The Panchayat

The Panchayat was a Indian political system that regrouped five villages; four peripheral villages around a central one were laid out as the '5' side of a dice. Each had appointed tasks and responsibilities, such as cart-making or basket-weaving. The central village, usually the largest of the Panchayat, traditionally handled food storage and meetings places for the officials, as well as their residences.

Panchayat

Panchayat also refers to a council of elected members taking decisions on issues key to a village's social, cultural and economic life: thus, a panchayat is a village's body of elected representatives. The coucil leader is named 'Sarpanch', and each member is a 'Panch'. The panchayat acts as a conduit between the local government and the people. Decisions are taken by a majority vote (Bahumat), and are generally welcomed by the villagers. It is said that in such a system, each villager can voice his opinion in the governance of his village. It evolved in ancient India and is one of the oldest democratic systems still in use today.

Panchayati Raj

Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj, a decentralized form of Government where each village is responsible for its own actions, as the foundation of India's political system.