National Panchayati Raj Day 2022

Context

The National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated every year on the 24th of April to commemorate the Panchayati Raj Systems in India. 

Important facts about the day

• The day was first celebrated in April 2010 to mark the decentralisation of power making it one of the most significant events in Indian history.
• The day is also marked to honour the passing of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992. 
• In 1957, a committee was established under the chairmanship of BalwantraiMehta, that was aimed at bringing on reforms for the central power system. 
  • According to the committee's report, it recommended a decentralised Panchayati Raj hierarchy that included: 
    • Gram Panchayat at the Village level
    • Panchayat Samiti at the Block level
    • ZilaParishad at the District level
  • In 1959, Rajasthan became the first state, wherein the Panchayati Raj system was implemented.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

What is a Panchayat?

• Panchayati Raj is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent.
• Panchayati Raj Institutions as units of local government have been in existence in India for a long time, in different permutations and combinations. 
• However, it was only in 1992 that it was officially established by the Indian Constitution as the third level of India’s federal democracy through the 73rd Amendment Act.
• The Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) consists of three levels:
• Gram Panchayat at the village level
• Block Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti at the intermediate level
• Zilla Panchayat at the district level
• The Panchayati Raj system is also recognised as a form of direct democracy (i.e they exercise all powers of a government at a village level), as opposed to the popular notion that it is a type of representative democracy.