Panchayati Raj: A Brief History and Background

Abstract

Panchayati Raj in India, in terms of the size of the electorate, the number of grassroots institutions (about 2.4 lakh), the number of persons elected – 36 lakh in the panchayats and Nagarpalikas, higher than the entire population of Norway, is the greatest experiment in democracy ever undertaken anywhere in the world or at any time in history. No less than 10 lakh women have been elected to our Panchayati Raj Institutions, consisting some 37 per cent of all those elected and rising to as high as 54 per cent in Bihar which has 50percent reservations for women. There are also reservations for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs), and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in proportion to their share of the population in each panchayat area. An experiment of this scale is bound to have shortcomings and setbacks, and would need course correction. It is a social revolution that its founder in its present constitutional shape and form, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, once remarked would take at least a generation to fully unfold. But it is equally necessary to take stoke of the evolution this institution from the inception. This paper attempts to highlight a brief history and background of Panchayat system in India.