Gandhian Concept of Village Development and India’s Development Policy (Special Reference to Panchayat Raj)
Gandhian
Concept of Village Development and India’s Development Policy
(Special
Reference to Panchayat Raj)
Dr.
Shubhangi Rathi
Associate
Professor,Dept. of Political Science
Smt. P.K. Kotecha Mahila College,
Bhusawal
Good governance demands respect for human rights,
rule of law, strengthening of democracy, promoting transparency and capacity in
public administration. The responsiveness of the state and its institutions to
the needs and aspirations of the people, and inclusive citizenship are
imperative to good governance. Democracy depends upon the equality of all human
beings, their right to participate in social and political transformation and
the right to development, to live in dignity. Panchayat Raj is a system and process of good governance.
Villages have always been the basic units of administration in India since
ancient times. The Gram Sabha can become the cornerstone of the whole Panchayat
Raj institutional set-up, thereby the Indian democratic system. So this paper
is focus on Gandhian concept of Panchayat Raj. This is useful to development of
India. So in 21st century this concept becomes powerful in the
Nation.
Importance of Democratic
Decentralization:
Gandhi's
concept of democratic decentralization bears the stamp of his passionate belief
in non-violence, truth and individual freedom. He calls it Panchayati Raj or
village Swaraj. He wants to see each village a little republic, self-sufficient
in its vital wants, organically and non-hierarchically linked with the larger
spatial bodies and enjoying the maximum freedom of deciding the affairs of the
locality. Gandhi wanted political power to be distributed among the villages in
India. Gandhi preferred the term ‘Swaraj’ to describe what he called true
democracy. This democracy is based upon freedom. Individual freedom in Gandhi’s
view, could be maintained only in autonomous, self-reliant communities that
offer opportunities to the people for fullest participation1
Village Panchayats:
The
vehicle that was most ideal to initiate both political and economic democracy
at the grassroots level was the Panchayat Raj system. Mahatma Gandhi’s tours
all across the country reinforced his convictions that India would benefit if
the villages were governed by Village Panchayats based on the principal of
“simple living and high thinking”. These were village republics which were
self-contained and self-reliant and having all that people want. These were the
institutions where minimum standard of living could be accorded to all human
beings. An individual had maximum freedom and opportunity to develop his
personality to the greatest extent. In these republics there would be a
diminution of the state and the roots of democracy deepened. According to him
centralization cannot be sustained as a system without adequate force.2
The
affairs are to be managed by Panchayats consisting of five persons elected
annually. Gandhi aimed at the individual the centre of the local administration. People are expected to take
personal interest and turn up
in large numbers at the
meeting to deliberate problems
of common interest such
as village industries, agricultural production, obligation and
planning 3
Village -unit of a decentralized
system:
Gandhi
made it very dear that concentration of either economic or political power
would violate all the essential principles of participatory democracy. To check centralization, Gandhi suggested the
institution of village republics both as institutions of parallel polities and
as units of economic autonomy. Village is the lowest unit of a decentralized
system. Politically a village has to be small enough to permit everyone to
participate directly in the decision-making process. It is the basic institution of participatory
democracy. The technical skills of the villages will be fully developed, there will
be no dearth of men with high
degree of skill and artistic
talent. There will be village poets, village artists, village architects,
linguists and research workers4
Gandhian
decentralization means the creation of parallel politics in which people's power
is institutionalized to counter the centralizing and alienating forces of the modem
state. According to Mahatma Gandhi, utilization of the local resources is quite
fundamental to the development of the Panchayat Raj system. The Panchayats with the Gram Sabhas should
be so
organized as to identify the
resources locally available for development in
the agricultural and
industrial sectors. Gandhi wrote,
"Democracy becomes an impossible thing until power is shared by all, but
let not democracy degenerate into mobocracy"5.
Each
village a little republic, self-sufficient, enjoying maximum freedom for
deciding the affairs of the locality.6 Gandhi also proposed a scheme of
government under the Gandhian Constitution beginning from the primary unit the
Village Panchayat to the level of the All-India Panchayat, with the powers
being assigned to all levels of the government.7 These villages
should not only be self-sufficient but also capable of defending themselves,
even if need be, against the whole world.8
In
his Presidential Address at the Belgaum Congress, Gandhi said that the
Panchayat was not only a right medium for securing cheap justice but also an
instrument for avoiding reliance on government for the settlement of mutual
justice9.
