In India, the Panchayatiraj system is not purely a post-independence phenomenon. In fact, the dominant political institution in rural India has been the village panchayat for centuries. In ancient India, panchayats were usually elected councils with the Sabha and judicial powers. Foreign domination, especially Mughal and British, and the natural and forced social and economic changes had undermined the significance of the village panchayats. In the pre-independence period, however, the panchayats were instruments for the dominance of the upper castes over the rest of the rural masses, which furthered the divide based on either the social and economic status or the caste hierarchy. The evolution of the Panchayati Raj System, however, got a fillip after the attainment of independence and the drafting of the Constitution of India. The Constitution of India in Article 40 enjoined: “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-government”. There were several committees appointed by the Government of India to study the implementation of self-government at the rural level and also recommend steps in achieving this goal.
Uma Chowdhury (Sat,) studied this question.