Indian Constitution

When the panchayat raj is established, public opinion will do what violence can never do.   — Mahatma Gandhi

In India, the rural local self-government and development system is referred to as Panchayati Raj. It was established in all of India’s states by state legislature acts to foster democracy at the grassroots level. It was enshrined in the constitution by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.  This amendment added the eleventh schedule to the constitution, which covered 29 themes pertaining to panchayats.  Furthermore, this bill introduced Article 243 to 243 O, which comprised Part IX, into the Constitution. This change requires the state governments to put the new Panchayati Raj system into effect in accordance with the requirements of the act.

Objective of Panchayati Raj

• The principal objective of the 73rd Amendment Act was to enhance citizen engagement in governance by democratically decentralizing authority and resources from the central government to locally elected officials.
• Its purpose is to fulfill Article 40 of the Constitution, which requires the state to establish village panchayats and grant them the necessary authority and capabilities to act as autonomous bodies.

Key Provisions:

• The main governing body of the Panchayati Raj system is the Gram Sabha. Every voter in the panchayat’s boundaries who is registered to vote participates in the village assembly. It will carry out tasks and wield authority as assigned by the state legislature. On the government website, https://grammanchitra.gov.in/, candidates can review the roles and responsibilities of gram panchayats.
• Three-tier system: The Act calls for the creation of the state-level Panchayati Raj systems in the villages, intermediate levels, and districts. States having fewer than 20 lakh inhabitants might not be considered intermediate.
• Election of members and chairperson: The state government selects the chairperson at the village level, while members at all Panchayati Raj levels are elected directly. Chairpersons at the intermediate and district levels are elected indirectly from the elected members.
  Voting at Panchayat meetings is permitted for the Chairperson of a Panchayat and other members, whether or not they were chosen directly from territorial constituencies within the Panchayat region.
• Reservation of seats: In accordance with the population percentage of SC and ST, reservations shall be made at all three tiers.
  For women: a minimum of one-third of all seats must be set aside for them, and a minimum of one-third of all positions for panchayat chairs across all tiers must be designated for women.
  The ability to reserve seats for members of underrepresented classes in panchayats at all levels and in chairperson positions is also granted to state legislatures.
• Panchayat Term: The Act stipulates that all panchayat levels will have five-year terms of office. The panchayat may, however, be dissolved before to the end of its tenure. However, new elections to form the new panchayat must be held either before the end of its five-year term or, in the event of a dissolution, before the end of the six-month period following the date of the dissolution.
• State election commission:

1. i) The commission is responsible for superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and conducting elections for the panchayat.
2. ii) The state legislature may make provisions with respect to all matters relating to elections to the panchayats.

• Finance Commission: The state finance commission examines the panchayats’ financial standing and makes suggestions for the actions that should be taken to increase the panchayat’s resource base.

The 73rd Amendment’s ratification has greatly enhanced local self-government across the country.  In 2010, the national government decided to celebrate this and provide the institutions more support by designating April 24 as National Panchayati Raj Day each year.
Today’s formalized Panchayati raj functions at three levels: the village-level Gram Panchayat, the block-level Mandal Parishad/Panchayat Samiti/Block Samiti, and the district-level Zila Parishad.
The Gandhian Principle of the DPSP, which supported decentralized democracy—that is, the notion that people should make their own decisions—is the foundation of this amendment. Gandhiji promoted the idea of a third level of government, which is capable of comprehending the issues that the village people face on a local level.  If we would see our dream of Panchayat Raj, i.e., true democracy realized, we would regard the humblest and lowest Indian as being equally the ruler of India with the tallest in the land.— Mahatma Gandhi