How Panchayati Raj works

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution (1992) gave rural local government a constitutional footing. It came into force on 24 April 1993 — marked every year as National Panchayati Raj Day — and added Part IX (Articles 243 to 243O) and the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution.

Three tiers

• Gram panchayat at the village level, led by a sarpanch or pradhan.
• Panchayat samiti (or block panchayat) at the intermediate level.
• Zila parishad at the district level.

States with a population below 20 lakh need not have the middle tier.

The gram sabha

Every adult on the village’s electoral roll is a member of the gram sabha, which meets to discuss the village’s plans and to choose who benefits from schemes.

Elections and reservations

• Panchayats are elected for five years. Elections are held by the State Election Commission, not the Election Commission of India.
• Seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, and not less than one-third of seats and chairperson posts for women. Many states reserve half.
• A State Finance Commission, set up every five years, recommends how state funds are shared with panchayats.

What they handle

The Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects that states may hand to panchayats — among them agriculture, drinking water, rural roads, primary education and health. How much power and money they actually get depends on each state’s law. Towns and cities have their own bodies under the 74th Amendment.