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The village is considered the basic unit of social life in India, with over three-quarters of the Indian population living in rural areas. The government has shown concern for the rural masses' life, liberty, and prosperity since Independence, and various measures have been adopted to improve their living conditions. Prominent leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Jai Prakash Narain, believed that the major task of independent India would be to take democracy to the grassroots level and involve the rural masses in national reconstruction. Gandhi envisioned self-sustaining and self-sufficient village republics that could manage their affairs, while Narain believed that the fundamental basis of all political organizations in the country was the Panchayati Raj Institutions, and these bodies may exercise the widest possible authority to govern their affairs. The main theoretical concept was that the village-level assembly may be linked with the national level assembly through a system of direct election.

However, the existing literature in the field of Panchayati Raj Institutions in India shows significant limitations. The attempts made so far have suffered from discernible shortcomings, which need to be addressed.

Indian Council of Social Science Research.

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