Communality vs Community: The Promise of Panchayats

by Maitreyee Singh

“More brain, O Lord, more brain! or we shall mar/

Utterly this fair garden we might win.”

The above is a couplet from “Modern Love: XLVII” by Victorian writer George Meredith. Indian readers might more likely recognize it from the title page inscription of Constitutional architect and social reformer B.R. Ambedkar’s Pakistan or the Partition of India (1946: 1). Pithy and urgent, it was a well-advised rejoinder for a nation on the precipice of independence. As it happens, gardens wither, too, when not tended, and Ambedkar’s plea for mindfulness remains both timeless and timely for post-Independence India.

Instructed to examine some particularity of the postcolonial condition, my immediate thought was to analyze the Panchayat system of local governance as a precolonial institution with potential for mediating postcolonial conflict. Perhaps predictably, my assumptions were informed by my personal experiences of India, and as anyone who has done any academic writing knows, attempting to retrofit research to a preconceived thesis never works. In examining the Panchayat system more closely, I’ve been made to also examine the lacuna in my own understanding of communal conflict in India.

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Appendix A

1858: India comes under direct British colonial rule after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

1920:  Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms provide for local self-government bodies at the village level

1927: The British government introduces the Local Self-Government Act, which establishes local self-government bodies in rural areas known as Panchayats.

1935: The Government of India Act provides for the establishment of provincial and central governments.

1947: Indian independence from British colonial rule.

1951: The first Panchayati Raj system in independent India is established in Nagaur district of Rajasthan.

1973: The Ashok Mehta Committee recommends reforms to strengthen Panchayats and make them more effective.

1978: The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India is passed, which provides a constitutional basis for the establishment of Panchayati Raj institutions and mandates their compulsory existence in every state.

1992: The 73rd Amendment is implemented in all states of India.

1992-1993: The Aman Committee is formed in response to riots between Hindus and Muslims in Mumbai.

2002: The Shanti Sena plays a role in mediating between warring communities during the Gujarat riots.

2002: The 73rd Amendment is amended to provide for the reservation of one-third of seats in Panchayati Raj institutions for women.

2010: The Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) provides financial assistance to states for activities such as training of Panchayat functionaries, development of Panchayat infrastructure, and implementation of e-governance initiatives.

2011: the National Advisory Council proposed a set of recommendations for further strengthening Panchayats included ensuring greater representation of marginalized groups

Jackson, William Henry, photographer. The Holy Man of Benares – Swami Bhaskarananda Saraswathi. India Varanasi, 1895. -20. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004707381/.