INTRODUCTION

Village Panchayats have a long history in India. They represent a system of governance prevalent in ancient India. Gandhiji had aptly remarked that independence must begin at the bottom. Every village ought to be a republic or panchayat with the authority and resources to realize the potential for economic and social development of the village. Gandhiji's views found articulation in Article 40 of the Constitution. It enjoins that `the States shall take steps to organise village panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of selfgovernment. During the last fifty years, several attempts have been made to bring about effective decentralisation, both political and economic, with limited success. However, the year 1992 marks a new era in the federal democratic set up of the country. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 conferred Constitutional status on the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). It envisages the establishment of a democratic decentralized development process through people's participation in decision-making, implementation and delivery. In order to achieve this objective, the Constitution provides for devolution of powers and responsibilities upon panchayats at appropriate levels. 29 Subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution have been identified for devolution to the PRIs. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act has created three tier PRIs in the rural areas with allocation of specific subjects to them. In pursuance of this, States have initiated action to devolve administrative and financial powers and resources to PRIs to enable them to discharge their Constitutional role. It is expected that once the process of devolution is effectively operationalised, resources from the Central and State Governments meant for programmes falling within the jurisdiction of the PRIs would directly get allocated to them.It is however, observed that a number of Ministries of Central Government have not taken any concrete steps to integrate PRIs in their strategy of planning and implementation of various programmes, which essentially fall in their jurisdiction. At best the Ministries issue general instructions / directions for involvement of panchayats in their programmes without suggesting concrete modalities or institutional arrangements with specified roles for them consistent with their jurisdictional status. Besides, the Ministries are increasingly implementing programmes through Non Governmental

Organisations (NGOs), which are expanding rapidly in the social sectors. PRIs do not really figure in this strategy of implementation and in fact there is not even a conceptual recognition that essentially NGOs are operating in areas and subjects which belong to the PRIs and therefore they should work in tandem with them. Ministries also take up internationally funded projects. All such projects are implemented through bureaucratic functionaries and do not involve panchayati raj institutions even though the subject they deal with fall in the domain of panchayats. The Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), which is the nodal Ministry for implementation of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, has also, so far, not discharged its role in setting up institutional mechanisms for bridging the wide gap that exists today. Though some steps have been taken by the MORD to goad the State Governments to strengthen and deepen the process of democratic decentralization, it has not yielded the desired results. Most Central Ministries have not yet internalised the PRIs role in the delivery of services handled by the Ministry. What is true of the Central Government is also true of the State Governments. Leaving aside one or two States such as Kerala, which have taken active steps for substantially empowering PRIs in planning and development, there is little by way of operationalising models of such empowerment. Even States like Kerala feel handicapped in regard to Central schemes since the guidelines for implementation are drawn by the concerned agency of Central Government. There is, therefore, an urgent need to conceptualise how the Centrally Sponsored / Central Sector Schemes would be implemented through PRIs and to ensure effective PRIs - NGOs interface consistent with the spirit and provisions of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act.

ORIGIN OF PANCHAYATI RAJ IN INDIA

The concept of Panchayati raj seemed for a while in the years after Indian independence to have disappeared permanently into the mists of India's romantic past. In the late twentieth century however the notion has returned once more to the political agenda, for a variety of reasons: strategic, practical, economic, and ideologic. Using inscriptions and other sources, historians have identified patterns of association and resistance among peasant communities in both north and south India. The terms used to describe such communities include the bhaiband or 'brotherhoods' in the villages of the Bombay Deccan, and the nurwa and patidar in Gujarat. Further back in time, the gana, sabha, samiti and parisad in the north and the nadu, brahmadeya and periyanadu in southern India refer to equivalent political or social communities, whilst anthropologists have observed the functioning of caste panchayats in the present day. 1 To a large extent however the modern idea of the Panchayat, its nature and its functions, derives from the image of the Indian village Community conjured up in the writings of Sir William Jones, Hector Munro, Mountstuart Elphinstone, John Malcolm and a variety of other colonial authors of the Orientalist school in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

References to panchayats and ganapadas in ancient Vedic texts, translated into English for the first time by orientalist scholars in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, played a part in persuading British officials that here was to found an elemental unit of Indian society and politics. Its most succinct and influential expression however lay in Charles Metcalfes defence of the mahalwari system of revenue settlement adopted in the newly ceded and conquered territories of the North-Western Province (later U.P.). Describing the fortified villages which sprung up around Delhi in the years after the collapse of Mughal power in 1761 Metcalf wrote to the 1832 Select Parliamentary Committee on the East India Companys charter in brilliantly evocative terms:

'The village communities are little republics, having nearly everything they can want within themselves and almost independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last
1

Perlin, 'Of White Whale and Countrymen' (1978).; R. Thapar, From Lineage to State (1984); B. Stein, Peasant, State & Society (1980).

where nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down; revolution succeeds to revolution; Hindoo, Pathan, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn; but the village community remains the same...This union of the village communities, each one forming a separate state in itself, has, I conceive, contributed more than any other cause to the preservation of the people of India through all the revolutions and changes which they have suffered, and is in a high degree conducive to their happiness, and to the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom and independence'. 2

The same description was next picked up by Karl Marx and used to describe what he saw as one of the characteristic features of the societies that existed under Oriental despotism.

