The Constitution-powered new-look Panchayati Raj was launched with great fanfare to achieve Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Gram Swaraj heralding a silent revolution to transform the face of rural India. The broad objectives had been:

(a) to establish constitutional democracy at the grassroot level as the third tier of governance;

(b) to empower every adult citizen of the village involving them in direct election process;

(c) to empower women by reserving one-third seats for them;

(d) to make the villages self-reliant;

(e) to deliver social justice and

(f) to establish social equality and eliminate caste and communal conflicts.

Apart from these broad objectives, the Panchayats were also required to undertake specific tasks of economic development and “are responsible for managing local affairs, including infrastructure development, public health, sanitation, and urban planning, minor irrigations, fisheries, social forestry, small scale industries, social welfare, electricity, sports and cultural affairs, poverty alleviation, housing etc.” Installation of the Panchayati raj throughout India has been revolutionary in many ways. First, it laid the foundation for a decentralized democracy. Secondly, it empowered the faceless village womenfolk to participate and hold leadership positions in the governance structure. Thirdly, it was supposed to deliver social justice.

Finally, it gave a roadmap to make the villages self-reliant and progressive. To say that the achievement of the Panchayati Raj has been disappointing would be an understatement. The rural distress, massive migration from rural areas, decreasing rural income, lack of quality education and healthcare, lack of employment, violence against women, caste and communal tensions do indicate that everything is not well with Panchayati Raj and beg the questions: where are the panchayats and what are the panchayats doing? Where are the 31.5 lakh representatives hiding?

How many panchayats have endeavored to solve the basic problems of the villages ~ safe drinking water, electricity, cooking gas, primary education and health facilities, agriculture, employment, cooperatives and marketing? Had the panchayats been fully functional and effective, there would have been no communal riots, rampant rapes and murders in rural areas. An effective panchayat should be able to deliver social justice, establish social harmony and prevent caste and communal conflicts. Three decades have elapsed since Panchayati Raj was installed with great hope. Mahatma Gandhi wanted Panchayati Raj to be the basic framework for the free political order. Has it moved in that direction?

The experience so far has not been uniform and has been as diverse as the diversity of the country and all the states cannot be painted with the same brush. Panchayati Raj has been successful to a limited extent in a few states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Kerala is the only State where there has been considerable devolution of powers ~ the district panchayats have been given the responsibility of managing district hospitals and the schools and the panchayat Samitis to manage the sub-divisional hospital and schools. Under pressure from NGOs, financial accountability of the panchayats could, to some extent, be established in Rajasthan where the audited accounts are required to be displayed on the notice boards of the panchayat office. Even in Rajasthan, in many areas, women have to travel five kilometers to fetch a pitcher of drinking water! The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has from time to time formulated grand schemes and programmes to equip and rejuvenate the panchayats to achieve the goals of Gram Swaraj. Some of the ambitious schemes have been:

(a) Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA);

(b) Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP);

(c) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

(d) Capacity Building and Training Programmes;

(e) EGovernance Initiatives including Audit online;

(f) Financial Devolution Scheme and

(g) SVAMITVA Scheme.

The Svamitva scheme has been a unique plan for survey and mapping of villages with improvised technology and giving property rights to the villagers. The question arises: What has been the net impact of these grand programmes on the village panchayats? Except in a few enlightened panchayats in the southern parts of the country, the impact has been minimal. How is it that even after 30 years of its existence, thousands of villages are still without potable drinking water, household electricity, cooking gas, basic education, basic healthcare, isolated and without the benefits of economic development? This does indicate utterly lackadaisical development of this great project in many States of the country.

A plethora of reports on the functioning of Panchayati Raj in various States, emanating from the offices of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the statutory auditors and the NGOs suggest that while there has been some progress in certain States, in general, the elephantine edifice of Panchayati Raj (2.6 lakh panchayats with 31.5 lakh elected lawmakers) as the foundation of decentralized governance, is tottering, if not collapsing. The reasons for the stagnation or atrophy have been too many; some of them are mentioned below.

(a) The panchayats suffer from perennial financial crunch. There has been no satisfactory devolution of powers from the Central government and the State Finance Commission.

(b) While decentralization of powers has been the objective, the system has been moving in the opposite direction ~ all the plans, programmes, and schemes have been Central ministry-driven and are thrust on the State governments and the panchayats. There has been debilitating over-centralization of the system.

(c) One of the vital organs of Panchayati Raj is supposed to be the District Planning Committee (DPC) responsible for decentralized planning for each district. In most of the areas, the DPC has not been constituted and if constituted at all, they are not functional.

(d) The 3-tier Panchayati Raj (in practice it is 5-tier) is too complicated and bureaucratic. Induction of government officials and politicians at various levels imposing them on the elected representatives have made the whole system nonfunctional. The Gram Panchayat has to depend on the Panchayat Samiti, the Panchayat Samiti has to depend on the District Council (Zilla Parishad), the Zilla Parishad depends on the State government and the State government depends on the Central government ~ creating a web of dependency. This kills all local initiatives.

(e) Finally, total politicization and ingress of VIP culture have been the bane of the panchayats. While they are supposed to be apolitical, party politics has affected almost every panchayat often leading to violence during the panchayat elections. The Panchayat Pradhans have also inculcated the VIP culture and have developed deep vested interests and political ambitions, surrendering themselves to party politics.

Also, in spite of 30-50 per cent reservation for women, male dominance and suppression of women continue unabated. Had the panchayats functioned as apolitical bodies in accordance with the Constitutional objectives and implemented the government’s plans and programmes, the face of rural India would have changed substantially. This has not happened. The mammoth panchayat structure and inherent conflicts with the State and the district administration have created more complications and bureaucracy than serving the cause of the common villager. What was supposed to be a silent revolution to bring about Gram Swaraj and decentralized democracy has lost its way. The Panchayati Raj has failed the people.

(The writer is a former Dy. Comptroller & Auditor General of India and a former Ombudsman of Reserve Bank of India. He is also a writer of several books and can be reached at brahmas@gmail.com)