Grassroots Democracy – Part 2: Local Government in Rural Areas

This is Chapter 11 of Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class 6, the new 2024 book under NCF-SE 2023), the second of three chapters called Grassroots Democracy in Theme D, ‘Governance and Democracy’. fees110 (Part 1) explained governance, the three organs and the three levels of government; this chapter takes the local level in rural areas, and fees112 (Part 3) will take towns and cities. It asks three ‘Big Questions’: what are Panchayati Raj institutions, what are their functions, and why are they important in governance and democracy? The chapter is short and story-led. Read it for the three tiers and their names, the Gram Sabha and Sarpanch, the named examples (Hiware Bazar, the Children’s Parliament), the one-third reservation for women and the Arthaśhāstra box.

• Links in this book: fees110 (Part 1: rules, governance, the three organs and three levels of government — the ‘Centre v Panchayat’ activity refers back to it); fees112 (Part 3: urban local government); fees109 (family and community: unwritten village rules for water and pastures, halma).
• Deeper pages: keps208 (Class 11, Local Governments: 73rd and 74th Amendments, State Election and Finance Commissions, how they have worked); lesy203 (Class 12: Gandhi, Ambedkar and Article 40; women, forests and tribal areas); iest106 (democracy at the grassroots, PESA); jess402 (local government as the third tier of federalism); gess303 (how the State government works); gess102 (the Chola-era Uttaramerur village assemblies). This page links them and does not re-teach them.
• UPSC: Prelims asked about the three-tier structure (1979, 1996), the aim of decentralised planning (1990) and the fundamental object of Panchayati Raj (2015). Mains GS2 asked about the importance of the Panchayat system (2018) and how decentralisation changed governance at the grassroots (2022). Constitutional detail questions sit on keps208 and others (see strategy).

• Theme D, Ch 11 (after fees110 Governance; before fees112 urban). Epigraph: Gandhi — ‘The real India lives in its villages.’ Big Questions: what are PRIs, what do they do, why do they matter? Book: ~6 lakh villages, 1.4 billion people, almost two-thirds rural.
• Panchayat = village council; Panchayati Raj = a form of self-government. Three tiers, bottom up: Gram Panchayat (village) → Panchayat Samiti / Block Panchayat / Mandal Parishad (block) → Zila Parishad / District Panchayat (district) (Fig. 11.1).
• Gram Sabha = all adults on the village voters’ list; discusses and decides. Sarpanch / Pradhan heads the Gram Panchayat; Panchayat Secretary (meetings, records); Patwari (land records, old maps).
• Exemplary Sarpanchs: Dnyaneshwar Kamble (transgender, Tarangfal, Solapur, 2017); Vandana Maida (Bhil, Khankhandvi, MP); Popatrao Pawar (Hiware Bazar, water harvesting; Padma Shri 2020). Child-friendly: Bal Panchayats (Maharashtra), Sangkhu Radhu Khandu (Sikkim), Children’s Parliament (Barefoot College, Rajasthan; award 2001).
• Samiti links GP and ZP; collects plans → funds, schemes (PMGSY roads). Members elected, plus Sarpanchs and MLAs. One-third seats for women; special rules for disadvantaged sections. Structures differ by State — States have authority.
• Arthaśhāstra (Kauṭilya, ‘some 2,300 years ago’): centres for 10, 100 (200 in standard translations), 400, 800 villages. † 73rd Amendment 1992 (Part IX, 29 subjects), PESA 1996. UPSC: three tiers (1979, 1996), objects of PR (1990, 2015); Mains 2018, 2022.

The book opens with scale. India, it says, has about 600,000 villages, 8,000 towns and over 4,000 cities; its population has crossed 1.4 billion, and almost two-thirds live in rural areas. How does such a big and varied country govern itself? It then visits Lakshmanpur, a small village in the Himalayan foothills with 200 houses and about 700 people, mostly farmers who also keep cows or goats. Some have relatives in the armed forces; a few young people have moved to the city for jobs. The village has needs: water for the fields, repairing the main road after heavy rain, keeping the primary school running. There may be a land dispute or stolen crops. Who decides, and where will the money come from? People cannot run to the State or national capital for every such issue.

Like every village in India, Lakshmanpur has a Panchayat, a village council. Panchayats bring governance closer to the people, so people can take part in decisions; that is why the book calls the system, Panchayati Raj, a form of self-government. Panchayats deal with local issues, promote development and make sure the benefits of government schemes reach the grassroots. The system works at three levels, from the bottom up — the village, the block and the district — the three-tier system. Together these bodies cover almost all of life in a district: agriculture, housing, roads, water resources, education, health care, social welfare and cultural activities.