The idea of the Village Community, and of the Panchayat or village council, then went on to assume enormous importance in the writings of Henry Maine, who, sets out to describe in his influential Ancient Law (1861), the historical evolution of legal systems, linking these systems to what he saw as the various stages in the progress of Civilisation. This theory was later underlined in the writings of Baden-Powell and others (The Indian Village Community) and became one of the backbones of the theory of indirect rule developed in India in the second half of the nineteenth century and extended elsewhere into other British colonial territories.In the hands of these later colonial administrators, the main purpose of the idea of the village community and of its Panchayat, or council of elders, was that it purported to be a natural and customary source of authority upon whom the government could legitimately devolve certain responsibilities, thus avoiding the costs of a minute and detailed system of policing and of law, whilst at the same time avoiding the timeconsuming and controversial business of holding elections and setting up local authorities to deal with matters such as street cleaning and petty theft. In time, a measure of democratic local government was also introduced, beginning with Municipal Boards in 1882, which were set up to administer towns which were also large enough to have a magistrate. However, the village community and its panchayat, remained a first resort in case of dispute, practically at least if not juridically, over large parts of rural India.

See C.J. Dewey, 'Images of the Village Community (1972)

The problem was of course that lineage, locality and caste were the main determinants of traditional village tribunals, and the so-called village panchayats were often no more than caste panchayats (which were and still are widespread). This was a poor apparatus upon which to heap the burden of jurisdiction and the legal standards expected within a Britishstyle system of justice
3

Furthermore, despite the best efforts of Elphinstone in

Maharashtra, Munro in Madras, and the Lawrence brothers in the Punjab in particular, no matter how hard they were pressed, British district collectors were always reluctant to devolve much of their power to a lower level.

At the same time, the parallel development of the British court system meant that villagers were becoming increasingly reluctant to submit their disputes to the informal jurisdiction of a group of elderly high caste peers, and when they did so, would often then turn to the local British magistrate to overturn a judgement they had just received if it were not to their liking. The real authority of the village Panchayat therefore, where it existed, was thus steadily eroded.

Despite this reality, however, by the later nineteenth century the ideal of village self-rule had been firmly entrenched in the minds of most colonial officials, and indeed that of the wider public. After all, were not such communities the origin of democracy in Ancient Greece and, transmitted to us via the Teutons, the fount of democracy in British society itself? The India village community, and its leitmotif, the Panchayat, had thus become firmly embedded in the orientalist imagining of India. And within that imagination, it had an important political role to play: the village, and the sturdy peasant being always loyal to the British regime, in the minds of the British, no matter how hard the wily Congressmen and educated elites might attempt to mislead them. It was no great surprise therefore that in the wake of Lord Ripons enthusiasm for local self-government in the 1880s attempts were made by William Wedderburn in Bombay, Elphinstones former province, and by others, to revive the village Panchayat.

L.I. & S.H. Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition (1967), pp. 264-268.

In 1920 however, following the report of the Royal Commission on decentralisation, and the Montagu-Chelmsford report of 1918, the nettle was grasped again, and village Panchayats were formally vested with legal powers in no less than five provinces, including the Punjab, Central Provinces and U.P. The reasons for doing this were of course purely practical: most official commentators accepted that by this date the ancient village communities of which Metcalf had written, if they had ever existed, were all but extinct. And should anyone doubt it, reference could be made to the 1911 census, in which particular efforts had been made to track down and enumerate village committees. The census concluded that the myth of their existence had probably arisen from the fact that a village is generally, if not invariably, formed by members of the same caste and that castes often had their own panchayats, even though the village might not.4 Nonetheless, the various provincial administrations went ahead and formally invested village committees with a combination of administrative and judicial powers, for a variety of reasons: one being the obvious grounds of economy as it was hoped that they might relieve pressures on the overstretched district and provincial courts. There was also the hope that by conferring powers upon villages, and cutting out the over-educated (and increasingly troublesome) class of collaborators upon whom the British depended for much else in their administration, the white rulers might further cement the bond between themselves and their loyal subjects. The composition of these village committees and the powers they exercised varied enormously from Province to Province. Most were democratically elected, although in the U.P. all elections by the gaon sabha had to be approved by the local magistrate. Although hardly a traditional method of selection, this procedure at least had the merit of locality combined with some sort of oversight. Nearly all of them were constituted primarily to carry out judicial business.5 In Punjab, Bombay and the Central Provinces the Panchayats covered about one-tenth or one-fifteenth of the countryside; in U.P. a quarter of the province was brought under their jurisdiction; and in Bengal and Madras presidencies panchayats were set up throughout the length of the country.6 Whilst initially the village
4 5

M. Galanter, Law and Society in Modern India (1989), p. 58. See Report of the Village Panchayat Committee (Nagpur: Government Press, 1926) 6 M. Galanter, Law and Socieyt pp. 58-9. Also H. Tinker, Foundation of Local Self Government in India, Pakistan and Burma (1954).

