Zila Parishad to be the principal body to manage the developmental programmes at the district level.

Ø The district and the lower level of the Panchayati Raj system to be assigned with specific planning, implementation and monitoring of the rural developmental programmes.

Ø Post of District Development Commissioner to be created. He will be the chief executive officer of the Zila Parishad.

Ø Elections to the levels of Panchayati Raj systems should be held regularly.

·       L M Singhvi Committee

The committee was appointed by the government of India in 1986 with the main objective to recommend steps to revitalise the Panchayati Raj systems for democracy and development. The following recommendations were made by the committee.

Ø The committee recommended that the Panchayati Raj systems should be constitutionally recognised. It also recommended constitutional provisions to recognise free and fair elections for the Panchayati Raj systems.

Ø The committee recommended reorganisation of villages to make the gram panchayat more viable.

Ø It recommended that village panchayats should have more finances for its activities.

Ø Judicial tribunals to be set-up in each state to adjudicate matters relating to the elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions and other matters relating to their functioning.

·       73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution enacted in 1992 added a new part-IX to the Constitution. It also added a new XI schedule containing list of 29 functional items for Panchyats and made statutory provisions for the establishment, empowerment and functioning of Panchayati Raj institutions. Some provisions of this amendment are binding on the States, while others have been left to be decided by respective State Legislatures at their discretion. The salient features of this amendment are as follows:

Ø Organization of Gram Sabhas;

Ø Creation of a three-tier Panchayati Raj Structure at the District (Zila), Block and Village levels;

Ø Almost all posts, at all levels to be filled by direct elections;

Ø Minimum age for contesting elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions be twenty-one years;

Ø The post of Chairman at the District and Block levels should be filled by indirect election;

Ø There should be reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes in Panchayats, in proportion to their population, and for women in Panchayats up to one-third seats;

Ø State Election Commission to be set up in each State to conduct elections to Panchayati Raj institutions;

Ø The tenure of Panchayati Raj institutions is five years, if dissolved earlier, fresh elections to be held within six months; and

Ø a State Finance Commission is to be set up in each State every five years.

Some of the provisions, which are not binding on the States, but are only guidelines:

Ø Giving representation to the members of the Central and State legislatures in these bodies;

Ø Providing reservation for backward classes; and

Ø The Panchayati Raj institutions should be given financial powers in relation to taxes, levy fees etc. and efforts shall be made to make Panchayats autonomous bodies.

·       Composition of Panchayats

Ø The Panchayati Raj system, as established in accordance with the 73rd Amendment, is a three- tier structure based on direct elections at all the three tiers: village, intermediate and district. Exemption from the intermediate tier is given to the small States having less than 20

Ø Exemption from the intermediate tier is given to the small States having less than 20 lakhs population. It means that they have freedom not to have the middle level of panchayat.

Ø All members in a panchayat are directly elected. However, if a State so decides, members of the State Legislature and Parliament may also be represented in a district and middle-level panchayats.

Ø The middle-level panchayats are generally known as Panchayat Samitis. Provisions have been made for the inclusion of the chairpersons of the village panchayats in the block and district level panchayats.

Ø The provision regarding reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes has already been mentioned earlier. However, it should also be noted here that one-third of total seats are reserved for women, and one-third for women out of the Quota fixed for Scheduled Castes/Tribes.

Ø Reservation is also provided for offices of Chairpersons. The reserved seats are allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a panchayat area. State Legislatures can provide for further reservation for other backward classes (OBC) in panchayats.

Ø Term of a Panchayat

Ø The Amendment provides for the continuous existence of Panchayats. The normal term of a Panchayat is five years. If a Panchayat is dissolved earlier, elections are held within six months. There is a provision for State Election Commission, for superintendence, direction, and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections to Panchayats.

Ø Powers and Responsibilities of Panchayats

Ø State Legislatures may endow Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable the Panchayats to become institutions of self-government at the grassroots level.

Ø Responsibility may be given to them to prepare plans for economic development and social justice. Schemes of economic development and social justice with regard to 29 important matters mentioned in XI schedule such as agriculture, primary and secondary education, health and sanitation, drinking water, rural housing, the welfare of weaker sections, social forestry and so forth may be made by them.

·       Three-Tier Structure of Panchayati Raj

Ø Panchayat Samiti

Ø The second or middle tier of the Panchayati Raj is Panchayat Samiti, which provides a link between Gram Panchayat and a Zila Parishad.

Ø The strength of a Panchayat Samiti also depends on the population in a Samiti area. In Panchayat Samiti, some members are directly elected.Sarpanchs of Gram Panchayats

Ø Sarpanchs of Gram Panchayats are ex-officio members of Panchayat Samitis. However, all the Sarpanchs of Gram Panchayats are not members of Panchayat Samitis at the same time.

Ø The number varies from State to State and is rotated annually. It means that only chairpersons of some Gram Panchayats in a Samiti area are members of Panchayat Samiti at a time.

Ø In some panchayats, members of Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils, as well as members of Parliament who belong to the Samiti area, are co-opted as its members. Chairpersons of Panchayat Samitis are, elected indirectly- by and from amongst the elected members thereof.

Ø Zila Parishad

Ø Zila Parishad or district Panchayat is the uppermost tier of the Panchayati Raj system.

Ø This institution has some directly elected members whose number differs from State to State as it is also based on population. Chairpersons of Panchayat Samitis are ex-officio members of Zila Parishads.

Ø Members of Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and Councils belonging to the districts are also nominated members of Zila Parishads.

Ø The chairperson of a Zila Parishad, called Adhyaksha or President is elected indirectly- by and from amongst the elected members thereof. The vice-chairperson is also elected similarly.Zila Parishad meetings are conducted once a month. Special meetings can also be convened to discuss special matters. Subject committees are also formed.

Ø Zila Parishad meetings are conducted once a month. Special meetings can also be convened to discuss special matters. Subject committees are also formed.

·       PESA Act of 1996

The provisions of part IX are not applicable to fifth schedule areas. The Parliament can extend this part to such areas with medication and exceptions as it may specify. Under these provisions, Parliament enacted Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, popularly known as PESA act or the extension act.

Objectives of PESA act

1.    To extend the provisions of part IX to the scheduled areas.

2.    To provide self-rule for the tribal population.

3.    To have village governance with participatory democracy

4.    To evolve participatory governance consistent with the traditional practices.

5.    To preserve and safeguard traditions and customs of tribal population.

6.    To empower panchayats with powers conducive to tribal requirements.

7.    To prevent panchayats at a higher level from assuming powers and authority of panchayats at lower level.