Panchayat Raj system:
The
Gandhian ideas of Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj system can become vehicles for
ushering in the much needed social and political change by including all the
stakeholders in the process of decision-making and public policy formulation.
As Gandhi said, “Panchayat Raj represents true democracy realized. We would
regard the humblest and the lowest Indian as being equally the ruler of India
with the tallest in the land10”.
India’s
Development policy about Panchayat Raj:
Mahatma
Gandhi advocated Panchayat Raj, a decentralized form
of Government where each village is responsible for its own affairs, as the
foundation of India's political system. The term for such a vision was Gram
Swaraj ("village self-governance").
Recommendations of Balwant Rai Mehta Committee. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee
was a committee appointed by the Government of India in January 1957 to examine
the working of the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National
Extension Service (1953) and to suggest measures for their better working. The
recommendations of the committee were approved by NDC in January 1958 and this
set the stage for the launching of Panchayat Raj Institutions throughout the
country. The committee recommended the establishment of the scheme of
‘democratic decentralization’ which finally came to be known as Panchayat Raj.
(i) Establishment of a 3-tier Panchayat Raj system This system was adopted by
state governments during the 1950s and 60s, as laws were passed to establish
panchayats in various states. It also found backing in the Indian Constitution, with the 73rd
amendment in 1992 to accommodate the idea. The Amendment Act of 1992 contains
provision for devolution of powers and responsibilities to the panchayats both
for the preparation of economic development plans and social justice, as well
as for implementation in relation to 29 subjects listed in the eleventh
schedule of the constitution.
Social Audit:
The
Ministry of Panchayati Raj has issued specific guidelines to make Gram Sabha as
a vibrant forum for promoting planned economic and social development of the
villages in a transparent way. The guidelines are a part of the proceedings to
observe the year 2009-10 as year of Gram Sabha and relates to the social audit
for the effective implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. According to the
guidelines, the Gram Sabha as a Key to the self-governance and transparent and
accountable functioning are a forum that ensures direct, participative
democracy. It offers equal opportunity to all citizens including the poor, the
women and the marginalized to discuss and criticize, approve or reject
proposals of the Gram Panchayat and also assess its performance. Hence, the
States may, by law, endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may
be required to enable them to function as institutions of self-government under
them, Article 243G read with the Eleventh Schedule stipulates that. Such laws
may also endow powers and responsibilities upon Panchayats for the preparation
and implementation of plans for economic development and social justice
including in relation to the 29 matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. This
did lead to the enactment of Gram Panchayat Acts by various States; these were
no more than half-hearted attempts for the creation of rural local government
institutions. But the failure of the Community Development Programme, which had
been launched for bringing a silent revolution in rural society by awakening
the dormant forces of progress, led to the appointment of Balwantrai Mehta
Study Team.
Conclusion:
But
the studies of several distinguished scholars on the working of the Panchayat
Raj in different States and the Status Report of the Ministry of Panchayat Raj
(1996) lead us to the inference that the Gandhian ideal of Gram Swaraj remains
an unfinished agenda even after fifty years of the implementation of the
Panchayat Raj on the recommendation of the Balwantrai Mehta Study Team on
October 2, 1959. 73rd Amendment was implemented by various States in 1994.
Therefore, concerted, systematic and sustained endeavors are needed on the part
of those for whom Gram Swaraj remains a cherished dream for the empowerment of
people and for making India a participatory democracy.
References:
1. Ramshray
Roy, 1984. Self and Sociew : A study in Gandhian Thought, New
Delhi, Sage Publications, India Pvt.
Ltd., p. 123
2. Harijan,
30 December 1939, Vol VII, p. 391.
3.
M.L. Sharma, 1987. Gandhi and Democratic Decentralisation, New Delhi, Deep and Deep
Publications, p. 48
4. M,K.Gandhi,
1959. Panchayati Raj, Ahamedabad, Navjivan
Publishing House, p. 16
5. M.L.
Sharma, Op. Cit., p.88
6. Collected Works, Vol
XLVI, p. 12
7. Shriman Narayan Agarwal, Gandhian Constitution for Free India,(Allahabad,
Kitabistan, 1946) for further details.
8. Harijan,28 July,
1946, Vol X, p. 236
9. Collected Works, May 1967, Vol XXV,
p. 478.
10. M.K.
Gandhi, Village Swaraj,
(Navjivan Trust, Ahmedabad, 1962), p.71.
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