CHAPl'ER 2 Panchayati Raj in India : Constitutional

Legal FraJieWOrk

Introduction

Panchayati Raj is a very old institution in India.

We find its existence from time immemorial. The rise and

fall of different empires did not affect its survival. It

is the mark of Indian tradition. It found its place in most

ancient books for its important position in our country.

The 'upanishads' described the village life; even in

Kautilya's 'Arthasastra', we find the description of our

ancient village life. M~dern histroians also admitted the

said fact. Henrymaine in his book, 'Ancient Law' made

reference to our ancient village organization. We find the

description of village community in 'India's Village

Community' by Baden Powell, and in 'Fundamental unity of

India' by Sri B.C.Pal. During the Muslim rule villages were

given primary importance. But the village organization had

to lose its role and importance during the British rule in

India. Thus we find the village has had always an important

position in India. The very ancient countries like Greece

and Athens did not lay as much emphasis on villages as they

laid it on towns.

Panchayati Raj in India had been grown through ups

and downs. The Asho~Mehta Committee pointed out in its
report that the Panchayati Raj had crossed three phases :-
the phase of ascendancy (1959-1964), the phase of

76
stagnation (1965-1969), and the phase of decadence (1969-
1977).1 Now it has to face the phase of controversy,

reconstitution and revitalization.

There are various reasons which cause the weakness

of Panchayati Raj in different states in India. It is

thought that state legislature and parliament are enough to

achieve democratic process. So there is no necessity of

Panchayat for the same purpose. Naturally, Panchayati Raj

had to face many shortcomings, such as, no timely election,

paucity of fund, non-representation of the weaker and

backward sections of the society and women.

Now-a-days efforts have been made to generate a

national debate on the future role and perspective of

Panchayati Raj system by enacting 73rd amendment to our

constitution. And it is argued by some that the said

amendment will bring about a revolutionary change in the

existing Panchayati Raj system through the incorporation of
some basic principles, such as, regular election,
arrangement for allocating fund, reservation of seats for
backward sections and women, strict accounting procedure
etc.

Thus we see some basic principles are being

incorporated into the Panchayati Raj establishment through
the 73rd amendment with a view to removing the existing
shortcomings lying with it and to make it effective at the
same time. The Panchayati Raj was incorporated in Article

77
40 in our constitution. The Article says "The state shall

take steps to organise village Panchayats and endow them

with such powers and authority as may be necessary to

enable them to function as units of Self-governments". The

constitution only gives direction to the states to make

laws with respect to any of the matters enumerating in

list-II of the seventh schedule. Besides these, there is

nothing in the constitution on the subject of Panchayati

Raj. It should also be remembered that Article 40 was not a

part of the draft constituation. The advisory committee to

determine the fundamental rights of minorities which was

set up on January 2, 1947, did not mention anything about

Panchayati Raj in its various drafts and notes. The

Provincial constitution committee which was set up in

pursuance of the Constituent Assembly resolution on April

30, 1947 to decide on principles of a model provincial

constitution did not say anything on Panchayati Raj in the

report 2 . Dr. Ragendra Prasad, President of the Constituent

Assembly expressed the view that the village republics

would be the basis of the constitution. But his view was

rejected by Sri B.N.Rau, the constitutional advisor, on the

grounds that "it was too late to make any attempt to change
the basis of the constitution which had already made

considerable progress" 3 A severe criticism was made inside

the Constituent Assembly as there was no provision for
Panchayati Raj. On the initiative of K. Santhanam,
Panchayati Raj was incroporated in the chapter of Directive
Principles of State Policy.

78
 From the above discussion we see that the

Panchayati Raj is a very old conception in our polity. The

said system was able to maintain its existence facing many

shortcomings in pre-indenendence period. The Constituent

Assembly which has the full authority to frame the basic

principles of Indian administrative system in future India,

did not pay due attention to Panchayati Raj, and paid "only

lip service" 4 to the concept in the draft constitution. It

is fact that its growth was not uniform and steady in

independent India.

