When villages got their own rule: Panchayati Raj

Today the village sarpanch, the gram sabha and panchayat elections seem ordinary. But in the early years after Independence, most decisions on village development were taken in Delhi and in state capitals. Villagers' voices were rarely heard. Panchayati Raj changed that.

The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee

In 1952 the government launched the Community Development Programme for village development, but people's participation in it remained low. A committee headed by Balwant Rai Mehta was set up to review it. In 1957 the committee recommended that villagers themselves should decide on their development, through elected bodies at three levels: village, block and district.

The start at Nagaur

On 2 October 1959, Gandhi Jayanti, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru launched Panchayati Raj at Nagaur in Rajasthan. Nagaur became the first district in the country to implement it. Gandhiji had spoken of "Gram Swaraj", self-reliant villages, which is why this date was chosen. Andhra Pradesh introduced Panchayati Raj a few days later.

A three-tier system

The gram panchayat at the village level, the panchayat samiti at the block level and the zila parishad at the district level were created. In all three, development work was handed to representatives elected by the people.

Constitutional status

At first panchayats depended on the will of state governments, and many states did not hold elections for years. To remove this weakness the 73rd Constitutional Amendment was passed in 1992 and came into force in 1993. The initiative began under the Rajiv Gandhi government and the amendment was passed under the Narasimha Rao government. It gave panchayats constitutional status, made elections every five years compulsory and reserved one-third of seats for women. Many states now reserve 50 per cent.

Today

India now has more than 2.5 lakh gram panchayats. They play a big role in roads, water, sanitation and work such as MGNREGA. The system that began at Nagaur in 1959 is today known as the world's largest grassroots democracy.