- The 73rd Amendment Bill which gave constitutional status to Panchayats and recognized them as self-governing bodies has truly made Panchayati Raj system and Panchayats empowered, strong and effective.
- There are 2 lakh 48 thousand 160 Gram Panchayats, 6284 Block Panchayats and 595 District Panchayats in our country.
- The number of elected representatives at all levels of Panchayats is 31 lakhs.
- In this way, India's Panchayati Raj-system is the world's largest democratic system. However, Panchayats also play an important role in women empowerment. The number of elected women Panchayat representatives is 14 lakh 39 thousand which constitutes nearly 33 to 50 per cent. There is no doubt that the condition of rural women under the Panchayati Raj system has improved considerably. Panchayati Raj system has succeeded in bringing social and economic changes in the condition of women and in giving them a dignified life. In fact, the Panchayati Raj system has proved to be a boon for women, SCs, STs, and other backward classes.
- The 73 Amendment bill which came into existence on April 24, 1993, can be called a milestone in the history of Panchayati Raj System.
- The Panchayati Raj Ministry is committed to fulfilling the idea of "Gram Swaraj" as envisioned by Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, by strengthening and empowering Panchayati Raj Institutions and delegating the maximum powers allocated to local government and local development to the elected Panchayat representatives.
- To attain this dream of Gandhi Ji, the central government has initiated the Gram Panchayat Vikas Yojana (GPDP), in every village panchayat. The schemes being formulated under the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) will bring economic and social prosperity to the villages and desired development will be possible at the local level.
- Gram Panchayat Development Plan is a revolutionary initiative of the present government. It envisages that the well-thought-out Gram Panchayat Development Plan based on the local needs will pave the way for inclusive progress of the village. For this, the Gram Panchayats will have to craft a Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) with the consent of all the villagers while properly managing their entire external and internal sources - resources.
- In fact, it will be a major step towards the creation of a new India through Panchayati Raj system. The aim of the government is to connect rural people to the mainstream while keeping in focus the principle of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas'.
- To achieve the desired goals and benefits of the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPCSP), it is essential that at the grassroots level Panchayat representatives, Panchayat-workers, Self-help groups, beneficiaries and even the common people have the right information about it.
- To implement GPDP, effectively, the Central Government has launched Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas. campaign on October 2, 2018. Under this, more than 250,000 Gram Panchayats of the country will be included. The participation of grassroots people will be ensured in preparing Gram Panchayat Development Plans under this ambitious campaign called Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas. Along with that, the work done during the last few years will also be fully audited.
- Under this, meetings of the Gram Sabha will be held mandatorily and according to the 11th schedule of the Constitution, trained assistants in all the 29 fields attached with the Gram Panchayats will have to be present in these meetings compulsorily. These 29 fields include agriculture, rural housing, drinking water, poverty eradication programs, social welfare, cultural activities, markets and fairs etc.
- Those who work as trained assistants may be Gram Sakhi or MGNREGA workers.
- After achieving desired success in this campaign and implementing the "Gram Panchayat Development Plan" in a systematic way, the village Panchayats can truly become a microcosm of development.
- In the 13th finance Commission, a total of Rs 63,051 crores was recommended for all three level panchayats-district, block and village panchayats, while under the 14th Finance Commission, Rs 2 lakh 292 crores was approved to be made available directly to gram panchayats alone.
- This financial provision is more than three times as compared to the 13th Finance Commission.
- The campaign is being launched after the completion of the intensive Gram Swaraj campaign executed in two phases with the aim of bringing 100 per cent coverage of the seven major schemes of the central government and bringing the eligible persons within their purview. The seven major schemes related to the Gram Swaraj campaign are. - Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana of providing free LPG connections, Saubhagya Yojana related to providing domestic electricity connections, Ujala Yojana related to the distribution of LED bulbs, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Prime Minister Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, Prime Minister's Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush, an ambitious program of vaccination.
- Gram Swaraj campaign was launch in April 2018 and it was executed in about 64,000 villages in two phases. Of these, the villages that have been given priority were the ones which had large proportions of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population.
- Apart from this, it has also included 117 Aspiring districts which were backwards in terms of socio-economic development indices.
- Under this, more than 47.70 lakh new LPG Connection were provided.
- Electricity was provided to 30 lakh houses.
- 65.50 lakh LED bulbs were distributed.
- Nearly 7.5 million new accounts were opened under Jan Dhan Yojana and more than 50 lakh beneficiaries were provided life insurance cover.
- On the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day on 24 April 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a reconstituted "Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan Yojana (RGSA) in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh to strengthen Panchayati Raj system in the country and to eliminate hurdles and problem in its road to success.
- The main objective of this scheme is to make rural local bodies self-reliant, financially sound and more efficient.
- The implementation of this scheme will be done for four years from 2018-19 to 2020-22. For this, financial Provision of Rs. 7255.50 crores have been earmarked.
- Under Prime Minister ambitious plan - Swachh Bharat Mission, the contribution of gram panchayats in making the country Open Defecation Free is really commendable.
- The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on October 2, 2014.
The main highlights are:-
- In the rural areas, the extent of cleanliness has increased from 38.70 per cent in 2014 to 92.60 per cent in present time.
- Today, 20 states of the country, 451 districts, 1,777-gram panchayats, 4442 blocks and more than 4,46,000 villages have become ODF. Of this, 3 lakh 67 thousand 507 villages have also been verified.
- Since October 2, 2014, more than 8 crores 43 lakh 17 thousand domestic toilets have been constructed.
- At present, more than 14.78 million more families have access to their own toilets.
- The number of community cleanliness premises has gone up to 18,293.
- In fact, these achievements of Swachh Bharat Mission is inconceivable without the active and sincere efforts of Panchayats, Panchayat-workers and representatives.