Constituent Asse.bly Debates

Some debates took place inside the Constituent

Assembly for the incorporation of Panchayati Raj in

independent India. The debates envisaged an overall view of

the Founding Fathers of our constitution about the

Panchayati Raj. The honourable members of the Constituent

Assembly argued for and against the system. Dr. Ambedkar,

Chairman of the Drafting Committee, made some observations

about the condition of village in his introductory speech

on November4,1948 in the Constituent Assembly for the

consideration of Draft constitution. His observation about

Indian villages aroused a lot of criticisms among the other

members. The relevant extracts of the speeches are
mentioned below -

79
 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the drafting

committee, was in favour of western theories. So, he argued

that the new constitution should have been drafted

following ancient Hindu model. It is why he was in favour

of establishing the centre and state Governments not the

village panchayats of Indian administration. According to

him, the village community had little role in the affairs

and the destiny of the country in the past though it

survived for long time. But mere survival of the village

community among the hearts of ruins bears no significance

as "The question is on what plane they have survived.

Surely on a low, on a selfish level. I hold that the

village republic have been the ruination of India. I am

therefore surprised that those who condemn provincialism

and communalism should come forward as champion of the

village. What is the village but a sink of localism, a den

of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism ? I am glad

that the Draft constitution has discarded the village and

adopted the individual as its unit ..... 115 So, Ambedkar

accepts the draft constitution since it lays importance on

individual rather than village community.

Just favouring the Draft constitution, Pandit Bal

Krishna Sharma has extended his support to it. Moreover he

admits that the constitution does not contain any clause

favouring local self-government. Yet, to him the
constitution is just and the criticisms goinq around on are
meaningless as waste as "The constitution does not put

80
any obstruction what-so-ever in the path of the development

of those units of local self-government which will enjoy

power for managing their own affairs ____ 116

Opposing the views of both Ambedkar and Balkrishna,

H. V. Kamath has reminded us of our old golden past. He

talked about the desires of Gandhi, Nehru and Netaji as

they felt for the village folk and realised that all sorts

of problems could well be checked and solved by uplifting

the lot of the village folk. The ancient civilization has a

lot of dependence on the village communities which were

autonomous and self contained. According to him: "At the

height of its evolution and in the great days of Indian

civilization we find an admirable political system,

efficient in the highest degree and very perfectly

combining village and urban self-government with stability

and order

Kamath hoped that in near future not only India,

but also entire world will have to decentralise and

establish village as well as town Republics for the sake of

peace and prosperity. So, the first thing that we ought to

do is to make the state exist for the individual rather

than individual for the state. Kamath's emphasis rests on

state rather than individual.

Shri T. Prakasam is not in the position to thank

the Draft Constitution, since it has quitE~ deliberately

81
neglected the role of village panchayat. And specially, he

is hurt at the attitude of Dr. Ambedkar towards the village

panchayat system which is the heart of our country. He is

in favour of establishing the Panchayati Raj system

effectively in independent India for the benefit of

millions of people. According to him : " _ Therefore,

it is only right and proper that this Constituent Assembly

which has been sent by the people of this country should

take particular care to see that this Draft Constitution of

Dr. Ambedkar is so ammended that it would really become a

constitution for the benefit of the masses and million of

people for whose sake the battles have been fought by that

great friend who has gone away leaving us here to get along

with our work

In the same way K. Santhanam has extended his

partial support to the Draft Constitution of Dr. Ambedkar.

