Community Development and Panchayati Raj in India

termed it to be the “Mecca of Development” and called for the creation of many more Nilokher is across the country. Unfortunately, over the years, Nilokheri has been lost to obscurity and lacks even basic facilities such as health, water and education. S.K. Dey appears to have been influenced, on the one hand, by Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan experiment for Rural Development and, on the other, by the Gandhian idea of Rural Construction which laid stress on self-sufficiency and manual labour. It could also be perceived as a Model of Rural Development based on a synthesis of Liberalism, Marxism and Gandhi-ism. Its emphasis on individual liberty seems to have been imbibed from Liberalism, stress on right and duty to work from Marxism and that of small scale cottage and village industries from Gandhi-ism. Mr. Dey was a member of the Balwantrai Mehta Committee (1957) that was set up to study the Community Development Programme. The Committee assessed the extent to which the programme had succeeded in utilizing local initiatives and in creating institutions to ensure continuity in the process of improving economic and social conditions in rural areas. The Committee held that community development would be deep and enduring only when the community was involved in the planning, decision -making and implementation process, thus making a case for a strong Panchayati Raj system. The Balwantrai Mehta Committee proposed a seminal developmental role for Panchayati Raj Institution in rural development and termed these as necessary for the success of community development and national extension programmes. Mr. Dey attributed philosophical connotations to the Panchayati Raj, which he explained in detail in his book “Panchayat-i-Raj, a Synthesis.” He elucidates that the Panchayati Raj was an important link between the individual and the world at large. Mr. Dey visualized an intimate relationship between the Gram Sabha and the Lok Sabha and said that democracy was to flow from the Parliament to the Gram Sabha. Mr. Dey urged state governments to give priority to establishing PRIs their respective states. By the 1960s, all states had legislated on PRIs and more 2, 17, 300 Panchayats had come into being. Mr. Dey also played an instrumental role in the institution of the National Development Council. Mr. Dey’s has made a marked contribution to the field of development journalism by being the guiding force behind “Kurukshetra”, the monthly organ of the Ministry of Rural Development. Independence. His pioneering contribution to the concept and implementation of rural development and Panchayati Raj merits special attention from social scientists, administrators, political leaders and other stakeholders in the project for rural development and decentralized rural governance. The introduction of panchayat raj system in various states represents a new beginning in the evolution of the local-self govt, institutions as agencies of nation building. Within the short life span of less than two decades, the panchayat raj institutions in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharastra, Gujarat and West Bengal have given a fairly goods an account of themselves in various functional spheres - economic, social, political and administrative - and are well on their way to strengthening their positions in the countryside. It is a decade since the new panchayat raj setup was ushered in and started in functioning at village level taluk level and Zilla levels in Karnataka. An important reason behind this new framework of decentralisation is to develop more effective, popular participation in local affairs, including activities of the Central Govt, that are carried out locally. Such participation not only enhance the dignity of the individual and the sense of community at all levels, but also adds vitality to governmental programmes and provides a means for local control over them. It makes the programmes more responsive and better adapted to local needs. Moreover, through participation, members of the community may be induced to do more on their own initiative and to make a fuller contribution to government programmes

Ibid. M. R. Biju (1988). Dynamics of New Panachayat Raj Systems, Kaniska Publishers, New Delhi, 1988, pp. 19-20. Padma Ramachandran (1996). Public Administration in India, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1996, pp. 200-201. Ram Nath Sharma (1981). Indian Social Problems, Media Promoters & Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Bombay, 1981 p.404. Ram Nath Sharma (1981). Indian Social Problems, Media Promotors & Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Bombay, 1981 p.402. Report of the Committee on Democratic Decentralisation, Bombay, Govt, of Maharashtra, 1961, pp. 277-29.

India, Lakshmi Narain Agarwal Publications, Agra, 1992-93, p.55.

Assistant Professor, DAV PG College Karnal