committees set up by the 1920 act enjoyed some measure of success (the Bengal panchayats disposed of some 122,760 cases in 1925), the picture thereafter was one of steady decline, probably partly because, as previously stated, their jurisdiction was all too easily subverted by resort to a British court. Ironically , it was during this same period, when the British were somewhat cynically encouraging the Panchayati system and putting its role into statute, that the idea of the Panchayat also entered into nationalist discourse. To nationalists however the Panchayat was not simply a cheap and easy means of indirect rule. It instead had become emblematic of the type of democratic government which Mahatma Gandhi and others wished to see supplanting that of the Europeans post-independence. Gandhi was a believer, but hardly an unequivocal champion of village self-government, and he fully accepted the practical limits to such a scheme. Others, however were more enthusiastic. The idea of village development through self-regulated councils was in fact first deployed politically in India, not by Gandhi, but by Rabindranath Tagore as early as the 1900's and it became a major issue during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal between 1905 and 1910
7

C.R. Das, the Bengali swadeshi campaigner, was amongst those who

supported it. Like Gandhi, Das was a student of law, cognisant of the writings of Maine and Baden-Powell, and he shared the same thoroughly orientalised and idealistic view of rural India., but in many ways though he was more radical and politically ambitious. Thus in 1918 Das spoke on the issue during his Presidential Address to the Bengal Congress in 1918, advocating the growth village councils as a means of economic development, this policy though was written out of the manifesto of the Bengal provincial congress following pressure from the Zamindar lobby.8 In 1922 Das became President of the Indian National Congress, and in his Congress Presidential address he again urged, as a requisite of Swaraj, the 'organisation of village life and the practical autonomy of small local centres'. Village communities must not exist as disconnected units' he argued, but 'held together by a system of co-operation and integration'. He concluded: 'I maintain that real Swaraj can only be attained by vesting the

7 8

S. Sarkar, The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal (1973): see section on constructive Swadeshi. See R. Ray, Social conflict and political unrest in Bengal (1984)

power of government in these small local centres', and he advised the Congress to draw up a scheme of government based upon these proposals.9 As a result of this an Outline Scheme of Swaraj was drawn up by C.R. Das and Bhagavan Das and presented to Congress in 1923 and was adopted as party policy. This plan recommended a massive decentralisation of government after independence, the higher centres of governmental power being reduced and the organ of administration becoming the panchayat, organised into village, town, district, provincial and all-India units of government. The purpose behind this idea was the upliftment of Indias villages, and as the memorandum put it, the 'spiritualising of Indias politics by changing the whole culture and civilisation of society from its present mercenary to a missionary basis'.10 Gandhi and the Indian National Congress though were not the only advocates of Panchayats. The enthusiasm for the village, for co-operation and for local self-government, was shared too by a variety of liberal colonial officials - particularly members of the governments revenue and agricultural departments, who saw the intermediary classes, whether moneylenders or lawyer-politicians as a drain upon society and a barrier to progress: particularly in the progress of the revenue receipts. Jawaharlal Nehru also warmed to the idea, asserting in The Discovery of India that in ancient times 'the Village Panchayat or elected council had large powers both executive and Judicial and its members treated with great respect by the Kings officers.'11 For Nehru though this was nothing but a fit of historical imagination, with few practical implications as far as Congress policy was concerned. Soon after writing it he was indeed engaged in discussions with P. Thakurdas, G.D. Birla, J.R.D. Tata and others, which led to the drawing up of the famous Bombay Plan of January 1944, which set the framework for Indias social and economic development post independence: a world of industry, urbanisation and of partnerships in development between government and the national bourgeoisie.

A.M. Zaidi (ed.), Speeches of the Congress Presidents (1985-89). In his speech, entitled Swaraj for 90 percent' C.R. Das stated his belief that through Panchayati raj, class struggle and divisions in the nationalist movement could be averted, but without it there would be an explosion in rural areas. 10 D. Dalton, Mahatma Gandhi: nonviolent power in action (1993), p. 61. 11 J. Nehru, The Discovery of India (1945/ 1989).

COMMITTEES ON PANCHAYATI RAJ

The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) In 1957, Balwantrai Mehta Committee studied the Community Development Projects and the National Extension Service and assessed the extent to which the movement had succeeded in utilising local initiatives and in creating institutions to ensure continuity in the process of improving economic and social conditions in rural areas. The Committee held that community development would only be deep and enduring when the community was involved in the planning, decision-making and implementation process.The suggestions were for as follows an early establishment of elected local bodies and devolution to them of necessary resources, power and authority, that the basic unit of democratic decentralisation was at the block/ samiti level since the area of jurisdiction of the local body should neither be too large nor too small. The block was large enough for efficiency and economy of administration, and small enough for sustaining a sense of involvement in the citizens, such body must not be constrained by too much control by the government or government agencies, the body must be constituted for five years by indirect elections from the village panchayats, its functions should cover the development of agriculture in all its aspects, the promotion of local industries and others services such as drinking water, road building, etc., and the higher level body, Zilla Parishad, would play an advisory role. The PRI structure did not develop the requisite democratic momentum and failed to cater to the needs of rural development. There are various reasons for such an outcome which include political and bureaucratic resistance at the state level to share power and resources with local level institutions, domination of local elites over the major share of the benefits of welfare schemes, lack of capability at the local level and lack of political will.