Partial, because he has thought of inserting some statutory

provisions regarding the village autonomy and the aim is to

smoothen the functioning. He believes that in future local

autonomy will be the framework for the future freedom of

the country. He is of high hope that " I do think that

at some stage or other when all the provinces have set up

panchayats, their existence may have to be recognised in

the constitution, for in the long run local autonomy for

each village must constitute the basic framework for the

future freedom of this country

82
 On the other hand Begum Aizaz Rasul is hand in hand

with Dr. Ambedkar's view of the village polity since she

imagines that possibly village panchayat may become

autocratic. Therefore, the Draft constitution has done well

by adopting individual as its units as " Modern

tendency is towards the right of the citizen as against any

corporate body and village panchayat can be an autocratic

ulO

Dr. Monomohan Das has expressed his grave concern

about the omission of the village panchayat system from the

Draft constitution. His suggestion is to educate the

village folk first and only then the village panchayat

system can be proved effective to the village folk. In

fact, education can make the village folk conscious of

their rights and privileges. If the village people were not

aware of their rights and privileges, the establishment of

Panchayati Raj system: " will enable the village

Zamindars, the village Talukdars, the Mahajons and the

Money-lending classes to rob, to exploit the less cultured,

the less educated poorer classes of the villages ull

It seems that Sri M.M.Das accedes to the Draft constitution

presented by Dr. Ambedkar.

Finally, Shri Mahavir Tyagi contradicts the views

expressed by Dr. Ambedkar on Panchayati Raj in our
constitution. He has spoken about India 's golden heritage
and the feelings and sentiments of leaders like Gandhi,
Nehru and Netaji who think about the upliftment of the

83
village folk. According to him, " Dr. Ambedkar does

not know what amount of sacrifice the villagers have

undergone in the struggle for freedom. I submit, Sir, that

villagers should be given their due share in the governance

of the country ul2 He is in favour of the

incorporation of the effective village panchayat in the

constitution.
The Draft Constitution has discarded the village as

the villagers are the symbol of ignorance, localism,

narrowmindednesss and communalism. Under such

circumstances, the village has no role to serve the social,

economic and political upliftment of our country. Rather it

will cause harm as the local powerful groups who have

dominance over economy and politics will capture the same

and utilise them for their own interests. That is why, the

Draft Constitution has directly discarded the panchayati

raj bodies in independent India. The members of the

Constituent Assembly, like Begum Aizaz Rasul, Monomohon

Das, Pandit Balkrishna Sharma, N. Madhava Rau and Alladi

Krishnaswami Ayar shared with the views presented by Dr.

Ambedkar. Members of the Consti tu C"-.Vv~ Assembly, namely

Sri. H.V.Kamath, Sri. T.Prakasam, Shri. K.Santhanam, Shri.

Mohavir Tyagi etc. contradicted the views expressed by Dr.

Ambedkar and argued for incorporating the panchayati raj in

our constituation. They argued that the Indian National

Congress always talked about decentralization and necessary

provision must be made in the constitution for the

establishment of panchayati raj which will play important

84
role in our social, economic and political life. The

British rule in India, for near about one hundred fifty

years, alienated the village from the democratic process of

,
~
our country. The people of the village were fore. bly made
f
irresponsible in administration. In this way the British

rule in India destroyed the decentralised economy and

village republic of our country. So the village republic

would be the basis of our administration in independent

India.

Thus the debate held in the Constituent Assembly

envisaged that Article 40 was not originally included in
the Draft Constitution which was considered in November,
1948. There was a lot of debates among the members of the
Constituent Assembly for the neglect of the Panchayati Raj
in the draft constitution. As a result, an amendment on

November 22, 1948 moved by K. Santhanam for addition of a

new article in the following :- "That after article 31, the
following new article be added 31- A. The state shall
take step to organise village panchayats, and endow them
with such power and authority as may be necessary to enable
them to function as units of self-governments" 13 .

