The Panchayati Raj system, as established in accordance with the 73rd Amendment, is a three-tier structure based on direct elections at all the three tiers: village, intermediate and district.
Composition:
1. All members in a panchayat are directly elected.
2. The second or middle tier of the Panchayati Raj is Panchayat Samiti, which provides a link between Gram Panchayat and a Zila Parishad.
3. Zila Parishad or district Panchayat is the uppermost tier of the Panchayati Raj system.
Function:
1. The civic functions relating to sanitation, cleaning of public roads, minor irrigation, public toilets and lavatories, primary health care, vaccination, the supply of drinking water, constructing public wells, rural electrification, social health, and primary and adult education, etc. are obligatory functions of village panchayats.
2. Panchayat Samitis are at the hub of developmental activities. Some functions are entrusted to them like agriculture, land improvement, watershed development, social and farm forestry, technical and vocational education, etc.
3. Zila Parishad links Panchayat Samitis within the district. It coordinates its activities and supervises their functioning. It prepares district plans and integrates Samiti plans into district plans for submission to the State Government. Zila Parishad looks after development works in the entire district.