The first Minister for Panchayati Raj in India:S.K. Dey12 K. Santhanam Committee (1963) One of the prime areas of concern in this long debate on panchayati raj institutions was fiscal decentralisation. The K. Santhanam Committee was appointed to look solely at the issue of PRI finance, in 1963. The fiscal capacity of PRIs tends to be limited, as rich resources of revenue are pre-empted by higher levels of government, and issue is still debated today. The Committee was asked to determine issues related to sanctioning of grants to PRIs by the state government, evolving mutual financial relations between the three tiers of PRIs, gifts and donation, handing over revenue in full or part to PRIs. The Committee recommended the following : panchayats should have special powers to levy special tax on land revenues and home taxes, etc., people should not be burdened with too many demands (taxes), all grants and subventions at the state level should be mobilised and sent in a consolidated form to various PRIs, a Panchayat Raj Finance Corporation should be set up to look into the financial resource of PRIs at all levels, provide loans and financial assistance to these grassroots level governments and also provide non-financial requirements of villages. These issues have been debated over the last three decades and have been taken up by the State Finance Commissions which are required to select taxes for assignment and sharing, identifying the principles for such sharing and assignment, determine the level of grants and recommend the final distribution of state's transfers to local authorities.20 Ashok Mehta Committee (1978) With the coming of the Janata Party into power at the Centre in 1977, a serious view was taken of the weaknesses in the functioning of Panchayati Raj.It was decided to appoint a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Ashok Mehta to examine and suggest

12

Late Mr. S.K. Dey (19051989) piloted and steered the course of community development and Panchayati Raj in the

challenging, formative period of Indias independence as Cabinet Minister of Cooperation and Panchayati Raj under the prime ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru. After Nehrus death he took leave from Ministerial responsibilities to dedicate himself fully for the cause of Panchayati Raj as long as he lived.

measures to strengthen PRIs. The Committee had to evolve an effective decentralised system of development for PRIs. They made the following recommendations : the district is a viable administrative unit for which planning, co-ordination and resource allocation are feasible and technical expertise available, PRIs as a two-tier system, with Mandal Panchayat at the base and Zilla Parishad at the top, the PRIs are capable of planning for themselves with the resources available to them, district planning should take care of the urban-rural continuum, representation of SCs and STs in the election to PRIs on the basis of their population, four-year term of PRIs, participation of political parties in elections, any financial devolution should be committed to accepting that much of the developmental functions at the district level would be played by the panchayats. The states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal passed new legislation based on this report. However, the flux in politics at the state level did not allow these institutions to develop their own political dynamics. G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985) The G.V.K. Rao Committee was appointed to once again look at various aspects of PRIs. The Committee was of the opinion that a total view of rural development must be taken in which PRIs must play a central role in handling people's problems. It recommended the following PRIs have to be activated and provided with all the required support to become effective organisations, PRIs at the district level and below should be assigned the work of planning, implementation and monitoring of rural development programmes, and the block development office should be the spinal cord of the rural development process. L.M.Singhvi Committee (1986) L.M. Singhvi Committee studied panchayatiraj. The Gram Sabha was considered as the base of a decentralised democracy, and PRIs viewed as institutions of self-governance

which would actually facilitate the participation of the people in the process of planning and development. It recommended : local self-government should be constitutionally recognised, protected and preserved by the inclusion of new chapter in the Constitution, non-involvement of political parties in Panchayat elections. The suggestion of giving panchayats constitutional status was opposed by the Sarkaria Commission, but the idea, however, gained momentum in the late 1980s especially because of the endorsement by the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who introduced the 64th Constitutional Amendment Bill in 1989. The 64th Amendment Bill was prepared and introduced in the lower house of Parliament. But it got defeated in the Rajya Sabha as non-convincing. He lost the general elections too. In 1989, the National Front introduced the 74th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which could not become an Act because of the dissolution of the Ninth Lok Sabha. All these various suggestions and recommendations and means of strengthening PRIs were considered while formulating the new Constitutional Amendment Act. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act The idea that produced the 73rd Amendment was not a response to pressure from the grassroots, but to an increasing recognition that the institutional initiatives of the preceding decade had not delivered, that the extent of rural poverty was still much too large and thus the existing structure of government needed to be reformed. It is interesting to note that this idea evolved from the Centre and the state governments. It was a political drive to see PRIs as a solution to the governmental crises that India was experiencing. The Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, passed in 1992 by the Narasimha Rao government, came into force on April 24, 1993. It was meant to provide constitutional sanction to establish "democracy at the grassroots level as it is at the state level or national level". Its main features are as follows The Gram Sabha or village assembly as a deliberative body to decentralised governance has been envisaged as the foundation of the Panchayati Raj System. A uniform three-tier structure of panchayats at village (Gram Panchayat GP), intermediate or block (Panchayat Samiti PS) and district (Zilla Parishad ZP) levels.