Following the debates inside the Constitutient

Assembly, we find that the Gandhian idea of village
republic did not find a suitable place in independent
India. Gandhi dreamed for 'Gram Swaraj' and according to
him the Gram Swaraj would be the basis of Indian
administration. On the basis of this idea, he tried to

85
reject the British administrative system introduced in

India. The British administrative system was highly

centralised. The towns and cities were the bases of that

administration and the villages were neglected. This type

of administrative system was directly beneficial to the

British ruler for upholding their colonial rule. In order

to change that administrative system, Gandhi laid emphasis

on an alternative administrative system, that is, village

would be the centre of power and the flow of power will be

from village to parliament. This alternative administrative

model dreamed by Gandhi was not able to influence the

r.onstituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly was

influenced by western liberal thought. And we find its

expression through Dr. Ambedkar who argued that the village

would not be the basis of our administrative system but the

individual. This idea was the central theme of western

liberal thought. That is why the role of the village has

been neglected for the plea of industrialization and rapid

economic development which was thought the urgent need of

future India.

Panchayati Raj and the Recommendations of Various

Committees

To make the panchayati Raj bodies operationally

effective in the process of decentralization and democracy
various committees and commissions were appointed to
suggest measures for strengthening the panchayati Raj
system.

86
 The first committee consisting of six members under

the head of Balwantrai Mehta was appointed on 16.01.1957,

on Community Project and National Extension Service. The

committee submitted its report on 24.11.1957. The report of

the committee contained 18 sections related to a particular

aspect of the problems. The recommendations of the

committee were to introduce three-tier system; Gram

Panchayat at village level, Panchayat Samity at Block level

and Zilla Parishad at District level. These three-tier must

be interlinked to each other. Election of the lower level,

that is, Gram Panchayat will be held directly. Panchayat

Samity at the Block level will be formed by both directly

elected and co-opted members, and it is an executive body.

Zilla Parishad at the highest level, that is, at the

District, will be formed indirectly through ex-officio

members from lower tier and others with the collector as

chairman. It serves as an advisory organ. There should be a

clear cut demarcation between the functioning of Gram

Panchayat and Panchayat Samity. The main thrust of the

recommendations of the committee was to decentralise power

and panchayat samity would play an important role in the

over all developmental activities implemented at block

level. The committee laid emphasis on "democratic

decentralization". The central and the state government

must take initiatives to allow the people to decide their

own welfare. The committee suggested that the Panchayat

Samity at Block level should act as an unit of democratic

87
decentralization and the Zilla Parishad should act as an

advisory body.

The recommendations of the committee for

introducing a three-tier system of panchayati Raj

institution were approved by the National Development

Council. The State Governments were directed to take

necessary step for introducing a three-tier Panchayati Raj

institutions which will serve the purpose of democratic

decentralization and developed wellbalanced administration.

For considering the efforts to be taken by the State

Government for introducing Panchayati Raj institutions, the

central council of local self-government in its fifth

meeting held at Hyderabad in 1959 suggested that "while the

broad pattern and the fundamental may be uniform, there

should not be any rigidity in the pattern. In fact, the

country is so large and panchayati Raj (democratic

decentralization) is so complex a subject with far-reaching

consequences, that there is the fullest scope of trying out

various patterns and alternatives. What is most important

is the genuine transfer of power to the people. If it is

ensured, form and pattern may necessarily vary according to

the conditions prevailing in different states" 14 . The

t
sugges ion of the central council of local self-government
I
gave some sort of freedom to the states and Union
Territories to design the structure, powers and function of
local self-government institutions linked up from the

village to district keeping ln view of their local

conditions.

88
 All the States and Union Teritories passed laws for

introducing the panchayati Raj system except the States of

Meghalaya and Nagaland and the Union Territories of

Lakshadweep and Mizoram. Three-tier system was adopted in

12 states and one Union Territory, two-tier system existed

in 4 states and 2 Union Territories. There was only one-

tier of Gram panchayat in 4 states and 4 Union

Territories 15 . But the panchayati Raj was not able to

establish itself as a unit of self-government and to fulfil

the promise of development due to many factors, political,

financial, administrative and functional. In 1977, the

Janata party came to power at centre and took initiative

for reviewing the matter again.