The base of Fig. 11.1 is the Gram Panchayat, the body closest to the people. Its members are elected by the Gram Sabha, which the book defines as the adults of a village (or a group of neighbouring villages) who are enrolled as voters. In the Gram Sabha, women and men discuss all matters of their area and take decisions. Each Gram Panchayat has a head or president called the Sarpanch or Pradhan, and in recent years more and more women have become Sarpanchs. The Panchayat is assisted by a Panchayat Secretary, who calls meetings and keeps records, and in many parts of India by a Patwari, who maintains the villagers’ land records — sometimes with maps that are generations old.

The book’s ‘Exemplary Sarpanchs’ page tells three stories. Dnyaneshwar Kamble, a transgender person, was elected Sarpanch of Tarangfal village in Solapur district, Maharashtra, in 2017, defeating six other candidates, with the motto lok seva, gram seva — service to the village is service to the public. Vandana Bahadur Maida, of the Bhil community, from Khankhandvi in Madhya Pradesh, defied patriarchal norms to become her village’s first woman Sarpanch; she persuaded women to attend Sabha meetings and took up education and sanitation. Hiware Bazar in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, suffered frequent droughts and poor harvests until Popatrao Baguji Pawar became Sarpanch and applied Anna Hazare’s model of rainwater harvesting, watershed conservation and planting lakhs of trees, which recharged the groundwater; with the villagers’ help it became green and prosperous. Pawar received the Padma Shri in 2020.

Panchayats are meant to hear everyone’s voice, including children’s. The Child-Friendly Panchayat Initiative gives children chances to speak on matters that affect their well-being. Several States encourage children to take part regularly in Bal Sabhas and Bal Panchayats, while village elders look for solutions to their concerns. In Maharashtra, some Bal Panchayats have worked to end child labour and child marriage and brought many children back to school by persuading parents. In west Sikkim, the Sangkhu Radhu Khandu Gram Panchayat built compound walls to make schools safer and kitchens so that mid-day meals are cooked hygienically, and was declared a child-friendly Gram Panchayat. In Rajasthan, the Children’s Parliament, an offshoot of Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College a few decades ago, involved children aged 8 to 14 through night schools and parliament-style elections with voter ID cards and campaigning; the elected children formed a ‘Cabinet’ that oversaw school management and spoke up for community needs. It won the World’s Children’s Honorary Award in 2001.

Similar bodies exist above the village: the Panchayat Samiti at the block level and the Zila Parishad at the district level. The Samiti is the link between the Gram Panchayat and the Zila Parishad. Members of these bodies are elected by the local people, but they may include others, such as the Sarpanchs of villages in the area and local members of the State Legislative Assembly. The composition of Panchayat Samitis differs from State to State, but their role is the same: they coordinate across Gram Panchayats, for instance by collecting development plans from all of them and combining them to present at the district or State level. This helps funds to be allotted for projects and for schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which builds all-weather roads in rural areas. At all three levels, special rules help disadvantaged sections make their needs heard, and there is provision for reserving one-third of the seats for women.

The book reminds us that the structure and functions of Panchayati Raj institutions differ a little across States, because the States have authority over them. Their objective is the same everywhere: to let villagers take an active part in managing and developing their villages and local area. Beyond NCERT, this is because ‘local government’ is a State subject (entry 5 of the State List). The 73rd Amendment (1992) added Part IX (Articles 243 to 243-O) so that certain features are now the same in every State: a three-tier system (with the 20-lakh exception), regular five-year elections run by a State Election Commission, reserved seats for SC, ST and women, a State Finance Commission every five years to review panchayat finances, and an Eleventh Schedule of 29 subjects that States may devolve. keps208 teaches these in full; the timeline below is only for orientation.

The book’s parchment box introduces the Arthaśhāstra, an ancient text on governance written by Kauṭilya (later also known as Chāṇakya) some 2,300 years ago. It deals with how a state should be organised and run, how to make the economy prosper, the ruler’s duties and how to conduct war, and it lays out an administrative structure from the village to the regional capital. The book quotes it: the king should set up a sangrahaṇa (a sub-district headquarters) for every 10 villages, a kārvaṭika (district headquarters) for every 100, a droṇamukha for every 400 and a sthānīya (provincial headquarters) for every 800. It then asks what we would call these four today, and whether it is not amazing that a similar structure was thought of so long ago.

The Big Questions and the chapter’s activity boxes, in page order.