 All the seats in a panchayat at every level are to be filled by elections from respective territorial constituencies. Not less than one-third of the total seats for membership as well as office of chairpersons of each tier have to be reserved for women. Reservation for weaker castes and tribes (SCs and STs) have to be provided at all levels in proportion to their population in the panchayats. To supervise, direct and control the regular and smooth elections to panchayats, a State Election Commission has to be constituted in every State and UT. The Act has ensured constitution of a State Finance Commission in every State/UT, for every five years, to suggest measures to strengthen finances of PRIs. To promote bottom-up-planning, the District Planning Committee (DPC} in every district has been accorded constitutional status. An indicative list of 29 items has been given in Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. Panchayats are expected to play an effective role in planning and implementation of works related to these 29 items.

CHARACTERISTICS OR FEATURES

Salient features enumerated of Panchayati Raj are: 1. Panchayats shall be constituted in every state at the village, intermediate and districtslevels. At intermediate level population should exceed 20 lakhs. 2. All the seats in a Panchayat shall be filled by persons chosen directly through the elections 3. The from the of territorial constituencies provide in the for the Panchayat area. of

legislature

state may, by law,

representation

chairpersons of the Panchayats at various levels district, intermediate and village. The chairpersons may or may not constituencies. They shall be chosen directly from have right to vote election from in Panchayat territorial meetings.

4. There shall be proportionate representation according to the total population of Panchayat area reserved for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. One- third of the total number of seats shall be preserved for women. The office of the chairperson shall a lso be likewise be reserved.13 5. Term of each Panchayat shall be 5 years unless it is dissolved apply to Panchayats constituted before the 73rd earlier. This will amendment act.

6. The legislature of a state may, by law, endow the Panchayats with the power to prepare plans for economic development and authorize them to levy, collect appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees and the power to provide for grants-in-aid from the consolidated fund of the state. 7. The governor of a state, after every 5 years, will constitute a finance commission to review and audit the financial position of the Panchayats. He will also determine the principles for the distribution of the net proceeds of the taxes and tolls between the stateand the Panchayats and will measure for the improvements of the financial positions of the Panchayats. 8. The governor shall appoint a state election commissioner whose tenure and service conditions will be decided by the state legislature. The state election commissioner will
13

James Wilford Garner, Political Science and Government (American Book Company, New York 1928)

be responsible for the preparation of the electoral rolls and for the conduct of all elections. 9. The provisions mentioned above shall apply to union territories as well. The administrators shall be empowered in the same manner as the governors of the state. 10. None of the afore-mentioned provisions would be applicable to scheduled and tribal areas, to the hills area of Manipur, to the states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, tothe district of Darjeeling in west Bengal to the Darjeeling Gorkha hill council. 11. Finally, the 73rd Amendment Act provides for the addition of Eleventh schedule Article 243 G. This includes 29 areas like agriculture, land improvement, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, women and child development etc.

PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS Panchayati Raj in ndia has a four way structure i.e. Gram Sabha or Village Assembly, Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, and Zilla Parishad. Gram Sabha or Village Assembly Gram Sabha constitutes the lowest level of Panchayati Raj. Each village with a population of 200 or more has a Gram Sabha. For a group of very small villages, a common Gram Sabha exists. 1.Composition of Gram Sabha: A Gram Sabha consists of all the adults i.e. voters (persons above the age of 18 years) living in the area of a Gram Panchayat i.e., village or a group of small villages. TheGram Sabha has been now recognized as a legal body. 2.Functions of Gram Sabha: The main functions of Gram Sabha are to review the annual accounts of Panchayat. Discuss audit, administrative reports of its Panchayat and schemes for Panchayat works. Discuss the tax proposals and accept community service and voluntary labour. The members of Gram Sabha elect the members of Gram Panchayat. In one year at least two meetings of the Gram Sabha are held. In its first meeting the Gram Sabha considers the budget of the Gram Panchayat. In its second meeting it considers the reports of the Gram Panchayat. A Gram Sabha elects the members of its Panchayat and also the Chairperson of Panchayat. It is a real grassroots level institution. The states have now tried to ensure a continued operation of all the Gram Sabha in their areas. Gram Panchayat The village Panchayat is the executive committee of Gram Sabha. It is the most important unit of rural local self-government. All the voters living in the area of the Panchayatdirectly elect its members. Infect, members of each Gram Sabha elect the members of the Panchayat. It acts as the local government of the village. There are approximately 2,25,000 Gram Panchayats in India. 1.Composition: The membership of a Village Panchayat is Between 5 to 31. In most of the states, a village Panchayat has 5 to 9 members. The members of the Panchayat are