Asoka Mehta Committee

The said committee was formed in 1977 after the

Janata Party assumed the central government office. The

Cabinet Secratariat (vide its resolution No 14/1/2/77 - CF

dated 12th December, 1977) appointed the committee on

panchayati raj institutions. The resolution reads as

follows :- "The government accords the highest priority to

rural development, so as to increase agricultural

production, create employment, eradicate poverty and bring

about an all round improvement in rural economy. The

government consideres that the maximum degree of
decetralization, both in planning and implementation is

89
necessary for the attainment of these objectives. It has

accordingly been decided in consultation with the state

governments and union teritories to set up a committee to

inquire into the working of the panchayati raj institutions

and to suggest measures to strengthen them, so as to enable

a decentralised system of planning and development to be

effective" 16 .

The committee was composed of 14 members under the

chairmanship of Sri Asoka Mehta. This committee was known

as Asoka Mehta Committee. The committee submitted its

report on 17-8-1978.

The committee recommended decentralization of power

to district level through the introduction of a two-tier

system :- One is Zilla Parishad at the District level and

another is Modal Panchayat having 15000 to 20,000

population. The panchayati raj institutions at all levels

will be the body of preponderance of elected members. The

election of the panchayats is to be conducted by the chief

Election officer of the state in consultation with the

Chief Election Commissioner. Zilla Parishad is to be vested

with all developmental works and handle all the

decentralised programmes relating to the district level.

The panchayat is to be entrusted with the task of

implementing the work relating to the concerned area. Zilla
Q/
Parish~ has the full responsibility to find out plan and
I
to safeguard the weaker and backward sections.

90
 The committee also recommended for taking necessary

steps for administrative setup to the panchayati raj

institutions. The panchayati raj institutions must be vested

with financial resources including certain taxation.

The panchayats should take effective step for the development

of human resources.The committee also stressed on providing

constitutional sanction to the panchayati raj as follows:-

"Another equally important issue relates to the

need of providing constitutional sanction to the panchayati

raj. A number of persons whom the committee met had invited

its attention to the present limited reference to panchayats

in the constitution and had emphasised that PRis should form

a part of the organic law of the land so that they achieve

requisite status as well as assurance of continuous

functioning. They had also mentioned that an amendment to the

17
constitution should be made for this purpose".

The recommendations of the Asoka Mehta Committee

suggested the institutional design for panchayati raj for

planning and implementing the rural development programmes.

For this district should be considered as decentralised

administrative unit under popular supervision through holding

regular election of panchayati raj institutions. For the

short tenure of the Janata Government, the recommendations of

the committee were not acted upon. Two more committees were

appointed to review the functioning of the panchayati raj

institutions.

91
G.V.K.Rao co. .ittee (1985)

The committee suggested that district level body

that is Zilla Parishad should be the centre of

decentralization. For this all the developmental depa~ents

of the Government at district level and below should be

brought under the Zilla Parishad. Zilla Parishad should

form the district budget. The funds for implementing the

developmental programmes should be transferred to the Zilla

Parishad. The committee also suggested for appointing a

state finance commssion and state development council for

considering the financial assistance and maintaining a

linkage between state plan and district plan. Below the

district level, panchayat samity at block and Gram

panchayat at village level consisted of the elected members

are to be introduced. The committee was of the opinion of

the reservation for Scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and

women. The report of the committee was published in
Febrary' 1989.18

L.M.Singhvi Committee

The committee (1986) recommended that there should

be a constitutional recognition of the local self-
government, and panchayati raj should be recognised as the

92
third-tier of government. The constitution should ensure

regular free and fair election for panchayati raj

institutions. For adjudicating the controvercies relating

to the working of panchayati raj institutions, such as,

election, suspension, supersession, etc., judicial tribunal

is to be constituted in each state. The panchayati raj

institutions should be provided with adequate financial

resourecs. The committee also recommended for setting up of

Naya panchayat, an integrated adminstrative structure for

implementing development plans and programmes for the

panchayat bodies. The recommendations of the committee

published in February, 1989. 19

Sarkaria co. .ission

The commission was setup under the chairmanship of

R. s. Sarkaria, a retired judge of the Supreme Court 20 .

This commission is known as the Sarkaria commission. The

commission appointed to examine the basic questions of

centre state relations looked into the working of the

Panchayati Raj institutions also. The commission while

dealing with the question of decentralization of power and

planning, recommended that Zilla Parishads to be units of

self-government. The election of the Zilla Parishads must

be held regularly. The commission was of the opinion to
transfer adequate financial resources to the districts.

