 Post–Independence Period: 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.

 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.

o 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.

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

 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 Etawah Project undertaken by the American expert, Albert
Mayer.

o 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.

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

 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.


Rural[edit]

 The panchayati raj system is a three-tier system with elected bodies at the village, taluk and
district levels. The modern system is based in part on traditional panchayat governance, in
part on the vision of Mahatma Gandhi and in part by the work of various committees to
harmonize the highly centralized Indian governmental administration with a degree of local
autonomy.[4] The result was intended to create greater participation in local government by
people and more effective implementation of rural development programs. Although, as of
2015, implementation in all of India is not complete,the intention is for there to be a gram
panchayat for each village or group of villages, a tehsil level council, and a zilla panchayat at
the district level.

 Rural Local Governments (or Panchayat Raj Institutions) [1]

 Zilla Panchayats
  Mandal or Taluka Panchayats

 Gram Panchayats

 Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957)[edit]

 In 1957, a committee led by Balwant Rai 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.[5] The suggestions were for as follows:[6]

 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.

 It was decided to appoint a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Ashok Mehta to
examine and suggest measures to strengthen PRIs. The Committee had to evolve an
effective decentralised system of development for PRIs. They made the following
recommendations:

ASHOK MEHTA COMMITTEE

 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 by Planning Commission 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 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)

 A committee led by Laxmi Mall Singhvi was constituted in the 1980s to recommend ways to
revitalize PRIs. The Gram Sabha was considered as the base of a municipality decentralised,
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

 In 1957, the National Development Council constituted a committee headed by Balwant

Rai Mehta to look into the working of community development programme.

o The team observed that the major reason for the failure of the CDP was the lack of
people’s participation.

o The committee suggested a three-tier PRIs, namely, Grama Panchayats (GPs) at the
village level, Panchayat Samiti (PSs) at the block level, and Zilla Parishad (ZPs) at the
district level.

 As a result of this scheme of democratic decentralization was launched in Rajasthan on

October 2, 1959.

 In Andhra Pradesh, the scheme was introduced on 1st November, 1959. The necessary
legislation had also been passed and implemented in Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Punjab etc.

 The appointment of the Ashok Mehta Committee in 1977 did bring new thinking in the
concepts and practice of the Panchayat Raj.

o The committee recommended a two-tier Panchayat Raj institutional structure

consisting of Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayat.

 In order to use planning expertise and to secure administrative support, the district was
suggested as the first point of decentralization below the state level.

 Based on its recommendation, some of the states like Karnataka incorporated them
effectively.

 In subsequent years in order to revive and give a new lease of life to the panchayats, the
Government of India had appointed various committees.

 The most important among them are the Hanumantha Rao Committee (1983), G.V.K. Rao
Committee (1985), L.M.Singhvi Committee (1986) and the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-
State relations (1988), P.K. Thungan Committee (1989) and Harlal Singh Kharra Committee
(1990).

 The G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985) recommended making the “district” as the basic unit of
planning and also holding regular elections while the L.M.Singhvi
 committee recommended providing more financial resources and constitutional status to
the panchayats to strengthen them.

 The Amendment phase began with the 64th Amendment Bill (1989) which was introduced
by Rajiv Gandhi seeking to strengthen the PRIs but the Bill was not passed in the Rajya
Sabha.

 The Constitution (74th Amendment) Bill (a combined bill for the PRIs and municipalities) was
introduced in 1990, but was never taken up for discussion.

 It was during the Prime Ministership of P.V.Narasimha Rao that a comprehensive

amendment was introduced in the form of the Constitution 72nd Amendment Bill in
September 1991.

 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December, 1992.
Through these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.

 The Acts came into force as the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993
and the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993.

Salient Features of the Constitution 73rd and 74th Amendments

1. These amendments added two new parts to the Constitution, namely, added Part IX titled
“The Panchayats” (added by 73rd Amendment) and Part IXA titled “The
Municipalities” (added by 74th Amendment).

2. Basic units of democratic system-Gram Sabhas (villages) and Ward Committees

(Municipalities) comprising all the adult members registered as voters.

3. Three-tier system of panchayats at village, intermediate block/taluk/mandal and district

levels except in States with population is below 20 lakhs (Article 243B).

4. Seats at all levels to be filled by direct elections Article 243C (2).

5. Seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the chairpersons
of the Panchayats at all levels also shall be reserved for SCs and STs in proportion to their
population.

6. One-third of the total number of seats to be reserved for women.

7. One third of the seats reserved for SCs and STs also reserved for women.

8. One-third offices of chairpersons at all levels reserved for women (Article 243D).

9. Uniform five year term and elections to constitute new bodies to be completed before the
expiry of the term.

10. In the event of dissolution, elections compulsorily within six months (Article 243E).

11. Independent Election Commission in each State for superintendence, direction and control
of the electoral rolls (Article 243K).
 12. Panchayats to prepare plans for economic development and social justice in respect of
subjects as devolved by law to the various levels of Panchayats including the subjects as
illustrated in Eleventh Schedule (Article 243G).

