Evolution of Panchayati Raj

Panchayati Raj is the local-self government formed according to the 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India. With an aim of maintaining democracy even at the grass-root level of the country, the Panchayati Raj System was established in the country as per the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution in the year 1992.

Evolution of the Panchayati Raj System in India. 

The system of local-self government, known as Panchayati Raj is not new to India. Indian villages had panchayats meaning a council of five people who owned executive and judicial powers. The council used to handle various issues prominently relating to land distribution, tax collection, dispute solving and so on. The council also used to solve the disputes rising with the neighbouring villages.   

Mahatma Gandhi also was of the opinion that the Panchayati System is necessary for the grassroots development of the country. As the country is the land of villages the necessity of the Panchayats in the country was absolutely necessary to keep up the developments at the lowest stage of the country and thus include people in the development of the country. Thus, the makers of our Constitution included the establishment in Part IV of the Constitution.

Article 40 orders the state governments to keep the panchayats intact with the necessary powers that are needed in the development of the villages. To form the Panchayati Raj system at the national level was not an easy task. It was necessary to bring uniformity among all the Panchayat Is yet keep the regional traditions into consideration. Thus, the makers decided to form committees to form a solution. With this, came the formation of the first committee related to Panchayati Raj in the year, 1957 of November. Post this various committees were formed by various ruling governments to bring improvements in the Panchayati raj system. Until now, a total of four committees were formed relating to the Panchayati Raj System. Various committees have given various findings to improve the system of working of the local-self government. Some of the highlights of the four committees formed are been mentioned below,

Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) –The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was appointed by the Government of India in the year 1957 to study the working of two of its programs. The committee submitted its report in November 1957. The report included the term, ‘democratic decentralisation’ at the first.

The following are the recommendations in the report submitted by the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee,

• Establishment of Panchayat Raj System with a 3 tier model. The model includes Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level and Zilla Parishad at the district level.
• According to the report, the District Collector is to be the Chairman of the Zilla Parishad.
• There needs to be ensured that the transfer of resources and power to all three tiers is done.

The existent National Development Council accepted the findings and suggestions of the report. However, it did not insist the states follow a rigid set of universal patterns. Instead, it allowed the states to include their patterns with the broader fundamentals remaining the same. Based on these proceedings, Rajasthan followed by Andra Pradesh were the first two states of the country to adapt the Panchayati Raj System.

Ashok Mehta Committee (1978) –

This committee was formed by the Janata Government, the then ruling government of India to study the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The committee submitted over 130 points in its report and some of the prominent ones are being mentioned below,

• The committee suggested replacing the three-tier system with the two-tier system.
• The committee recommended giving compulsory taxation powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• The Ashok Mehta Committee also recommended providing constitutional recognition to the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• The committee recommended making Zilla Parishad in charge of the planning at the state level.
• The state council of ministers appointed a minister for Panchayati Raj as per the recommendation of the Ashok Mehta Committee.

GVK Rao Committee (1985) –

The commitment being set by the planning commission stated that the development procedures were taken away from these institutions and mentioned the system as, ‘grass without roots.’ The following recommendations were provided by the GVK Rao Committee of 1985 based on their study,

• Zilla Parishad will be given the utmost priority and all the programs that are developmental in nature at that level to be taken care by the Parishad.
• Regular elections are to be held at this level regularly.
• The committee recommended the formation of the post of District Development Commissioner and the Commissioner would act as the CEO of the Zilla Parishad.

LM Singhvi Committee (1986) –

The committee was constituted with the aim of ‘Revitalization of Panchayati Raj Institutions for Democracy and Development by the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. The LM Singhvi Committee recommended the following points,

• To provide the Constitutional recognitions for PRI institutions.
• To establish Nyay Panchayat for the cluster of villages.

73rd Amendment Act:

 In the year 1991, the government of PV Narsimha Rao introduced a pending bill to constitutionalize the Panchayat Raj Institutions in Lok Sabha and the bill finally emerged as the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992. The bill came into force on the 24th of April 1993.

Conclusion:

The Panchayati Raj System has brought the wave of development at the grassroot level of the country. The local-self government has been working effectively at the three tier segments in all the states of the country.