THE NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL

SOCIOLOGY OF LAW
THIRD TRIMESTER
PROJECT WORK

“Present condition of a Gram Panchayat: Study of Village Birkhari of

Bhind, Madhya Pradesh”

Submitted by:- Submitted to:-

Avinash Bhargav Dr. (Prof.)Tapan Mohanty

Roll no. – 2018 BALLB129 Professor of Sociology

Enrollment no.- A-2036

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Project titled-“Present condition of a Gram Panchayat: Study of
Village Birkhadi of Bhind, Madhya Pradesh” has been prepared and submitted by Avinash
Bhargav who is currently pursuing his B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) at National Law Institute University,
Bhopal in fulfillment of Sociology-II course . It is also certified this is original research report
and this project has not been published in any journal.

Date:

Signature of the Teacher:

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

This project has been made possible by the unconditional support of many people, I would like
to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to Prof. (Dr.) V. Vijayakumar, and Dr.
(Prof)Tapan Mohanty for guiding me throughout the development of this project into a coherent
whole by providing helpful insights and sharing their brilliant expertise.

I would also like to thank the members of the library staff and computer section for the
cooperation in making available the books and accessing the internet even during their free
time. I am deeply indebted to my parents, seniors and friends for all the moral support and
encouragement.

AVINASH BHARGAV

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Table of contents:
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………5.
2. POLITICAL DECENTRALISATION……………………………………………….6.
3. ANALYSIS OF PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM BASED ON VILLAGE STUDY...8.
4. SET OF QUESTIONS TO THE VILLAGERS………………………………………9.
5. SET OF QUESTIONS TO THE SARPANCH………………………………………9.
6. ANALYSIS OF PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM OF THE VILLAGE AFTER
OBSERVING THE VILLAGE PEOPLE AND SARPANCH……………………….9.
7. THE RESPONSE FROM THE SARPANCH ON THE QUESTIONS ASKED……..10.
8. VILLAGERS REPLY ON THE QUESTIONS……………………………………….11.
9. MAJOR CRITICISM AGAINST PANCHAYAT MEMBERS……………………….12
10. REMEDIAL MEASURES……………………………………………………………..13
11. MY ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION……………………………………………….14.
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………14
13. REVIEW OF LITERATURE…………………………………………………………..15.

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Objective of the Study:-

My objective is to understand the administration and role of Panchayati raj system and Sarpanch
in villages and how efficiently they administer their villages.

INTRODUCTION:

The word “panchayat” literally means “assembly” (ayat) of five (panch) wise and respected
elders chosen and accepted by the local community. However, there are different forms of
assemblies. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals of the villages.
Modern Indian government has transferred several administrative functions to the local level,
empowering elected gram panchayats. It is a system of governance in which gram panchayats are
the basic unit of administrations . It has 3 levels:
 Gram Panchayat (village level),
 Janapad Panchayat or block samiti (block level) and
 Zila Panchayat (district level)

This was considered a political and administrative innovation of far-reaching importance when it
was first introduced in 1959. It was depicted as a mechanism of popular participation. The
Panchayati Raj bodies were expected to awaken political consciousness on the countryside and
to engender a democratic process in rural India.

Initially, people evinced keen interest in the Panchayati Raj system and their representatives
participated actively in local affairs, including developmental activities. With the passage of
time, the initial enthusiasm and public participation had gradually diminished.
The decentralization of the power and the different roles played by the Panchayati Raj
Institutions are not only empowering and encouraging the people at the grassroots level but its
function is also to enhance the democratic functioning.

The philosophy of power to the people is the main guiding philosophy behind the grassroots
level development of Panchayati Raj Institution under the principle of 73rd and 74th
Constitutional amendments. The main goal of these two amendments is to strengthen the

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Panchayati Raj Institutions throughout the country and form them as the Institutions of Self-
governance which are responsible for the economic development of the country and also ensures
the social justice. After seeing all these works and responsibilities the Government of India had
decided to give more power to the people of India and make them more powerful so that they can
decide their own affairs without any help of the Government of India. Although the
transformation of panchayats into the various Self-government institutions which is the
devolution of powers and resources and also the functions of the institutions.

