The history of legalized or institutionalized Panchayats (initiated by the British in different parts of India in the later part of the 19th century) is not very old. However, the spirit, in which this is viewed in independent India, is believed to be ancient. In the early ages, when the emperors’ rule hardly reached remote corners of the kingdom, villages were generally isolated and communication systems primitive, village residents gathered under the leadership of village elders or religious leaders to discuss and sort out their problems. This practice of finding solutions to local problems collectively, has found mention in ancient texts like Kautilya’s “Arthshastra” and in subsequent years, in Abul Fazal’s “Ain-E-Akbari and are still prevalent in different forms all over the country.

Rural local governments during the British rule were not given enough functions, authority, or resources. Those were not truly representative and often dominated by government functionaries.

Mention of local governments in the Indian Constitution, as it was adopted in 1950, can be found in the chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy, which stated that the states should enact appropriate laws for constituting Panchayats enabling them to function as local governments. In 1957 a committee headed by