93
Panchayati Raj and The 73rd Amendaent Act

The 73rd Amendment Act was passed by both the

Houses of Parliament on December 22, 1992 and was effected

on April 24,1993 after ratification by 17 states. To make

the panchayati raj bodies effective, a constitutional base

was needed. Some states have weakened the panchayati Raj

bodies by taking back power from them. So, the

constitutional status and dignity are needed to make those

bodies effective. Hence the 73rd constituional Amendment

Act is an effective step of the central Government in this

field.

The Act provided for the establishment of a three-

tier system of panchayati raj bodies, direct election of

the members of all panchayats. The members of parliment and

state Assembly of the area concerned as members of the

panchayats (Block and district levels) have right to vote

in their meeting but not their right to elect the chair

persons or to be elected. The Act also provided for five

year terms for each panchayaes and election to be held

under the direct supervision and control of the state

election commission.

The Act also provoided for the reservation of seats

including the post of Chairman (office-bearer) for
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes with one third of
these seats reserved for women of the said two communities.

94
There is also provision that one-third of the seats in the

panchayats at all levels will be reserved for women,

including Sc and ST women. State government will appoint a

finance commission after every five years to review their

financial condition and to advise the state for

distribution of funds to them. The panchayats have been

empowered to collect taxes for their financial viability.

The objective of the 73rd Constituational Amendment

Act is to provide meaningful panchayati raj institutions by

establishing responsive village panchayats through the

formation of Gram Sabha, holding of regular election. It

will allow the weaker sections of the society through

reservation, to enjoy real power and to play a vital role

in the development, and power is to be shared by all the

sections of the society to limit the control of the vested

interest in village society.

Criticisa of the Constitutional Legal Fraaework

The Balawantrai Mehta Committee of 1957 was a first

legal attempt to make the panchayati raj effective as units
of self-government. But the main objective of the

recommendation of the committee is to subordinate the

panchayats as units of the government, and used for

implementing its various programmes at the lower levels.

So, the panchayats failed to establish themselves as units

95
of self government. Subsequently the AsOK~Mehta Committee

1977, the C.H.Hanumanth Rao working group on district

planning in 1983, the Sarkaria Commission on centre-state

relations in 1983, the G.V.K.Rao committee in 1985, the

L.M.Singhvi committee in 1986 were the legal enactments for

establishing panchayats as an effective agencies of local

self-government and furthering the decentralization of

power. But all those legal enactmen't.')were not able to

suggest proper measure to make panchayat agencies effective

in the overall development of the area concerned with

active involvement of the people. The above legal attempts

argued in favour of decentralization of power to district

and lower level but failed to give a clearcut trend about

what kind of decentralization they argued for.

The 73rd constitutional amendment Act, 1993 is the

latest attempt in the creation of viable self governing

local institutions. The objectives of the Amendment on

panchayati raj institutions identified "absence of regular

elections, prolonged supersession, insufficient

representation of weaker sections, inadequate powers and

lack of financial resoures as causes for the failure of

panchayati raj institution to acquire the status and
dignity of viable and responsive people's bodies".2l
Considering the said limitations, the act has suggested
Gidequate provisons for empowerving the local self-
government institutions to act as agents of socio-economic
transformation. Is the 73rd Amendment (1993) a response to