After fourteen years of the 73rd Constitutional amendment it was universally realized that the
basic empowerment of these Panchayati Raj institutions cannot be made without the
devolvement of the essential economic and the administrative powers to the different grassroots
institutions. This is very important because the time has come for a comprehensive and objective
study of the working of the different local self –government organizations.

Decentralization derives its rationale from its being able to good governance at the local level
and better planning for promoting sub-regional equity and alleviating poverty. It is however
increasingly being recognized that if good governance and better planning were to be ensured
under the regime of decentralization, the State should ideally empower the local governments by
ensuring a fuller political, administrative, and planning decentralization. The purpose of this
chapter is to identify the weakness of the Panchayati Raj System and to suggested measures for
strengthening it by appropriate reforms that empower, urge institutions to function as units of
local governments rather than as agents of State Governments as hitherto.

Political Decentralization

It may be recalled that the Panchayati Raj System that was in plane prior to the 73rd Constitution
Amendment Act of 1992 had the following limitations:

1. There was no permanency about the panchayats as the State Governments tended to
establish them when pleased and supersede them at will.
2. There was lack of uniformity in the system as different states had different tiers of
panchayats.

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 3. The powers and functions devolved were inadequate to make the panchayats to function
as units of governments.
4. The panchayats did not enjoy financial autonomy, and the funds and taxes devolved to
them were not adequate.
5. Panchayats were controlled by the dominant castes: the weaker sections including women
and backward caste members did not have access to local governance.

These features of Panchayati Raj System were an indication of how the panchayats were not
adequately empowered to function as units of government. However, the 73rd Amendment to the
Constitution by making holding of elections to panchayats mandatory on the part of the State
Governments, suggesting a three tier system for larger states and two tier system for smaller
states, appending the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution which broadly defined the powers
and functions of these bodies, providing for the appointment of State Finance Commissions to
determine devolution of funds to these bodies, laying down a formula of reservation of seats and
authority positions for weaker sections and defining the powers of the State Governments vis-a-
vis the Panchayati Raj Institutions provided a formal framework for political decentralization.

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Analysis of Panchayati Raj System based on the Village Study

State- Madhya Pradesh

District- Bhind

Block- Gohad

Name of the Villages which are part of Name of the Gram Caste of Sarpanch
Panchyat the Gram Panchayat Sarpanch
Birkhari Birkhari, Dang, Banjarapura, Imarti Devi Sharma General (Brahmin)
Gram Sondha

Panchayat Demography

Name of the Adult Adult Adult General Total Adult

Panchayat Population of Population of Population Population
SC’s OBC’s
Birkhari 700 1285 1964 3949
Panchayat

These villages are located at a distance of 30-35 Kilometers from Bhind City and all of
them are well connected by roads. The main occupation in this region is agriculture. The land
lords are also prevalent in this region as some farmers in this region have more than 100-120
Bigha land in their name. other farmers have average land varying from 10 Bigha to 15 Bigha.
There is Primary school in each village. Only 5 houses exist of muslim population which
includes 17 members in this region.

Set of Questions:

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To the Villagers:

1. Involvement of Sarpanch in Village activities.

2. List of development work done by Sarpanch.
3. Are the Villagers satisfied with the work of Sarpanch.
4. Is he/she corrupt or honest.
5. Is he is doing work for the education of children.

Set of Questions to the Sarpanch :

1. What have you done for the development of village?

2. Have you utilized all the fund that has been sanctioned for this village?
3. Do you hold regular gram sabha?
4. Do you treat each and every caste people equally?
5. Future plan and initiatives.

Analysis of Panchayati Raj system of the Village after observing the Village
people and the Sarpanch.

