THE SWARAJ OF MY DREAM IS THE POOR MAN'S SWARAJ - MAHATMA GANDHI

Gram swaraj, or village self-rule, was a pivotal concept in Gandhi's thinking.

POINTS BY ME

0 NO METHOD OF REVENUE GENERATION FOR DEVELOPEMENT OF VILLAGES AS THERE

1 NO/LOW KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PROPER MANAGEMENT OF VILLAGE

2 LACK OF EDUCATION AMONG GRAM PANCHAYAT

3 LACK OF CLARITY FOR SELECTING REPRESENTATIIVE OF VILLAGE

4 ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND BUREAUCRATS IS MORE

As you may know, the village (and villager) was at the centre of Gandhi's thought insofar as
India's social and political organisation was concerned, at least, the type of social and political
organisation that he wanted to see for India.

As with all of Gandhi's ideas, Gram swaraj should be understood and viewed within the context
of the twin beacons of Truth and nonviolence. However, put simply, the fundamental concept of
Gram swaraj is that every village should be its own republic, "independent of its neighbours for
its own vital wants and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is necessary,"
according to Gandhi, writing in 1942. Each village should be basically self-reliant, making
provision for all necessities of life - food, clothing, clean water, sanitation, housing, education
and so on, including government and self-defence, and all socially useful amenities required by a
community. That latter might include a theatre and public hall, for example. For India as a whole,
full independence would mean that every village would be a republic with full powers. Then, as
now, these were revolutionary ideas.

They were not ideas that inspired, or even interested, Nehru and most other Congress leaders.
Whereas for Gandhi true independence for India meant a comprehensive transformation of
Indian society and polity, for Nehru, it meant no more than the political independence of India
from Britain. Nehru was acknowledged as Gandhi's political successor, but he was an orthodox
democratic socialist. Of course, Nehru wanted to make India a modern, industrialised and
democratic socialist nation-state. He believed centralised, large-scale, heavy industry were
essential if India was to develop, increase its wealth and become a modern state. He did not see
the virtues of "small is beautiful". He had no thought of devolving significant governmental
powers to individual villages and clusters of villages. It is perhaps not that Nehru did not agree
with Gandhi's concept of Gram swaraj, but that he never seriously considered it. Nehru
sympathised and agreed with some elements of Gandhi's program, such as abolition of
untouchability, but Gram swaraj was never near his agenda.

It was because of this philosophical gulf between Gandhi and virtually all of India's top political
leadership at the time of independence that Gram swaraj was not incorporated into India's
constitution. India's political, social and industrial organisation was to be generally "top down"
rather than "bottom up". For Gandhi political and industrial life should be focused on villages
organised as countless oceanic circles, as he called them, not as a pyramid with the millions of
villagers at the bottom supporting an elite at the apex. However, Nehru and the others of

the elite - though all great patriots - were quite comfortable with their positions at the top.

Unfinished Agenda of Gandhis Gram Swaraj: Fifty Years of Panchayati Raj

Sunday 11 October 2009, by Ranbir Singh

Although the Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, advocated for a village based political
formation fostered by a stateless, classless society for the creation of Gram Swaraj, the idea of
Panchayati Raj did not find a place in the Draft Constitution of India. This happened because the
Congress Constitution Committee rejected the idea believing that the Congress could neither
forgo its political role nor become so utterly decentralised as envisaged in the Gandhian concept
of Gram Swaraj. (Granville Austin, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, 1966 p. 29)
So much so that the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution and the
Minister of Law, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, did not care to reply to the letter dated May 10, 1948 from Dr
Rajendra Prasad, the President of the Constituent Assembly, as to why the Draft he had
circulated did not even use the two words Panchayati Raj. Instead, the reply came four months
later in September 1948 from the Secretary of the Law Ministry saying that the Draft had already
been circulated and that it was far too late to make any changes and if any amendments were
desired, the same could be moved on the floor of the House.

Not only this, Ambedkars response to the criticism by Gandhians like H.V. Kamath, Arun Chandra
Guha, T. Prakasam, K. Santhanam, Shibban Lal Saxena, Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar, N.G. Ranga,
M. Anathsayanam Ayyangar, Mahavir Tyagi, K.T. Shah and others was: Village Republics
(Panchayats of Village Communities) were a cause of the ruination of India. They were nothing
but sink of localism and of ignorance and communalism and I am glad that the Draft
Constitution has discarded the village and adopted the individual as its unit. His stance on
Panchayats was perhaps based on his apprehension that the Panchayats shall be dominated by
upper castes and exploit and repress the Scheduled Castes. But, the then Prime Minister of India
and the leader the Congress Parliamentary Party, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, chose to remain
silent on this issue; perhaps, he favoured a centralised polity for making India a modern and
developed state.

But, the passionate pleas of the Gandhians like Prof N. G. Ranga and others virtually forced
Ambedkar to accept an amendment moved by K. Santhanam which later on got incorporated
into Article-40 of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution of India. It directed
the state to set up Village Panchayats and endow them with the authority to function as units of
self-government.

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 Balwantray Mehta Study Team. It was the scheme of democratic decen-tralisation suggested
by this Team (1957) that led to the creation of the Panchayati Raj which was inaugurated by the
then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, at Nagaur in Rajasthan on October 2,
1959.

It was the Panchayati Raj that set up local democracy at the district, block and village levels in
the form of Gram Panchayats, Pan-chayat Samitis and Zila Parishads respectively. However, the
Panchayati Raj proved to be the proverbial God that failed on account of several reasons. The
main among these was the hostility of political leaders and the bureaucracy. Consequently, the
Panchayati Raj, developed during 1959-1964, became stagnant during 1964-1971 and the
decade thereafter. The attempt of the Ashoka Mehta Committee (1978) failed to revitalise the
Panchayati Raj Institutions. However, the States of West Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
did take the lead in this direction.

But the real rejuvenation process started as a result of the moving of the 64th Amendment Bill in
Lok Sabha in 1989 by then Prime Minister of India, late Rajiv Gandhi, who appears to have been
inspired by Mahatma Gandhis vision of Gram Swaraj. It was passed by the Lok Sabha by a two-
thirds majority but failed to get the same in the Rajya Sabha and was rejected in the Upper
House. This vision was, however, subsequently institutionalised in the form of the 73rd
Constitutional Amendment Act (1992). This led to the establishment of the new system of the
Panchayati Raj in the States in 1994 through the enactment of conformity legislations.

But the studies of several distinguished scholars on the working of the Panchayati Raj in different
States and the Status Report of the Ministry of Panchayati 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 Panchayati Raj on the recommendation of the Balwantray Mehta
Study Team on October 2, 1959 at Nagaur in Rajasthan and even 17 years after the enactment of
the 73rd Amendment and 15 years after its implementation by various States in 1994 through
conformity legislations for several reasons. The foremost among them is the lack of political will
in most of the governments of the States. Even the concerted efforts of the former Union
Minister of Panchayati Raj, Mani Shankar Iyer (2004-09), have failed to make much difference.
Therefore, concerted, systematic and sustained endeavours 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
Gandhian concept of Village Development and India's Development Policy

(Special reference to Panchayat Raj)

By Dr. Shubhangi Rathi*

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 in this paper focus is 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 Gandhis view, could be
maintained only in autonomous, self-reliant communities that offer opportunities to the people
for fullest participation.

1. 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 workers.

4. 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 justice.

9.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 land".
10.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 six decades 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
national development of India a participatory democracy.

"Democracy becomes an impossible thing until power is