The Importance of Village Panchayat
India has accepted a democratic form of Government. Our country is having democratic socialism. There is individual liberty in such society. Such a pattern combines the virtues both of democracy and socialism. The Government of India has taken steps to constitute panchayats in each and every village through a process of periodical elections. The aim of village panchayat is to decentralize the power and give the same to the representatives of the people. The Government does not interfere in their day-to-day working. This system brings self-government in the rural areas. However, the Government guides them from a distance. The Government is taking urgent steps to make the system of panchayat raj more effective and workable. The village panchayat holds executive and financial powers. Government of India has given a constitutional sanction to panchayat raj after enacting 73rd constitutional amendment Act.
Our beloved leader Mahatma Gandhi forcefully and clearly unfolded the concept of Panchayat Raj. He stressed to form the salient features of this scheme for making it a reality. He pointed out that Panchayat Raj means taking democracy to the grassroots. The very object was transfer of power to the people living even in remote villages and bring the weakest sections of society into national mainstream.
Panchayat raj is the greatest gift of our freedom and democratic system. It allows the people to be governed by their will and ruled with their consent. In the panchayat raj system the people are free to participate in all the meetings and take collective decisions on the matters which are affecting their lives and their destinies. The people of villages of free India enjoy the self-government, which inspires and gives vision for bringing development as per their desire and need. Panchayat Raj is the best way in which people have the rights to participate in the process of their economic and social transformation. This system is helpful in reducing the economic disparities between the rich and the poor. This also brings the socialism as well as right work do within the democratic frame-work.
The village panchayats have the power and authority to draw up plans within the guidelines and conditions which are laid down by the State Government from time to time. The norms are fixed by the Government keeping the voice of the people, their needs, aspirations and priorities into account. The Village Panchayat is responsible for implementation of development schemes in hand. These schemes cover the major economic concerns mainly on agriculture, land improvement and irrigation as an agricultural reform in rural areas. The scheme also comprises the diversification of the rural economy into animal husbandry, dairies, poultry farms and fisheries. The plan consists of industrial activities mainly small scale industries, which are to be carried out in rural areas. The Village Panchayat has the jurisdiction and responsibility of looking day-to-day concerns about housing, electricity, drinking water, transportation, fuel and fodder in rural areas.
The Panchayat shoulders the major responsibility for the administering of poverty-alleviation programmes in the villages. They also look after education, health care, cultural, social, family welfare and child development programmes. Social welfare in respect of all the weaker and the handicapped sections is the responsibility of Village Panchayat. They. play a very important role in the public distribution system, which is crucial for survival of the weakest and poorest sections of the society.
The concept of co-operation is to make it a useful system of farming, land management, and fixing a ceiling on land holdings in the villages. Panchayat has the authority to give surplus land to landless people of the village. The leftover land out of the surplus one is cultivated under the arrangement of Panchayat. The farmers are getting only wages under the collective system of farming. The production so yielded is either distributed to the people or used against the development work of the village.
Our democracy has reached the stage where full participation of the people of rural areas has been regarded as determining their own destinies. India is a country where majority lives in the villages. It cannot be possible to achieve tangible progress of the country without the upliftment of the villages. It is the best system of Panchayat Raj to give maximum democracy and devolution of power to the people of villages. Panchayat Raj is a well thought out scheme, where the power is in the hands of people of grassroots. They have the freedom to exercise their power for their own upliftment and prosperity. Panchayat Raj is an appropriate system in free India. It should be encouraged further. Honest and sincere efforts of the people under this system will lead to making socialism a reality.
