Civil Society And Panchayati Raj Institutions

Man is a social animal. The existence of civilization ages back to the history of human existence, centuries ago. A certain component of the civilization is the civil society. It forms the backbone of the civilization. Its absence would culminate in the virtual death of the social system. The civil society can be described as an arena, outside of the family, the state, and the market where people associate to advance common interests. Humans cannot survive in isolation. The mingling of the homo sapiens in a particular system ends up in the formation of the society, where it can be further bifurcated depending on the geography, culture, religion, occupation etc.

The smooth functioning of the civil society is ensured by a cluster of rules,set by the authorities. Be it a monarchy, capitalist nation, socialist, communist, democratic or a mixture of the viable options, every state has to have a set of rules which must govern the working and the hassle free continuance of the nation. Given the fact that the mere existence of the state lies in the number of people inhabiting the region, these guidelines are bound to be at place. Out of the multitier political system functional in miscellaneous states, a village level governance is practiced in primarily South-East Asian countries, namely India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. This village level administration often revolves around the panchayat, the term better coined as the Panchayati Raj.

Panchayati raj institutions is a system of governance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of administration. It has 3 levels: village, block and district. Powers and responsibilities are delegated to Panchayats at the appropriate level. The duties of these organizations are :-
Preparation of plan for economic development and social justice.
Implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice.
To levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees.
The main source of income of the panchayat system are grants-in-aid and loans from the State Government.
Another feature of the prevalent Panchayati Raj is the incorporation of women representatives in the core system. Women are traditionally responsible for meeting their families' basic needs, their contribution at the local government decision-making has been crucial. In addition, having women as at least one-third of all local elected representatives is beginning to transform gender relations and call into question the deeply entrenched patriarchal system. Old prejudices are dissolving and new partnerships between women and men are developing. India, primarily being a rural economy holds its key to development in a well laid governance.

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