called Panches. All the voters of a village elect them by a secret ballot. In every Panchayat, 1/3rd of seats are reserved for women. Seats are also reserved for persons belongScheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes. Sarpanch: The Sarpanch (Mukhia) of the Panchayat is directly elect by all the voters of the village. Some Sarpanch officers are now reserved for women, and some for persons belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Sarpanch calls the meetings of the Panchayat and presides over these. He is to call at least one meeting of the Panchayat per month. The Panches can also request him for calling a special meeting. He has to call such a special meeting within three days. Sarpanch keeps the records of the meetings ofPanchayat. The Panchayat can assign any special function to him. The members of the Gram Sabha directly elect all members of a Panchayat including the Sarpach are directly electrets by the members of the Gram Sabha. 2.Method of Working of Panchayat: A village Panchayat carries out its work by passing resolutions. The Sarpach convenes and presides over the meetings of the Panchayat. He exercises control over Panchayat administration. The Panchayat functions through its four or five committees. The Sarpanch is a member and President of each committee. The other members of committees are elected by the Panches from amongst themselves. Quorum and Method of taking decisions: A majority of members of the Panchayat constitutes the quorum. Consensus or majority takes all decisions. Sarpach can cast a casting vote in case of a tie. 3.Power and Functions of Gram Panchayat:A village Panchayat works for satisfying the needs of its area in respect of the following matters to upkeep of public places, sanitation and drains. Wells, water pumps, springs, ponds and tanks for the supply of drinking water and washing and bathing ghats. To burial and cremating the grounds. Building is public places and streets. It is relief for poor. It is public health and sanitation. It also organized and Celebrate of public festivals other than religious festivals. It is improve of the breeds of animals used for agricultural or domestic purpose. Public gardens, playgrounds, establishment and maintenance or recreation parks, organization of game sand spots, supply of sports materials and holding of tournaments. It Libraries and read the rooms. Register of the sales or cattles. It develops the agriculture and village industries and Start and maintains a grain found for the cultivators and lending them seeds for sowing

purposes. It is construct, repair and maintenance of public places and buildings of public utility. In is respect of allotment of places for preparation and conservation of manure. A village Panchayat has the power to make necessary rules. It can levy some taxes and collect some fees. It also earns income form Panchayatproperty. Gram Panchayat has also the power to settle small disputes among the people of the village. Panchayat Samiti Panchayat Samiti is the second and middle tier of the Panchayati Raj. In different states it is known by different names. Madhya Pradesh calls it the Janapada Panchayat, Assam the Anchalik Panchayat, Tamil Nadu, the Panchayat Union Concil, and U.P. the Kshetra Samiti. The Taluka level body is known in Gujrat as the Taluka Panchayat and in Karnataka as the Taluka Development Board. Uts most popular name however, happens to be Panchayat Samiti. A Panchayat Samiti is created at the block level. Each block consists of the areas of several Panchayats. 1.Membership of Panchayat Samiti: Six or ten members of a Panchayat Samiti are elected directly by the voters of all the constituencies falling within the area of the Panchayat Samiti. One meber of the Panchayat Samiti is elected for a population unit of 15000, elected representatives of the Sarphanchs of the Panchayats of the Block; Locla MLAs andMLCs and persons representing women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes whose seats stand reserved. 2.Reservation of Seats: In every Panchayat Samiti, seats are reserved for women and persons belong to SCs and OBCs. Not more than 1/3rd of all seats stand reserved for SCs, are reserved for women belong to SCs. 1/3rd or seats, out of the total number of directly elected seats of a Panchayat Samiti are reserved for woman. 3.Meetings and Tenure: The term of each Panchayat Samiti is five years in all states. A Panchayat Samiti usually meets at least six times in one year. There cannot be a gap of more than two months between its two meetings. A meeting of Panchayat Samiti is either ordinary or special. The date of every meeting is fixed by the Chairman of thePanchayat Samiti and in his absence by the Vice-Chairman. 4.Chariman and Vice Chairman of the Panchayat Samiti: Its very first meeting, each Panchayat Samiti elects two fo tis members as Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Chairmanshipsof at least 1/3rd Panchayat Samitis stand reserved for women members.

Likewise, some of the offices of Chairman stand reserved for members belonging to SCs. The tenure of the Chairman is equal to the tenure of the Panchayat Samiti. The members of a Panchayat Samiti can remove the Cahirman by passing a resolution supported by 2/3rd majority. 5.Quorum: Quorum means the minimum number of members who must be present in a meeting of the Panchayat Samiti. It case the presence is less than the minimum required, the meeting of the Panchayat Samiti cannot take any decision. BDO/BDPO: a Block Development and Panchayat Officer and a term of Block Extension officers who are specialists in various fields help Every Panchayat Samiti in its work. 6.Powers of a Panchayat Samiti:Development of Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural health, Sanitation Program, It helps Construction, repairs and maintenance of inter village roads and culverts on such roads and other means of communication. It establish the community information, recreate centers, establish youth organizations, Mahila Mandals, Farmer Clubs, Villages Clubs and establish popularization of libraries. It promotes the co-operation by helping the establishment and strengthening of service co-operative, industrial, irrigation, farming and other cooperative societies. 7.Funds of a Panchayat Samiti:Their resources mainly consist of a share in the land or local fee and duty on transfer of property, community development grants and funds allotted by the State government or Zilla Parishad for various schemes these resources are grossly inadequate. The Zilla Parishad It is the top tier of the Panchayati Raj. It operates at district level. It looks after the development of the rural areas of the district. Zilla Parishad is a legal body. It has the power to acquire, hold and dispose of property. It can enter into contracts. 1.Composition of Zilla Parishad: It has the 10 to 25 directly elected members from all the constituencies falling within the rural area covered by a Zilla Parishad. Approx. 50000 rural people elected one representative. All chairmen of Panchayat Samities are falling within the area of the Zilla Parishad. MPs and MLAs whose names stand registered as voters in any constituency of the area of Zilla Parishad.