Numbers

One-liners

• A Panchayat is a village council; Panchayati Raj is a form of self-government.
• The three tiers, bottom up: Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad.
• The Gram Sabha is all adults of a village enrolled as voters.
• The head of a Gram Panchayat is the Sarpanch or Pradhan.
• The Panchayat Secretary calls meetings and keeps records; the Patwari keeps land records.
• The Panchayat Samiti links the Gram Panchayat and the Zila Parishad.
• The Samiti collects village development plans and presents them at district or State level.
• PMGSY promotes all-weather roads in rural areas.
• Upper tiers may include Sarpanchs and local MLAs as well as elected members.
• One-third of seats at all three levels are reserved for women.
• Panchayati Raj structures differ by State because States have authority over them.
• Democracy in Panchayati Raj works through direct participation and elected representatives.
• Hiware Bazar's Popatrao Pawar applied Anna Hazare's water-harvesting model.
• The Children's Parliament grew out of Bunker Roy's Barefoot College in Rajasthan.
• The Arthaśhāstra proposed a sthānīya (provincial headquarters) for every 800 villages.

Traps to avoid

• The Gram Sabha is the body of voters, not a fourth tier and not the elected Panchayat.
• Panchayat members are elected by the village voters in a secret ballot run by the State Election Commission, not at a Sabha meeting.
• Whether the Sarpanch is elected directly or by members depends on State law.
• Women's reservation is not less than one-third — not 30 per cent.
• Panchayat elections are run by the State Election Commission, not the Election Commission of India.
• The intermediate tier may be skipped in States with population not over 20 lakh.
• Hiware Bazar (Popatrao Pawar) is not Ralegan Siddhi (Anna Hazare's own village).
• Kamble was elected in Tarangfal, Solapur (Maharashtra); Maida is from Khankhandvi (Madhya Pradesh).
• Sangkhu Radhu Khandu is in west Sikkim; the Children's Parliament is in Rajasthan.
• The book's kārvaṭika for 100 villages reads 200 in the standard translations.
• Kauṭilya's centres were royal administrative posts; Panchayati Raj bodies are elected.
• The District Planning Committee comes from the 74th Amendment, not the 73rd.

Prelims — what UPSC asks

• From this chapter: the three-tier structure — 1996 (‘three-tier … village, block and district’, not four with the State) and 1979 (Panchayati Raj ‘as introduced in 1959’ works at village, block and district levels). The purpose — 1990 (Assertion–Reason: PRIs decentralise planning to the village because village panchayats understand their own needs; both true, R explains A) and 2015 (fundamental object: people’s participation in development and democratic decentralisation; key c). Trap note: the key leaves out ‘political accountability’, which some textbooks also list among Panchayati Raj’s aims, so the key is debatable rather than wrong — learn UPSC’s pair (participation + decentralisation).
• Expect: names of the tiers and their alternatives (Mandal Parishad, Block Panchayat), Gram Sabha’s definition, the head’s title, one-third reservation, the Samiti’s linking role, PMGSY, and Kauṭilya’s terms. Beyond NCERT: Part IX, the 29 subjects, Article 243 numbers, PESA.
• Elsewhere: constitutional detail sits on keps208 and others — first PR in Rajasthan 1959 (1981, 1985, 1991, 1998), not 30 per cent for women (1995, 1997 — both already on three chapters), Part IX/IXA (2005), SFC (2010), 73rd’s features (2011), PESA (2012, 2013), age 21 and remainder term (2016), ‘democratic decentralisation’ (2017, cap reached), intermediate level (2025). Arthaśhāstra content (1990) sits on lehs102.

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

• GS2 2018: importance of the Panchayat system and sources of finance beyond grants. Use this chapter for importance — closeness to people, the Gram Sabha’s direct participation, women and disadvantaged groups, plan-making, Hiware Bazar as proof of local results — then keps208 for finances (own taxes and fees, SFC devolution, Central Finance Commission grants, CSR, community contributions).
• GS2 2022: how far decentralisation changed grassroots governance. Frame: the book’s three-tier, direct-plus-representative design; changes (lakhs of elected women, transgender and tribal Sarpanchs, child-friendly panchayats, bottom-up plans); limits (proxy rule, weak Gram Sabhas, funds, functions and staff — the ‘3 Fs’ — controlled by States, as the book’s ‘differ across States’ hints). Attribute evaluations (Chattopadhyay and Duflo; keps208; lesy203) and give a balanced conclusion.
• Related, linked elsewhere: GS2 2015 and 2017 (are panchayats effective instruments of governance?), 2019 (women’s reservation and patriarchy), 2024 (local bodies and good governance) — keps208, lesy203, jess402; use this chapter’s Sarpanch stories as examples.

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

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