This was observed that Sarpanch do not have any proper plan for the development of
Village, instead on the first instance it can be observed that there is corruption involved as far as
allocation of funds is involved for developmental activities of the village. In recent times,
different government schemes like Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojana And Janani
Suraksha Yojna have been fruitful for the villages still the results haven’t been as contrasting as
it should have been.

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The response from the Sarpanch on the questions asked:

 When asked about the development work in the respective village:

 Birkhadi- The work done by the Pradhan in last 4 years isn’t very appealing. Apart from
making concrete road, and installing a handpumps, no significant work has been done.
There is no electricity connections in the village and no other development can be seen in
this village.
 Sondha - Similar to Birkhari
 Banjarapura- Similar to Birkhari.

 Have you utilized all the fund that has been sanctioned for these villages?

No, they used funds in inappropriate way.

 Do you hold Regular Gram Sabhas?

No.
 Do you treat each and every caste people equally?
No.
 Future plan and initiatives.

Do the electrification of villages, improve the education system of villages, provides

advantages of various schemes to villagers.

Villagers Reply:

This survey was conducted among 32 Villagers (Informal survey)

Questions Yes No Not Sure

Involvement of Sarpanch in Village activities 11 17 03
Are you satisfied with Sarpanch’s Work in 05 18 09
his/her tenure
Do you think the Funds are being misused 19 05 08
Do you know about different Government 07 11 14
schemes?
Are you getting the benefits of all the schemes 04 20 08
You have idea about Gram Sabha. 08 20 04

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Do you think a Sarpanch is helping in 06 14 12
development and empowerment of women

 Almost everyone knew about their Sarpanch and most of them were not happy with their
Sarpanch’s work.
 In certain cases, there has been unfair treatment with a particular community (Chamars)
by the Sarpanch.
 The Sarpanch according to the villagers has misused the fund and has used it for her
personal luxuries.
 There is almost no role of the real Sarpanch and all the decisions are taken by pseudo-
Sarpanch. In fact, the Pseudo-Sarpanch is known as the Sarpanch of the village.
 The list of development work was not up to the mark according to the villagers as most of
the development work has been done near the Sarpanch’s house.
 According to people a lot could have been done for the development for the village as
these villages were selected under the “Gokul Gram” but the work has been delayed and
Sarpanch has been reluctant in doing his duty.
 When asked about Gram Sabha, people said it is almost an alien concept for them as no
such gathering has ever happened in this village and villages nearby.
 Most of the people are not aware of the panchayati raj system.
 When asked about corruption, the reactions were mixed. But they never thought of
complaining about these issues to the higher authorities in order to prevent the intra-
village conflict.
 The education matters for the villagers but the primary school of all the villages was very
depressing. Overall, the villagers were not satisfied with their Sarpanch’s work but they
don’t have many options to select other candidate because all are same.

Major Criticisms Against Panchayat Members:

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 1. It is alleged that `their level of awareness about issues and processes is low
2. Patriarchal system, inexperience, responsibilities at home, etc. keep women away from
the Panchayat meetings. This makes their representation ineffective as many of the
decisions are taken in their absence.
3. Illiteracy is the most pertinent hurdle that prevents the entry of rural people into
mainstream politics.
4. The social background of the Elected Representatives survey indicates that the majority
of them are from General and OBC’S groupings showing thereby that political
representation in Panchayats is confined to the elite.
5. Very low representation of women (Almost zero) in the elections of gram panchayat.

Remedial Measures

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The following are the some of the remedial measures that may be taken to overcome the
problems-