2.Reservation of Seats: In every Zilla Parishad some seats are reserved for SCs, STs, OBCs, and women. The ratio of reserved seat is in proportion to the population of SCs. 1/3rd directly elected seats are reserved for women. In the case of OBCs, one seat is reserved in case their population living in the Zilla Parishad area in 20% or more of the total population. 3.Chairman and Vice Chairman of Zilla Parishad: The main function of the Zilla Parishad Chairman is to preside over the meetings of the Zilla Parishad. He exercises administrative supervision and control over the chief executive officer and other officials of the Zilla Parishad. The Zilla Parishad can assign him any duty. He supervises the financial administration of the Zilla Parishad. 4.Quorum for Meetings: The majority of total membership of a Zilla Parishad is the quorum for its meeting. 5.Meetings: The Zilla Parishad meets once in three months. Its special meeting can also be held when requested in writing by 1/3rd of its members. The Chairman has to call such a special meeting within 15 days of receipt of such a request. 6.Committees of the Zilla Parishad: The Zilla parishad functions through a number of standing committees. Each committee is in charge of specified subjects. The members of these committees are elected from amongst the members of the Zilla Parishad. The Chairman of the Zilla Parishad is a member of all the Standing committees. 7.Functions of the Zilla Parishad:Main functions of Zilla Parishad are development of agriculture, setup and maintain warehouses, train the farmers, land reclamation and conservation, development of Irrigation, water utilization in an optimum way, rural electrification, development of animal husbandry, develop of cold storage facilities, small scale and cottage industries, spreading of education, Celebration of national festivals, encouragement of small savings and to perform such functions as may be given to it by the state government. 8.Funds of Zilla Parishad:All money received constitutes a fund called the Zilla Parishad Fund. Funds of the Zilla Parishad are kept in the government Treasury or Sub-treasury or in a bank. The Secretary of the Zilla Parishad signs all order of expenditure or cheques against the Zilla Parishad Funds.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

The original Constitution of India did not contain elaborate provisions with respect to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, though village Panchayats as units of local administration had been functional since the early British days. As per Article 40 of the Constitution, a Directive exists in the Directive Principles of State Policy under which the State is required to take steps to organise village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of selfgovernment. Acting on the strength of this Directive, many State governments had enacted their Panchayati Raj Acts and had adopted two or three tier system of PRIs. In the meanwhile, several Committees appointed by the government of India, including Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, submitted their reports, which were also considered and selectively adopted by various State governments. But, by mid-eighties it was realised that many States were not very keen to promote the PRI and elections to these institutions were not held for many years on one pretext or the other. It was, thus, decided to add some specific provisions to the Constitution itself, on the basis of which the legislatures of various States would enact detailed laws to ensure uniformity in provisions, regularity in holding elections and empowerment of the people, particularly the. Downtrodden at the grass root level.Hence, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 was passed which sought to insert a new Part IX to the Constitution in the form of Articles 243A to 243-O. The provisions of this Constitutional Amendment required the State legislatures to enact own laws to enforce the new Constitutional provisions. These constitutional provisions provide for a uniform three tier system of the PRIs, with Gram Panchayats at village level, Panchayat Samitis at the intermediate (Block) level and Zila Parishads at the District level. The States with less that 20-lakh population need not have the intermediate tier. While the elections to all the seats at

Gram Panchayat level are to be direct, elections to other two tiers take place as per the laws of the state concerned. 73rd Constitutional Amendment also provides for reservation of seats for various categories. As a landmark provision that may have far reaching implications for socio-economic and political empowerment of the rural women, it is provided that not less than one-third of the total seats are to be reserved for women in all three tiers. While the reservations for SC and ST candidates are subject to the

provisions under Article 334, the same for women do not have any limiting factor. It has been made mandatory to hold elections to all the PRIs within six months of the expiry of their previous term. Every such institution is required to function for five years after the date of its first meeting. In case any such institution is dissolved as per law, fresh elections are required to be held within 6 month period.Minimum age prescribed for a candidate seeking election to any office of the PRIs is 21 years. These provisions relating to timely elections as well as free and fair elections to the PRIs are to be implemented by the State Election Commissioner, who is to be appointed by the Governor in every State. The State Election Commissioner can be removed only on the same grounds and in the same manner as in case of the Judge of a High Court.The Constitution enlists 29 items, including land improvement, rural development schemes, minor irrigation, primary education, fisheries, animal husbandry, development of women and children, etc., which can be assigned by the States to the PRIs. The States can assign various taxes, duties and levies to the Panchayats for effectively carrying out and supervising the works assigned to them. With a view to distribute economic resources to the PRIs, assign certain taxes, duties and tolls to them and give them grants in aid. The Constitution provides that every five years, the State governments would appoint a State Finance Commission who would make recommendation to the State government in this regard.

