Panchayat Raj Institution was constitutionalized through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 to build democracy at the grass roots level and was entrusted with the task of rural development in the country. In the traditional power system, the main dimensions of power system were: the zamindari system, the caste system, and the village panchayat. The villagers referred their social, economic and other problems either to the zamindar or to their caste leader or to the village panchayat.
- Transformation OF Patriarchal society into more gender-neutral society.
- Provision of one third reservation for women have empowered women in participating in democracy.
- Promotion of direct democracy and inclusive participation to eliminate social evils like Caste System Khap panchayats etc.
- Improvement in the delivery of public goods by bringing decision-making closer to the people.
- Constitutionally empowering local village leaders led to decentralisation of administration.
- Empowering vulnerable and marginalised sections of societies like SC/ST communities have led to mainstreaming the marginalised.
- Promote development of Social capital to promote cooperative social development.
- devolution of power and changing the existing social structures have led to improved choices of health and education.
- Devolution of powers have also led to distribution of Economic capital – improvement of employment opportunities led to better standards of living causing urbanising of rural areas.
- Autonomy given to tribal areas in matters of administration have provided for tailor made administration for tribals.
- Decentralisation of powers have led to awareness about environmental protection and promotion of sustainable development.
- Empowering democracy through strengthening direct elections in grassroots.
- Autonomy in developmental activities at village level.
- Invisibility yet potency of Caste System in maintaining hierarchical and patriarchal society.
- Limitations in true power sharing upon marginalised sections – emergence of Sarpanch patis, powerful castes, overshadowing true devolution of powers.
- Ineffective implementation powers of Gram Sabha
- Lack of Financial devolution by state governments in providing for local level administration
- Excessive dependence of Panchayats on funds from state government and lack of fiscal autonomy.
- Creation of Parallel bodies for administration of local governance. For Eg : creation of Electricity boards, water boards that are directly controlled by State.
- Genuine fiscal federalisme. fiscal autonomy accompanied by fiscal responsibility can provide a long-term solution without this PRIs will only be an expensive failure.
- 6th report of 2nd ARC, ‘Local Governance- An inspiring journey into the future’’, had recommended that there should be a clear-cut demarcation of functions of each tier of the government.
- States should adopt the concept of ‘activity mapping’, wherein each state clearly delineates the responsibilities and roles for the different tiers of the government in respect to the subjects listed in the Schedule XI.
- Effective bottom-up approach in administration promoting grassroots democracy.
- Training should be provided to local representativesto develop expertise so that they contribute more in planning and implementation of policies and programmes.
- Resolving issues of proxy representation social empowerment must precede the political empowerment.
- Recently states like Rajasthan and Haryana have set certain minimum qualification standards for Panchayat elections. Such necessary eligibility can help in improving effectiveness of governance mechanism.
- These standards should apply for MLAs and MPs also and in this direction government should speeden up efforts for universal education.
- The need of the hour is to bring about a holistic change in the lives of beneficiaries among the villagers by uplifting their socioeconomic and health status through effective linkages through community, governmental and other developmental agencies.
- Government should take remedial action in the interest of democracy, social inclusion and cooperative federalism.
