Gandhi on Panchayati Raj
” My idea of Gram Swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is necessary.” – Mahatma Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi advocated panchayati raj as the foundation of India’s political system. It helped for the decentralized form of government, where each village would be responsible for its own governance. The term for such a vision was “Gram Swaraj – Village Self-Governance”.
For Gandhi, the concepts of Gram swaraj and Panchayat raj were integral part of his political vision about the future of our nation. This vision was against the mechanical model of development that was introduced by the British in our country.
So, Gandhi through his social and political initiatives made the country to realize that the power of people which could be strengthen only through effective local self-government.
“I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they
have an effective voice.” Gandhi time and again emphasized need for power in the hands of the people in India through the Panchayat Raj model.
Gandhi said, “The greater the power of the people, the better for the people.”
Gandhi through his social and political initiatives facilitated the country to realize that the power of people could be enhanced only through effective local self-government.
Gandhi wanted the central government to have minimal power, and he wanted the villages to rule themselves traditionally with village chiefs and councilors.
Ambedkar on Panchayati Raj
Dr. Ambedkar was apprehensive that in the hierarchical society with highly skewed nature of asset and power distribution, vesting more powers at the village level would only perpetuate exploitation of the dispossessed.
In contrast to Gandhi , Dr. B.R.Ambedkar believed that the village represented regressive India, a source of oppression. He argued against Panchayats as he was apprehensive about the continuation of caste Hindus hegemony.
Further he opined that villages in India were caste-ridden and had little prospects of success as institutions of self-government.
According to Ambedkar, village possessed a cruel reality of communalism and caste system; thus it
will lead to the cornering of minorities.
No human rights would be safe if left to dominant groups that had oppressed minorities for centuries in the most inhuman fashion.
For Ambedkar, those villages were nothing “but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance and communalism.”
The dominant and influential communities would make villages their monopoly and that would render other communities voiceless. The result was that the Constitution that was drafted under his Chairmanship did not mention a word about Panchayati Raj.
Many Gandhians persuaded the committee to have a provision for the village panchayats in Part IV of the Indian Constitution titled Directive Principle of State Policy vesting the responsibility in State legislatures.
Article 40 states that the State shall take steps to organize village panchayat and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self government.
Is Ambedkar notion on decentralization misunderstood?
Ambedkar had no objection to the concept of devolution. However, he was very clear that the traditional Panchayats were not equal to the task of handling a modern and inclusive government, and that could be achieved only through a process of affirmative action – he suggested nominations – which ensured that all communities of an unequal society were represented in local governments. Thus, it is clear that Ambedkar notion on decentralization is misunderstood.
External link: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/Swaminomics/ambedkar-vs-gandhi-the-risks-of-village-empowerment/