IMPORTANCE AND OBJECTIVE

The Panchayati Raj system is best suited for developmental and administrative requirements of rural population and society because of wide variation in the nature of local problems. It is an inexpensive form of local self-government, which can suitably identify the local problems and issues, particularly of the poor and weaker sections of society, like scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, small, marginal and landless farmers, women and backward classes. It also ensures quick and equitable measures to solve the problems. It provides a proper forum, where local people can meet, discuss and chalk out programmes, policies and their speedy implementation. It also ensures decentralisation of power, and effective developmental activities, in which active participation of the rural masses can be envisaged. The main objective of the system is to develop a method of decentralisation and devaluation of powers, functions and authority to the rural folk with a view to ensure rapid socioeconomic progress and speedier and inexpensive justice. This is to be achieved through increasing agricultural production, development of cottage and rural industries, fuller and proper utilization of available local, natural and human resources with the active participation of the people. Besides progressive decentralisation of powers and authority, it aims at improving the living standard of the rural people in general and the weaker sections in particular.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS Warms the cockles of your heart, doesnt it, reading about the wonderful warm honest upright citizens of rural India? Revenge rape, stoning to death, public lynching, naked parades, forced marriage of rape victim to rapists, forced poisoning. It may be hard to believe, but such punishments are still meted out to the so-called guilty in summary trials held by caste courts in northern India. The medieval justice system is still prevalent in many Indian states despite the country boasting a modern, independent and pro-active judiciary and law-enforcement system.

These courts, known as Jaati Panchayats (or caste-based village councils), reinforce the age-old caste system and handle disputes involving members of a particular caste or community. Most of the diktats of these caste courts are directed against women or people belonging to weaker sections or the so-called lower castes. They keep issuing decrees at their will like a dictator in the name of protecting the culture and tradition of a particular community. They are perpetrating all kinds of injustice and the administration remains a mute spectator to the entire thing. These caste Panchayats, active in States like Punjab, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan consider themselves superior to law. This social evil prevalent in rural society should be eradicated fully in order to redress the serious harassment and inconvenience faced by the persons on account of the illegitimate activities of such Cultural Courts.

I would like to present here my few suggestions regarding the total restrainment of these Caste Panchayats. They are as follows If any politician or MLAs or MPs or another Govt. servants, represent particularly his community or join hands with community-based organization / such Panchayats or extends protection to them, the political parties should not entertain such person any more or their membership should be nullified and in case of govt. servants, they should be dismissed immediately.

 An active participation of police authorities in registering the complaints, taking immediate action in identifying the persons involved and punishing the convict, redressing the damage suffered by victims, restraining any further meetings of such self-styled Panchas etc. may prove very fruitful. A record should be maintained of such Panchas involving themselves in illegitimate Caste Panchayats and they should be tried under Gunda Act or National Security Law. Such Panchas with their name, photograph and personal details should be enlisted and the list should be made available with the district administration. Their name should be blacklisted in order to let them devoid of governmental facilities (like electric and water supply, telephone connection etc). Further, by an appropriate writ or order or direction, some provisions may be incorporated in IPC or Cr.P.C. to restrain the activities of Jati Panchayats.

However, no this will cut the roots of this deep-rooted and well growing Cactus until the people of the society wake up. They have to realize the importance of raising their voice against this social evil. They should stop following the fake and hollow criteria established by such Panchas in the pretext of preserving honour of the caste. There is a need on the part of people to involve themselves, by man and money, in some constructive works for the upliftment of the society rather than spending a huge amount of money and precious time to please such malice, petty and corrupt Panchas. Members of the society should come forward restraining the meetings of Panchayats; non-cooperating with them and spreading awareness among the people regarding their illegitimate and selfish existence. There is a need of changes in our rural society. People need to free themselves from the shackles of outdated and obsolete customs and practices fastened around them by the so-called Panchas or better to say autocrats.

Thus, an active support and cooperation of people with executive, legislative and judicial organs of the State is the only prescribed medicine for this infectious and deadly harmful disease, which requires an immediate and total eradication from our Indian society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Prof. M.V. Subba Rao and Dr. Srinivasa Sastry, Lectures on Political Science (S. Gogia and Company) James Wilford Garner, Political Science and Government (American Book Company, New York 1928) Sisodia,Yatinder Singh,Functioning of Panchayati Raj System,Rawat

Publications, New Delhi,2005 Ghosh,Buddhadeb and Girish Kumar,State Politics and Panchayats in India,Manohar Publishers,New delhi,2003 B.M.Verma,Social justice and Panchayati Raj,Mittal Publications ,New Delhi,2002 www.hooghly.nic.in www.examrace.com www.plannongcommission.nic.in www.shareyouressay.com