13. 74th Amendment provides for a District Planning Committee to consolidate the plans
prepared by Panchayats and Municipalities (Article 243ZD).

14. Budgetary allocation from State Governments, share of revenue of certain taxes, collection
and retention of the revenue it raises, Central Government programmes and grants, Union
Finance Commission grants (Article 243H).

15. Establish a Finance Commission in each State to determine the principles on the basis of
which adequate financial resources would be ensured for panchayats and municipalities
(Article 243I).

16. The Eleventh Scheduled of the Constitution places as many as 29 functions within the
purview of the Panchayati Raj bodies.

 The following areas have been exempted from the operation of the Act because of the
socio-cultural and administrative considerations:

o Scheduled areas listed under the V Schedule in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.

o The states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

o The hill areas of district of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal for which
Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council exists.

 In conformity with provisions in the Constitution Amendment Act, an Act called

the Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 passed by the
Government of India.

Structure and Major Functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)

in India

Though the basic structure of the PRIs is identical across the states of India, it is described via
different nomenclatures in different states. Panchayats in every state has its own characteristics and
even election procedures to these institutions are at variance.

A District Panchayat or Zilla Parishad is co terminus with the district. Each district has one Zilla
Parishad.

Similarly Block Panchayats or Panchayat Samitis are co terminus with blocks of the said district.
A Block may have several villages within it, but Gram Panchayats are not necessarily co terminus
with each village. Depending on the size of population (as a matter of fact, number of voters)
a Gram is defined under the law with a specific geographical area, which may consist of a single
village or a cluster of adjoining villages.

Members of Panchayats:

A. Zilla Panchayat:

Each block Panchayat under a ZP elects one/two/three members directly (depending on number of
voters within it). Presidents of all the Block Panchayats are also ex-officio members of the ZP. In
some states the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Member of Parliament (MP) of the
district/constituency are also ex-officio members.

B. Block Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti:

Each GP under a Block Panchayat elects one/two/three members directly to the Block Panchayat. GP
pradhans are ex-officio members of the Block Panchayats.

C. Gram Panchayat:

A Gram as defined under the Act (meaning a village or a cluster of villages) is divided into a minimum
of five constituencies (again depending on the number of voters the Gram is having). From each of
these constituencies one member is elected. Body of these elected members is called the Gram
Panchayat. Size of the GPs varies widely from state to state. In states like West Bengal, Kerala etc. a
GP has about 20000 people on an average, while in many other states it is around 3000 only.

D. Gram Sabha:

In most of the states, each constituency of the members of the Gram Panchayat is called the Gram
Sabha and all the voters of the same constituency are members of this body. However, in some
states this is called Ward Sabha/Palli Sabha etc. In West Bengal it is called Gram Sansad (village
parliament). Gram Sabha in West Bengal has a different meaning. Here all the voters of the Gram
Panchayat as a whole constitute the Gram Sabha.

Under the Constitution there can be only three tiers of the Panchayat. The Gram Sabha is not a tier
of the PR system. It does not have any executive function and operates as a recommending body
only.

Gram Sabhas hold meetings normally 2 to 4 times a year, but can meet as and when necessary. In
some states dates of these meetings are fixed (Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat etc.) while in others dates
are fixed by the Gram Panchayats. Issues to be discussed in the meetings can be wide ranging but
the essential agenda should include: Annual Action Plan and Budget, Annual Accounts and Annual
report of the GP, selection of beneficiaries for different social service programmes (Indira Awas
Yojana (IAY), Pension Schemes etc.), identification of schemes for preparation of Annual Plan for
development programmes (e.g. MGNREGS) of GP, consideration of the Audit reports, analyses of
GP’s performance etc.
The diagram at the end of the note demonstrates the typical structure of the rural local governance
system in India, taking the example of West Bengal.

Functioning of Panchayats

As per the Constitution, Panchayats in their respective areas would prepare plans for economic
development and social justice and also execute them. To facilitate this, states are supposed to
devolve functions to Panchayats (29 subjects as mandated) and also make funds available for doing
these (as per State Finance Commission’s recommendations). The functions of Panchayats are
divided among different Committees (as ministries are formed in state and union governments),
which are called Standing Committees/Sthayee Samitis/Upa Samitis etc. One of the members
remains in charge of each of such committees while the over-all charge rests with the chairperson of
the Panchayat. Panchayats are supported by a host of other of officials, the number of which varies
from state to state.

