Gram Sabha:-
• Gram Sabha is an assembly of all adults living in the area of a panchayat which may include a village or more than one village.
• In many states, the Gram Sabha meeting of each village is different.
• Any person who is 18 years of age or more, who has the right to vote and whose name appears in the electoral roll of the village, is a member of the Gram Sabha.
• A Gram Panchayat is divided into several wards (small areas).
• Each ward elects its own representative who is known as Ward Panch.
• With this, the people of the panchayat area together elect the sarpanch, who is the head of the panchayat.
• Ward Panch and Sarpanch together constitute the Gram Panchayat for 5 years.
• The Secretary of the Gram Panchayat who is elected by the government and sees whether the work is being done well in the Gram Panchayat or not. It is also their job to call meetings and keep a record of their work.
Village Panchayat
• Their main job is to get the development programs implemented in the villages falling in their area.
• They also look after “works” such as the construction and maintenance of roads, drains, schools, buildings, water sources and other public use buildings.
• Local taxation and collection.
• Implementation of government schemes related to employment to the people of the village is also
the job.
Source of Income
• Amount received from tax levied on houses and markets
• The amount of schemes run by various government departments, which comes by the district and district panchayat.
• Donations for community work.
• In some states, gram sabhas make committees to get the work done like construction committees.
• In the committees, some members are from the Gram Sabha and some are from the Panchayat.
• Together they work for the village.
• Gram Panchayat solves the problem or plan by talking to the Block Development Officer and gathering more information on various problems or plans.
Three levels of panchayat
- District level
- Block level
- Village level
• Panchayati Raj system is a process by which people participate in their government.
• Gram Panchayat is the first level of democratic government in rural areas. The Gram Panchayat is accountable to the Gram Sabha because it is the people of the Gram Sabha who elect it.
• The second level is that of the block. It is called Janpad Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti. There are many Gram Panchayats in a Panchayat Samiti.
• Above the Panchayat Samiti is the Zilla Panchayat or Zilla Parishad.
• The third level is the Zilla Parishad. The Zilla Parishad prepares development plans at the level of a district.
• With the help of the Panchayat Samiti, the Zilla Parishad also makes arrangements for the distribution of the allocated amount in all the Panchayats.
