How the panchayat came about
Did you know it was a critical comment about villages that sparked a heated discourse in the Constituent Assembly debates that led to the formation of the panchayat system? Read on to find out how.
Believe it or not, had it not been for a controversial comment that sparked a key debate way back in 1948, the popular OTT series Panchayat may not have been possible.
Yep, Article 40 of the Constitution – ”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” – evolved as a result of a series of intellectually charged debates in the Constituent Assembly, around India’s then-seven lakh villages.
On this National Panchayati Raj Day, we give you a handy list of the quotes that eventually led to the formation of the panchayat system.
It started with a remark from Dr B R Ambedkar that ruffled many feathers. On November 4th, 1948, he said: “I am therefore surprised that those who condemn provincialism and communalism should come forward as champions of the village. What is the village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism.”
Not surprisingly, that elicited a series of reactions from other Constituent Assembly members.
Also read: Child panchayats spur village leaders to improve services
Not quite the last word
“…we have seven lakh villages in our country and the village is its smallest unit. Thanks to Mahatma Gandhi, our struggle for freedom reached the villages and it was because of the villages and because of their might that India became free… the only method of safeguarding against totalitarianism and fascism is that power should be decentralised to the greatest extent.” – Damodar Swarup Seth on November 5, 1948
“With all deference to Dr. Ambedkar, I differ from him in this regard. His attitude yesterday was typical of the urban highbrow…If we do not cultivate sympathy and love and affection for our villages and rural folk I do not see how we can uplift our country.”– H V Kamath on November 5, 1948
“According to Dr. Ambedkar, the villages have been the ruination of India, the villages have been the den of ignorance. If that has been the case now, that is due to us who have been living in the towns, who have been shining under the foreign bureaucracy and foreign rule. Our villages have been starved; our villages have been strangled deliberately by the foreign government; and the townspeople have played a willing tool in this ignoble task. Resuscitating of the villages, I think, should be the first task of the future free India.” – Arun Chandra Guha on November 6, 1948
“…Dr. Ambedkar, I must say that he has not been able to put himself in the position of those who had been fighting for the freedom of this country for thirty long years. In one stroke, he condemned the village panchayat system…the village panchayat should be one which is up-to-date, which gives real power to rule and to get money and expend it, in the hands of the villagers.” – T Prakasam on November 6, 1948
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“…I am sorry that Dr. Ambedkar went out of his way to speak about village panchayats and say that they did not provide the proper background for a modern constitution…I wish that some statutory provision had been inserted regarding village autonomy within proper limits.” – K Santhanam on November 6, 1948
“The disparity between the mode of living of the rural people and the urban people must be abolished if we want to evolve one nation… you will have to evolve such constituencies in which the cities and villages come in without any distinction…” – S Nagappa on November 6, 1948
“A lot of criticism has been made about Dr. Ambedkars’ remark regarding village polity. Sir, I entirely agree with him. The modern tendency is towards the right of the citizen as against any corporate body and village panchayats can be very autocratic.” – Begum Aizaz Rasul on November 6, 1948
“The village panchayat system has been there and was there for centuries and centuries. How much has it contributed to the welfare of our country, how much has it contributed to our social, political and economic uplift? If this system is introduced before our village people are properly educated, then I think, Sir, the local influential classes will absorb to themselves all the powers and privileges that will be given by the panchayat system and they will utilise it for their selfish motives.” – Mono Mohan Das on November 8, 1948
“I was grieved to find that our great pandit with all his knowledge of Sanskrit and politics, has opposed the system of village panchayats in this way. If the village is to be discarded, someone can also boldly demand that this constitution be discarded.” – Gokulbhai Daulatram Bhatt on November 8, 1948
“I am most unhappy that Dr. Ambedkar should have said what he has said about the village panchayats… If he had only known the achievements of the village panchayats in southern India over a period of a millennium, he would certainly not have said those things.” – N G Ranga on November 9, 1948
“That was the view that was taken and that was the purpose of the British who ruled us for 150 years. They destroyed the elements of our freedom, our decentralised economy and the village republics that we had. They wanted to centralise the government… It was in that view that they took steps to see that the villages did not govern themselves. We must see that the village is the unit for the social fabric that we are going to build.” – Ananthasayanam Ayyangar on November 9, 1948
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The lead picture on top shows an Indian village back in the 1940s. India had over seven lakh villages at the time of independence. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