Apart from grants received from the government under the recommendation of the Finance
Commission, Panchayats receive schematic funds for implementation of schemes (MGNREGS, BRGF,
IAY etc.). They can also raise revenue by imposing taxes, fees, penalties etc. as per rule of the state.

Diagram; Rural Local Governance System (Panchayati Raj Institutions or PRIs) in West Bengal

Typically, a panchayat samiti is composed of elected members of the area, and the Block
Development Officer, otherwise unrepresented members (representatives of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and women), associate members (such as a farmer of the area, a representative of
the cooperative societies, and one from the agricultural marketing services sector), and the elected
members of that panchayat block (tehsil) on the zila parishad (district board)

The samiti is elected for five years and is headed by a chairman and deputy chairman elected by the
members of the panchayat samiti.There is also one Sarpanch Samiti for the supervision of the other
gram panchayats
The most common departments found in a panchayat samiti are:

1. Administration

2. Finance

3. Public works (especially water and roads)

4. Agriculture

5. Health

6. Education

7. Social welfare

8. Information Technology

9. Women & Child Development

10. Panchayat raj ( Mandal Praja Parishad )

Each department in a panchayat samiti has its own officer, most often these are state government
employees acting as extension officers, but occasionally in more revenue-rich panchayat samiti,
these may be local employees. A government appointed block development officer (BDO) is the
supervisor of the extension officers, and executive officer to the panchayat samiti and becomes, in
effect, its administrative chief over all operations

Panchayat Samiti collects all the prospective plans prepared at Gram Panchayat level and processes
them for funding and implementation by evaluating them from the angles of financial constraints,
social welfare and area development. It also identifies and prioritize the issues which needs to be
addressed at block level.

Functions

Panchayat Samiti collects all the prospective plans prepared at Gram Panchayat level and processes
them for funding and implementation by evaluating them from the angles of financial constraints,
social welfare and area development. It also identifies and prioritize the issues which needs to be
addressed at block level.

Sources of income

The income of the panchayat samiti comes from three sources:

1. taxes levied upon land and water usage, professional taxes, liquor taxes and others

2. income generating programmes

3. grants-in-aid and loans from the State Government and the local zila parishad
 4. voluntary contributions

For many of the panchayat samiti the main source of income becomes state aid. For others, the
traditional taxing function provides the bulk of revenues. Tax revenues are often shared between
the gram panchayats and the panchayat samiti.

Panchayat samiti (also known as Mandal panchayat, taluka panchayat, block panchayat) are
rural local governments (panchayats) at the intermediate level in panchayat raj institutions (PRI).

It has been said to be the "panchayat of panchayats"

They operate at the tehsil (taluka) level and govern the villages of the tehsil that together are called
a development block. The panchayat samiti is the link between the gram panchayat (village council)
and the zila parishad (district board).[3] The name varies across states: mandal parishad in Andhra
Pradesh, taluka panchayat in Gujarat, and mandal panchayat in Karnataka.

COMPOSOTION

Typically, a taluka panchayat is composed of elected members of the area: the block
development officer, members of the state's legislative assembly, members of parliament
belonging to that area, otherwise unrepresented groups (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and women), associate members (such as a farmer, a representative of the cooperative
societies and one from the agricultural marketing services sector) and the elected members of
that panchayat block (tehsil) on the zila parishad (district board).

SUPERVISION AND CONTROL OVER PRIs

State power to Dissolve the PRIs

Power of cancellation and suspension of resolutions adopted by the PRIs.

power to remove office-bearer.

UP=- COMMISSIONER

GUJRAT—DISTRICT PANCHAYAT COUNCIL

TN- PANCHAYAT UNION COUNCIL

POWER TO TAKE DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST THE BOTH OFFICIALS AND

NON-OFFICIALS OF PRIs

Power to inspect office, property and work of the PRI’s.

Technical supervision and control

On plans, programmes and projects formulate and implemented by the PRIs

Financial Control

The Municipal Corporation consists of four organs:

1. General Council: It comprises of members which are elected from different wards.
These members are known as councillors. These are directly elected by the adult
citizens of that city. It also consists of members known as aldermen who are respected
and popular citizens of the city.

2. Mayor: The Municipal Corporation is headed by the Mayor. He and the deputy
mayor are elected by the members of the Municipal Corporation from among
themselves. He/She presides over the meetings of the corporation. He/she holds the
office for a period which varies between 1 - 5 years.

3. Municipal Commissioner: The Municipal Commissioner is also known as the Chief

Executive Officer. He is in charge of the municipal’s entire administration and also
supervises the working of the officers. He is appointed by the State Government and
his term of office varies between 1 and 5 years.

4. Standing Committees: Several committees which help the Corporation to perform

many functions are known as standing committees.