Panchayat Raj Institution Of India

In India, the rural population accounts for 73.9%, so the construction and development of local government in rural area is very important in the entire national development.Panchayat Raj Institution is the Indian village traditional government form. In ancient times, every Indian village had a Village Panchayat that used to function as an autonomous body. However, during the colonial period, the village panchayats lost their vitality and significance. After India achieved independence in 1947, a number of provinces enacted new Village Panchayat Acts that tried to develop village panchayats as units of self-government.In India, the traditional authority, such as cast, tribal and religion, has an important impact on polity, especially for local government.The development of Panchayati Raj is both an end and a means. As an end, it is inevitable extension of democracy to the grass roots, which in turn, makes the base of the democratic pyramid in the country. As a means, it emerges as a system of democratic local government and society development.This article reviews the Panchayati Raj in all levels and analysis the impacts of cast, tribal and religion in the reconstruction. Based on the describe of the structure, the official authority and relationship between different levels, we present the running status and characteristics of the local government of India. And on the base of analysis of its development, we know that there are many restrict factors. Social mobilization, devolution of powers and functions are the reform intention of the reconstruction, but there are many problems in practice. At last, illustrate the particularity of the local government system by analysis the relationship between the reconstruction of the Panchayat Raj and the national polity development.