The literal meaning of Panchayati Raj is ‘rule by five persons’. Its aim is to bring democracy at the village level and ensure the participation of ordinary citizens. This basic democratic concept is not something imported from abroad. In India, from time immemorial panchayats had existed. In the administration of villages, jati-panchayats had a big role. But they were not fully democratic.
In Jati Panchayats, strong groups had representation. Lower castes had little representation there. The strong sections who ruled the Panchayats had conservative views. Their decisions were often against law and legal procedures.
There were gross inequalities based on jati, varna, and gender. This prevented proper democratic participation by all. When the Constitution was prepared, there was no mention of any Panchayat there. Many people raised their, voice against it. They showed their sorrow, despair, and anger. But leaders like Ambedkar argued’ that the panchayats would be monopolized by the strong castes and they would exploit the lower castes and the poor.
He felt that the repressed groups will be further exploited through grama panchayats. But Gandhi had a diffierent view. The concept of local self-government was much dear to him. He saw each village as a self-sufficient unit. He thought that each village would be able to manage its own affairs without depending on anybody else. He felt that ‘grama- swarajya’ was something that could continue after independence.
But we had to wait until 1992 to establish democracy at the village level (decentralized rule). In 1992, with the 73rd Amendment, this was made possible.
The 73rd Amendment gave panchayat raj institutions constitutional status. Elections to the panchayats were made compulsory every five years. The control of local resources was to be in the hands of Panchayat Samitis.
The 73rd and 74th Amendments brought a revolutionary change, in the local selfgovernment institutions one- third seats (33.3%) were reserved for women. In this 1?% were reserved for SC’s and ST’s. These I Amendments have great historical importance. With I this women got representation and partnership. They got the right to take decisions. Thus the 73rd and 74th Amendments were strong steps in the direction of women empowerment. 1/3 seats were reserved for women in regional Samiti, grama panchayats, municipalities, corporations, and district Samiti. in the 1993- 94 elections for (he local self-governments more than 8 lakh women became partners in the national developmental processes