1. Enhancement of training facilities and capacity building programmes of Elected Women

Representatives (EWRs)- The Elected Representatives of the people, especially women,
need training to enable them to discharge their duties because of their lower literacy
levels and limited exposure to public affairs. Though the Ministry of Panchayat Raj has
some training modules under schemes like Panchayat Mahila Evam Yuva Shakti Abhiyan
(PMEYSA) and Rashtriya Gram SwarajYojana, there is no separate scheme exclusively
for the capacity building of women.
2. Steps must be taken to ward off Pseudo participation of members related to elected
representatives in Panchayat meetings.
3. Special quorum of women in Panchayat meetings-
Reservation of seats alone cannot ensure the active participation of women in Panchayati
Raj Institutions. Therefore certain provisions should be made which mandates a
minimum quorum of women in every Gram Sabha meetings.
4. The provision should be made for rotation cycle of reserved seats for women to two
terms.
5. Involvement of NGOs in strengthening Panchayati Raj Institution- NGOs should be
involved in the Training and the Capacity Building of elected representatives. They
should be engaged by the States in carrying out need assessment and preparing
participatory plans at the Panchayat level.
6. The media both print as well as electronic can also play an important role in creating
awareness among the villagers. It can act as an agent of political socialization for
inculcating the values of gender equality and gender justice.

My analysis and Conclusion of the study:

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 The steps taken by the government are very contrasting and glorifying but the current
scenario is bit different because the women representation is still very limited. The Gram
Panchayat’s have Proxy representation and this is not only restricted to the three villages
about which I have discussed but this is the appalling truth of most of the villages. Illiteracy,
among the Villagers is also a cause for concern.

There is widespread corruption in Panchayati Raj Institution as the funds allocated for the
development of village is misused. There is no proper guidance system through which
villagers can get to know about their rights and about how this system of Panchayati Raj
Institution works. The patriarchal society still considers that a male representative is more
efficient in politics. After asking some village people I got to know that most of the
Sarpanch’s have been from certain families only, the most common argument given by them
was that “contesting and winning a Panchayat election is all about how much money and
power you have, other things like development, literacy, past record are secondary”.

If we deeply analyze, then certain facts are evident that the level of awareness is very limited
and role of media is not very significant in remote village areas. Some fallacies are there
which can easily be rectified by improving the current policies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Panchayati Raj and Empowering People, New Agenda for Rural India by D. Sundar Ram.
2. New Panchayati Raj System At Work : An Evaluation by G Palanithura.
3. Data of Village Birkhari panchayat as per the Sarpanch.
4. Evolution Of Panchayati Raj In India: From Traditional To Constitutionalize Panchayats
by M Sharda.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

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Panchayati Raj and Empowering People, New Agenda for Rural India by D. Sundar Ram.

This book provides the information about he vitality of Panchayati Raj Institutions, its multi-
track dimensions and manifold perspectives have often been subjected to a searching and in-
depth scrutiny. The working of the Indian Panchayati Raj System after 73rd Constitution
Amendment Act, 1992. Keeping in view the book provides for the gravity of strong demand for
the devolution of 3F’s-Functions, Finances and Functionaries-to the Panchayati Raj Institutions
by the State. It is recognized that there is no easy solution to the agenda of power to the people at
the grassroots in a heterogeneous societies like India. Whatever may be the specific reasons, the
indisputable fact is that the devolution of powers to the grassroots democratic institutions have
not been transferred by the State Governments, barring a few, even after 73rd Amendment to the
Constitution of India.

Panchayati Raj: System and Rural Development Edition 2011 by Iqbal Mohammed.

Every Village is consisting of numbers Communities which has regulated by the Village
Panchayat. This book provides information about all problems of a community have discuss in
the Panchayat the decision of the Panch is consider as final. Panchayat members are the
representatives of the public whose main aim is to evolve a system of Democratic
decentralization and people’s participation with a view to ensuring rapid, speedier socio-
economic Progress and provide adequate justice. Before the Panchayat Raj concept, the decision
makers made plan in the Central Level for the villagers according to their own experience own
point of view. Author in this book provide information about various issues like Decentralization
in India: Poverty, Politics and Panchayati Raj Evolution of local self-government and Panchayat
Raj Institutions Rural Infrastrcuture, Panchayati Raj, and Governance Impact of Reservation in
the Panchayati Raj: Evidence from a Nationwide Panchayats as institutions of Self Government:
Constitutional Structural and Institutional Issues Panchayats.

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