96
raising aspirations and struggle of the people for a share

in power ? Does it give institutional advantages of a

constitutional status to local bodies than all earlier

constitutional and legal enactments ? Does the Amendments

have enough teeth to overcome all these limitations ? There

are some scholars who argue that this act is an effective

step to make the panchayats as viable agencies of

grassroots democracy. This act defined panchayats as

institutions of self-government with provisions for setting

up of Gram Sabha, reservation of seats for scheduled castes

and scheduled tribes and women. This act also provided for
power, authority and the responsibilities of the panchayats

as may be necessary to perform their functions as

institutions of self-government. The panchayats are

empowered to prepare and implement plans for economic

development and social justice. Thus many provisions of

73rd Amendment Act are good. But a careful analysis to it

reveals that "there are some lacuna in the act specially

in that it offers little to the panchayats by way of

functions, powers and resoures to shape them as 'units' of

self-government. This has been left to each state

legislatures to determine, and past experience has shown

that the state are always reluctant to part with power". 22

Thus the objective of this act with regard to

decentralization is to be questioned.

97
Conclusion

The constitutional legal framework of the study of

panchayats fail to set up the institutions as agents of

Grassroots democracy. But the panchayati raj and the

Gandhian concept of village self-government are notions

which are alternatives to centralization. The idea of

panchayati raj as an institution of Grass~roots ~

democracy

or self-governance has been marginalised in the political

framework of India. The establishment of panchayati raj

institution and their organization was left to a general

directive embodied in article 40 of the Indian

constitution. The Constitution of India subjected the

panchayati raj institutions to the authority of the Indian

state which is inherently centralising.

The constitutional framework can only provide for a

limited concept of grassroots democracy. A truly radical

notion of grassroots democracy calls for a radical
perspective. This is discussed in the chapter that follows.

98
Notes and References

1. "Report of the Committee on Panchayati Raj

institutions" Government of India, Ministry of

Agriculture and Irregation, Department of Rural

Development, (August,1978, New Delhi) p.4.

2. Rao,B.Shiva,The Framing of Indian Constitution

--selected Documents, Vol II. The Indian

Institute of public Administration, (New Delhi,

1967)pp.556-674.

3. "Constituent Assembly Debate (henceforth CAD)

Vol.VII, (dated 22-11-1948) pp.521.

4. Singh,H. "Constitutional Base for Panchayati

Raj in India. The 73rd Amendment Act"., Asian

Survey, Vol. XXXIV, No 9, (September, 1994)

p.818.

5. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 4.11.1948) pp.38-39.

6. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 6.11.1948) p.275.

7. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 6.11.1948) pp.286-287.

8. "CAD" I Vol. VII, (dated 6.11.1948) pp.257-258.

9. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 6.11.1948) p.264.

99
10. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 8.11.1948) p.305.

11. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 8.11.1948) pp.307-308.

12. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 9.11.1948) p.362.

13. "CAD", Vol.VII,(dated 22.11.1948) pp.520-527.

14. "Editor's Notes Reading on Panchayati Raj"

National Institute of Community Development,

(Hyderabad, May,1967) pp.V-VI.

15. For details see "G.V.K.Rao Committee's Report".

16. Keshyap,A. Panchayati Raj : Views of Founding

Fathers and Recommendations of Different

Committees, (Lancers Books, New Delhi,1989)

pp.112-113.

17. "Report of the Committee on Panchayati Raj

Instituion".Government of India, Ministry of

Agriculture and Irrigation, Department of

Rural Development,(August,1978,New Delhi)

pp.34-35.

18. "Kurukshetra, Vol.XXVII,No.S, February,1989, A

journal of the Department of Rural

Development,Government of India, pp.32-38.

19. Ibid.,pp.39-45.

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20. "Government of India", Ministry of Home Affairs
Notification No. N/11017/1/83-CSR, dated
June 9, 1983.

21. For details see "the Statement Of Objectives and

Reasons of the 73rd Amendment Act".

22. Singh, H., "Constitutional Base for Panchayati Raj

in India, The 73rd Amendment Act". Asian
Survey, Vol. XXXIV, No. 9, (September, 1994)
p. 825.

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